I. Typical jobs where international students are employed in and how to apply to one
A. Retail assistant – This job is available in the huge retail industry with several sub-sectors, for example in –
- Supermarkets – The supermarket industry employs hundreds of thousands of people in Australia. Some of the biggest companies in Australia are into supermarket business such as Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, IGA, etc.
- Department store – Included in this sector are K-mart, Big W, Target, Myers, David Jones, Harris Scarfe, etc.
- Chain dry good shops – Such as Rejects, Cheap as chips, etc.
- Chain appliance shop – Such as Good Guys, Harvey Norman, etc.
- Chain home improvement warehouse – Such as Bunnings, Stratco, etc.
- Chain chemist and peripherals such as Chemist Warehouse, etc.
- Chain fuel retail shops such as Caltex, Shell, BP, etc.
- Chain Clothing shops
- Chain shoes shop
- Chain sporting goods shop, etc.
Included in this industry are thousands of smaller regional, state or territory, local community shops selling everything from books to car parts. International students can be frequently found working in the retail industry because openings are frequently available and because the job and training are not difficult to learn.
Companies seem to allocate a very significant number of their staffing requirement to casuals, the international students meanwhile are happy with casual work owing to the fact that they are not really looking for something permanent or full-time. The work means not only financial gain but also an opportunity for them to sharpen their English and build their experience and confidence in dealing with people. Work in this industry is covered by the General Retail Industry Award. Although many large retail companies have their own agreements that sometimes contain better terms than the award.
B. Crew/ Team member in Hospitality industry – For simplicity we classify all businesses that are into food, beverage, and accommodation as part of the hospitality industry. This is another huge industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people. It’s composed of hotels, motels, hostels, all sorts of restaurants, fast food chains, cafes, bakeshops, take away shops, etc. As a matter of definition different subsectors call their crew or team members different names such as attendants for the accommodation sector, waiting staff for restaurants, etc. Job title in this industry can also come in the form of kitchen hand or assistant, beverage assistant, barista, bartender, customer service staff, etc.
Like in the retail industry many businesses in this industry allocate many positions or roles to casual employees primarily for flexibility. Training in certain roles are generic and not hard to learn. Although if your work involves serving alcohol you’re required to undergo a Responsible Service of Alcohol training from a certified provider. There are existing separate industry awards for the fast food sector, restaurant sector and hospitality sector. And as in the case with retail, many large companies like famous fast food chains would have their own agreement.
C. Cleaners – Employed by cleaning companies to clean offices, shops, factories, schools, hospitals, aged care facilities, sport stadiums, cinemas, etc. Things about this job that make it a match with international students are:
- After office hours work – This job usually entails working when places of work or business are closed. This is attractive to international students as it doesn’t interfere or take away their time away from their daytime studies.
- Cleaning is familiar, and it doesn’t take much to learn the trick of the trade or be good at it. Although careful attention to work safety protocols is a must.
Because the job entails handling rubbish and stuff this job may not be for the squeamish, and cleaning companies would probably screen you out if they think you are. Also, for those looking to sharpen their interpersonal skills this job may not be the best option for them as this job doesn’t involve much customer interaction. Looking at job ads for cleaners the following things are commonly required:
- Attention to details
- Motivated and enthusiastic attitude to work
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team
- Ability to follow instructions and adhere to occupational health and safety guidelines
There is an existing award that covers the Cleaning industry.
D. Call centre jobs – Proficiency in English language not only will help international students succeed in their Australian studies, but it will also pay dividends in their professional lives later on in this increasingly global village we live in where the lingua franca is English. But to be able to get paid for a work that will enable you to really sharpen your English skills, not to mention help you gain confidence in dealing with all sorts of people, all this while still studying, that’s a win-win.
E. Other jobs such as:
- VET or university jobs – Almost all VET (especially the big ones like TAFE) and universities offers casual job positions to their students. The hours may not be much but the pay is usually great. And since you’re a current student and the employer is your education provider there is already familiarity. There are several awards covering employment in the education industry, not to mention most universities have their individual agreements.
- Process worker – Jobs that involve assembly line type of work, mostly in food processing like shucking oysters, deboning chickens, picking, sorting and packing fruits and vegetables, etc.
- Sales representative – Sales job that involves talking to people, explaining the product, and accommodating their queries. It can be door-to-door promotion (a very hard but personally and professionally rewarding experience as what successful sales gurus profess), or manning a sales kiosk, or being a part of a team in a showroom.
- Jobs that involves being able to speak and write particular languages – It’s quite common in Australia to find job ads looking for people who speak and write Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Indonesian, etc. Employers are companies who provide or sell products and services, and deal with specific group of people speaking languages other than English like export & import companies, hotels, student accommodation providers, and other education providers.
- Assistant jobs in aged care, manufacturing, accounting, general office, etc. – These are casual jobs for students who have the foundational knowledge and proficiency gained from studying in VET or university. For example, nursing students would usually be hired for casual assistant roles in aged care, accounting students by accounting and bookkeeping firms to provide support in busy seasons, etc.
