Postgraduate international student struggling to find work!?

I graduated in last June, have been looking for entry level jobs on and off. Despite the numerous applications I sent over the months, I only got one telephone reply. I think my biggest disadvantages are my lack of office experience and my international background. But everyone has to start somewhere, how do I kick start in Australia? Another concern of mine is I might be over-qualified for entry-level jobs, people suggested that I should cross out my postgraduate qualification, but it doesn’t look good that I am not doing working or studying for one and half year. I cant apply graduate program either coz the government decided that all migrants need to wait for 2 years for their visa to be processed, and all graduate programs require residency. Is it just me? Or is Australia just not the place to look for job right now?

I’ve tried calling recruitment agencies. But the 2 agencies I called are focusing on ‘recruiting’ employers rather than job seekers. I mostly look for jobs online, and as you can imagine, I don’t have much connection. What else I can do?

Tiffany,

I feel your pain. I myself was an international student struggling to find work in oz a couple of years ago. I was fortunate because PR requirements weren’t so strict back then and it was before the economic crisis hit.

During the 10 months when I was pretty much not having any luck with getting work, I did a few things.

1. I tried to get as many good local references as possible.

For instance i went through two contract worker companies called Extra Staff and World Workers in order get some decently paying part time work and to build up my local references.

Local references really help, and though you are a post grad and i’m thinking you’ve probably got one of your lecturers as your references, having actual work references where you deal with people helps alot, especially if you are international.

2. Apply with as many recruitment agencies as possible

There are a ton of agencies out there that try to help people find work. I don’t know what your background is, but you could try applying to companies like Hays.com.au or ipa.com.au.

IPA is the company that helped me get my first job.

3. Volunteer to work for free or Go directly to the office to apply for work or both

Sometimes if you’re persistent enough, you could possibly get a position if you offered to work for free "just to get the work experience".

This is good because it shows that you’re willing to do the work, you’re determined and the company that hires you loses nothing.

I had a friend who did this and she worked for i think 3 months twice a week with no pay in Mitsubishi. Eventually they offered her the position.

What she did was she took her resume directly to the office and asked to talk to the person who was in charge of recruitment.

Mind you she had to go back a few times because they kept insisting the person who could help her "wasn’t aroun"

4. Do some freelance work

Do you have any freelance skills? You’ve done a postgrad some i’m assuming you know alot about something and you definitely know how research and write.

When I was out of luck on part time work as well as full-time work, i turned to freelancing to help me pay my wage.

The projects that I did also served to add more work experience to my resume.

If you’re international, that also means that you probably speak, read and write in a foreign language. You could apply for freelance translation gigs where people want you to translate things like documents.

Other things you could do include research, writing, editing and proof reading.

Try checking out sites like Elance.com, i’ve had some luck on this site. Also if you want more recommended resources on how to get started, you can check out this site called Tell-A-Worker.com that I found.

They’re relatively new, but their recommended job sites is where i found the link to elance.com and they also have links to some good telecommuting resources.

5. Ask your friends and people you know if they know anyone who could hire you

It’s worth a shot, and if you did your post grad, you could try and look for work in the university you studied. You can talk to your lecturers or professors as they will usually know someone in your field and make personal recommendations for you.

This is how my friend got his first lot of local work experience. It was unpaid, but it did alot to boost his resume and now he works in a really good local company.

6. Use an English name on your resume

Not trying to say that people in oz are racist, its just the general reaction employers will have to applicants from different nations.

They actually talked about this on tv not long ago and they said that for the same resume, chinese names got the least responses, middle eastern not so great and italian and english names were the most responses.

My theory is is that if they can’t read your name easily, they generally dismiss your resume

7. Put your most impressive qualities on the front of your resume

When people are sifting through resumes, you have to try and make an impression the second they glance at your resume.

This is because when people have to deal with 200 resumes, they are more than likely to dismiss the ones that make it hard for them to find the most important information they need to identify you as a potential applicant.

Best qualities/ qualifications in easy to read words smack bang where they can see it without even trying.

Maybe during your PHD you released a paper or you worked with David Attenborough. Put that on the front and make sure it catches their attention.

8. Follow up with applications

This can sometimes help. After you apply for a job, give them a phone call so they can hear your voice. This usually helps to put you on the front of their minds as they are going through the resumes.

Just call, ask them how the application is going, introduce yourself. Just let them hear your voice and talk to you abit.

9. Wear a big ca