International Students

Graduate (temporary) Visa - 485 Visa

Although the CEO cannot give specific advice on migration and visa issues, there have been some major changes to the General Skilled Migration Programme including a new visa (Visa 485) from September 2007. This visa allows overseas students who do not meet the criteria for a permanent General Skilled Migration visa to remain in Australia for 18 months to gain skilled work experience or improve their English language skillswhich also means a greater chance of improving their employment outcomes once leaving University.Visit the DIAC website for more information on this visa.

Job Search In Australia

Immigration regulations
Graduate Careers Australia has an excellent webpage for international students containing a large amount of very useful information on visas and more

Communication skills

Research shows that this is the single most important factor for your Australian job search success! This means being able to communicate well in English with people at all levels from customers and fellow staff to senior managers and includes both written and verbal communication skills. Places to improve your English communication skills:

Australian Discussion Groups-run by Sydney University Volunteers Association
adg@usu.usyd.edu.au, tel: 9563 6010
Community Colleges NSW - A not-for- profit association which runs short courses in written and spoken English e.g. 'Improve your English Communication - Non-Native Speakers'
Workshops for English Language and Learning (W.E.L.L.)
The Centre For English Teaching - Courses in General English and Business English.

Involvement in a university club or society is highly desired by graduate recruiters as it points to the development of skills such as teamwork, leadership, initiative. In addition, some clubs may help support your job search eg. The Sydney University Chinese Student's Association (SUCSA) organises seminars on immigration and job opportunities. Sometimes employers seeking certain nationalities will contact the relevant society to advertise their job opportunities. Visit the University Clubs and Societies webpage for a full listing and the faculty's own clubs and societies webpage

Another related factor is cultural understanding. In the Australian workplace this usually means "direct communication". For more information:

Expectations of the Australian Workplace

Gaining Local Experience -Work Experience, Voluntary Work

Another factor to assist in gaining employment is to have local work experience. Many international students seek "Internships". Internships are difficult even for local students to pursue here so an extra effort has to go in to this process. Things you can do:

Companies advertise vacation work and part-time vacancies -check out the Careers Centre vacation work webpage and Current Vacancies site (links) . Be aware that most of these vacation work positions target penultimate year local students.
There are companies that arrange placements for a significant fee such as the International Student Placement Centre
Contact your Consulate or relevant Chamber of Commerce eg. Australian Chinese Business Council so that you can research and approach organizations which operate both in your country of origin and here in Australia, for an internship opportunity.
The University's Casual Employment Service specialises in helping students find casual and part-time work during their studies and in University vacations.
Another newly formed organisation: www.studyandwork.com.au is Australia's first recruitment agency devoted to international students and graduates.
There are a number of voluntary opportunities and voluntary work websites worth pursuing eg:
Graduate Recruitment: In the case of Australian graduate recruitment activities, you will find that many local employers are looking to recruit local students or students who have already attained permanent residency status. However you may approach employers directly to ask if you are eligible to apply. Increasingly local multi-nationals are looking to recruit international students to train here and then work in their home country offices and these positions will be advertised on our graduate recruitment webpage and our current vacancies database . Remember too that contract work and temporary positions can be a way to gain local experience whilst looking for a career job.
Excellent resource: "Land That Job in Australia: Successful Job-hunting for Migrants" (2005) by Dr Jim Bright & Karen Bright, Paperback. Australia (ISBN 0-9757560-0-1) Now in the Careers Centre library or read more online.

Job Search Overseas

The Faculty's Careers office will be developing recruitment events for major international employers, particularly from South East Asia who are looking to recruit both our international students on their return home and local students .

Useful links to overseas online job databases:

Chinese Job Sites

In addition, most corporate organisations offer helpful information for job seekers on their websites.

Increasingly large organisations are looking to recruit international students and often have them work initially here in Australia before returning to their home country to work for their organisation. Although there are not large numbers of organisations involved, there is a definite growth of these type of opportunities as the workforce becomes increasingly globalised.

Visit the following web page at Graduate Careers Australia for some helpful advice if returning home to work.

Check out the suggested websites on this Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office presentation

ACE Job Placement Service

The ACE Job Placement Service is organized by the APEC Study Center of the City University of Hong Kong. It providesa channel for academic institutions and employers to hire graduates and for job-market graduates to locate suitable academic and professional posts.

Jobs in Japan

Japanese students - BEO Recruitment: On return from Australia, BEO will seek to place students into appropriate employment opportunities in Japan. This is a free support service to current Japanese students and recent graduates studying in Economics and Business. For more information go to: http://beocareer.jp/english/support.html (English) http://beocareer.jp/ (Japanese)

Job Search Advice From Asian Employers

Jobs in China

According to CPA Australia

The 'Big 4' employers (Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young and PwC) recruit over 1,000 new staff each year and they prefer candidates with overseas education and professional qualifications.
In the Financial sector there is a huge demand for qualified accountants as many of the Chinese banks/insurance companiesare either listed on overseas stock market or have an institutional investor from overseas.
There are around 1,400 domestically listed companies, who will be in need of overseas qualified accountants due to the new accounting standards from 1 Jan this year, which all listed companies are required to adopt.

Deloitte China

Deloitte has 8,200 people in ten offices including Beijing, Dalian, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Suzhou and Tianjin. They are serving more than 800 MNCs and their affiliated companies in the Chinese Mainland. Deliotte provide a full range of audit, accounting, tax, management consulting and corporate advisory services and work closely with our offices in China, across Asia-Pacific and around the world to provide clients of every size with local experience and international expertise.

If you are considering working for Deloitte in China read some of their frequently asked questions on recruitment.

Jobs in Malaysia