II. Things you need to consider when applying for jobs
A. Perhaps your biggest obstacle when looking for a job in Australia will be your lack of local work experience. Unless you’re lucky enough to apply to a company who understands international students and has good experience with them, employers will always look for some basis on why they should hire you, and usually that basis is your past performance. There are several ways to get around this:
- Apply with smaller companies or businesses – Many small businesses are managed by street smart people who are not confined to rigid policies. These people spend their days on the ground, so to speak, and they have a good sense or feel for people. A session of talking to you and they can, more or less, gauge you already, work experience or not. And because they are not restricted by layers of bureaucratic hiring policies, and in the same entrepreneurial spirit they built their businesses, they are usually more open to taking a risk in hiring you.
In short, given your lack of Australian work credentials you may have better prospect of being considered and hired in smaller companies or businesses. And there are times when working in small businesses are better, especially when you’re a good worker. Your worth is seen directly by the employer. Remember, awards (or in the absence of which, the Commonwealth government) mandate the minimum wage you’re entitled to so it doesn’t mean that just because the company is smaller you get paid smaller. It may be not as high, but never lower than what is legal.
- Volunteer – If you’re having difficulty getting hired, try volunteering for a while. We haven’t heard of anyone wanting to volunteer getting rejected, unless they don’t pass police checks and that kind of stuff. Australian businesses and the community at large have high regard for volunteering. Volunteering will enable you to get familiar with how things are conducted in Australia. It will give you experience in interacting and working with others. Some volunteer organisations will reimburse you for some significant out of pocket expenses such as police check, first aid training, etc. Most importantly, in the eyes of employers, your resume having some volunteering experience written on it will look much better than a resume having none.
- Submit your resume to a recruitment company or a staffing company. The terms or names they call themselves are varied but as an international student there are two types of agencies that can help you find a job –
- A recruitment agency – They basically handle the employee finding, screening and recruitment for their client companies. Recruitment agencies can be on the look-out for people to fill positions from the most basic up to the executive roles. When you submit a resume to a recruitment agency they will match you with their job openings and basically pre-qualify you before sending you off to the client company for their final approval. When you get hired, the recruitment agency gets paid by the client company.
- A staffing or manning agency – There are times when companies instead of recruiting their own people go to staffing agency to provide or “lend” them staff. Thus when a staffing agency finds you placement or work, although you’re working in the client’s workplace your employment is actually with the agency. Staffing agency make money by keeping part of your pay that they’ve negotiated and received from the client company.
There are pros and cons to both these agency types, and both serve a purpose or niche in the economy. Remember, even if your employment is with a staffing agency you’re entitled to the award that the client company uses for its own workers. For example, if your agency placed you in a fast food workplace you’re entitled to the fast food award provisions.
B. Looking for jobs
When an employer needs workers they either set out to find and recruit them themselves or let recruiters look for them or just go to a staffing agency to provide them the workers. Either directly by the employer, or by the agencies, a job ad for the requirement will be posted online through job ads websites or via newspapers.
In Australia some the biggest online job ad websites are:
- Seek – biggest job ads website, job ads are paid by employers or agencies
- CareerOne –
- All Jobs
- Indeed
- Adzuna
- Glassdoor
- Gumtree – biggest classified ads site in Australia
- Careerjet
- Neuvoo – indexes jobs from job boards, placement agencies, and company websites
- OneShift
Also, VET providers and universities are also good source of jobs for international students. Many businesses around a VET or university campus would give first crack to their vacancies to the students of the VET or university. These employers would send their vacancies to the campus and the campus will in turn have physical bulletins boards or will transmit via campus-wide emails about the openings.
C. Taxation
- When applying for Australian jobs you will need a Tax File Number (TFN).
- As an international student on a subclass 500 visa you are eligible to apply for TFN from ATO or Australian Taxation Office.
- All income you’ve earned in Australia is subject to tax. The amount of tax you need to pay is computed based on the amount of income you have earned in the financial year that starts from 1st of July of the past (or current) year and ends in the 30th June of the current (or following) year.
- When workers or employees get their pay it’s usually net of the withholding tax, meaning the withholding tax has already been deducted from their pay. When you lodge your tax return with ATO, you will find out either –
– You’re entitled to receive a refund from ATO (happens when the money that was withheld from your pay is computed to be more than the tax you have to pay)
– You still owe money to ATO (happens when the money that was withheld from your pay is insufficient or less than the tax you’ve to pay)
– You neither owe or have refund coming from ATO. This usually happens when your income is within the tax-free threshold (meaning you don’t have to pay any tax) and no withholding tax was deducted from your pay. - There are separate tax rates for foreign residents and Australian residents. ATO’s definition of Australian residents for tax purposes is different from that of the Department of Home Affairs. ATO can consider you a resident for tax purposes even though you’re only in Australia temporarily.
Australian residents for tax purposes pay less tax on their Australian income compared to foreign residents and they also enjoy a tax-free threshold (unlike foreign residents who have to pay tax on all their income derived in Australia). Tax-free threshold is the level of income that if you don’t exceed you don’t have to pay any tax. For example, in 2019 the tax-free threshold was $18,200, which means if your income is equal to or below $18,200 you don’t have to pay any income tax. Good news: According to ATO, international students studying in Australia for at least 6 months are generally considered as Australian residents for tax purposes.
- If you’re not earning more than $350 a week you can avoid withholding tax being deducted from your pay by telling your employer that you wish to claim the tax-free threshold. The net effect of this is you get all your pay every payday. Although some prefer some amount to be withheld from their pay as they consider it as some sort of savings or money they put aside and collect in the form of tax refund during tax time.
