Hello ,
im a international student current studing advanced diploma in IT and im strugling to find any it job related i sent many resume and most o them with no reply.
So anyone have been in the same sutuation as me? and how to breakk it through that situation.
Thanks :)
The IT industry is tough to get into at the moment. This is coming from personal experience myself. The best i could recommend is to try and approach any recruiters that have ads for Intern/Entry Level/Level 1 support roles. They will be able to help get you an interview and cater to your experience levels. Contract roles are abundant in the market and will be easiest to go perm if you do well and exceed their expectations.
I'd recommend you have your resume, cover letter reviewed by someone who's been working in IT for some time. Ideally you want someone who has read good resumes and bad ones and who can give impartial feedback.
I got my first IT job straight after uni on a bridging visa. Back then (2007) the market was not easy, I had to go to a few interviews to land that job. Around half of companies didn't care about residency then. In 2018, I'd say companies would be more open to take foreign workers if anything.
I know quite a few international students (friends and friends of friends) who came here with a lot of IT certifications and IT experience. Back home they would be hailed as professionals and would get a job easily with high pay.
However, the truth is as soon as the recruiters find out you are on an international student visa, your resume goes straight into the bin.
Most of them (about 85%) are now working in trades as labourers, painters, joiners or cable installers etc and majority of them for more than a year now, because they can't find any IT jobs.
The ones that did find an IT job usually have 10 or more years of experience in their IT field and have worked in big cities like New York, Paris, London etc.
I don't know what advice I can give you, but just wanted to share what I have been told and what I keep hearing.
Anyone can share similar experiences?
Agree very much with Blue Cat. You have 2 options.
I was an international student back in 2011 and it was tough looking for a job with a student visa. Not many company will hire an international student as they are afraid that you may not work long enough for them. They wouldn't want to waste their money on someone who will leave 2 - 6 months after hiring.
I currently work for a company who takes in students from UQ, QUT and Navitas internship program. If you can find yourself a place in such companies, your chance of getting hired increases. We have already hired about 6 international students who once worked as an intern for us.
As for me, I wasn't that lucky and did not go through any internship program. I only start looking for work after getting my permanent residency. Chances are very low in getting a job with a student visa.
First job is always the hardest, don't give up. Think about getting internship. It's not the money for you at this stage. It's the experience you want.
I work in IT. So it is possible without having 10 years experience. ;)
Do u know how many days those companies requires to work as an intern?
Internship are usually 3 months. After the 3 months, base on your performance, the company will assess whether you are a fit to the company or not.
They usually look at factors like your work performance, how you work in a team, accuracy, mistakes and communication. Communication is a huge part in IT industry since you have to throw ideas around, discuss solutions and explain complex concepts.
Im one of them ive been here 4 years, start as kitche hand now im Chef:/
Do you enjoy working as a chef? If you enjoy it, why not progress your career as a chef?
Hey man, I'm having trouble installing halo, it crashes. Can you help?
Whats the error?
I hear that females are guaranteed an IT graduate position because they are female
I have long hair lol
Because diversity! Especially in centrelink
You might be getting downvoted but unfortunately it is the truth. The biggest advantage any person has in the IT industry is to be female. Their resumes always go to the top of the pile. For diversity's sake…
I hear this a lot, but in my experience, the people making claims like these aren't the ones doing the hiring.
I can only speak for myself and my peers but that's certainly not how we hire or rank candidates.
Still comes down to who is the best candidate though. If the difference is marginal, then female normally gets the edge to meet diversity. But there is little chance an under qualified female would be selected over a highly qualified male. Maybe if casting couch is involved…
explains Caitlyn Jenner
very true ;) We want more!!!
Kind of true, but not as simple as that.
According to the "Google Memo", the bar is set much lower for women.
Edit: And yeah, I'm prepared for the social justice warriors to come and neg me. Not as heroic as the Google Engineer who got fired for speaking up though.
An Asian male is diverse…unless you're looking for a job in IT
Though the overseas international students selection are poor in English and western culture communication skills.
What bullshit.
Where do u live. I have a friend who runs His own company (50 employees) and guess what, he is Japanese, and guess what, he needs a help desk person.
Sydney :)
My first IT Job, despite not having any qualifications for an IT job, was actually in help desk. I started out as an unpaid intern at a school but they eventually paid me a weekly wage (roughly $700 p/week gross). The work was super tedious, repetitive and tiring, but I did get to learn a lot of stuff while on the job. Things that university does not teach you. Unfortunately I didn't get to stay for long as it was determined I was just temporarily working there to get some exp.
If you have zero experience in the workforce, it might be a good idea to start looking for certain projects you can contribute to so you can upgrade both your skills and also have a little bit of real world experience. That might be building your own software or smartphone app, offering to work for free for a non-profit organisation or contributing to an open-source project.
Also, first impressions are super important, so make sure you're well dressed, can put on a big smile and most importantly look like you're keen to land any kind of job. The resume and cover letter part also needs to convey that as well.
Get someone on Reddit to check your resume as well. https://www.reddit.com/r/resumes/
If you fail at getting a job, then use your time to upgrade yourself — make yourself more useful by learning extra skills, e.g learn how to design websites using HTML+CSS, learn some JavaScript to make interactive web apps, PHP is also super useful).
So basically you were the professional Googler? It's basically what all help desk slaves are 😂😂😂
e.g learn how to design websites using HTML+CSS, learn some JavaScript to make interactive web apps, PHP is also super useful).
Add SQL onto that too. I frequently repair SQL databases which is tedious as but it can make a company good money and yourself!
im interested im in melbourne :)
My brother's is moving to rural NSW as a temporary resident and he has around four years of experience in IT. I know the chances of getting an IT job in a rural area could be hard to none. He too has enquired with IT recruitment companies and agencies and so far no one has responded yet. I believe that the location and the visa conditions are a great factor in getting the job
Other than tailoring your application to the specific employer. I'd also consider applying in multi-national companies in your country of citizenship. Often these companies are formatted much differently to domestic companies and may offer internal transfer opportunities to international locations.
It's pretty sad out there actually, corporate or big banks usually hires contractor from indian company likes tcs, soo good luck! And starts from startups!
What others have said, look to go to as many meetups as possible, network in the industry.
Unfortunately with grad positions most resumes look the same, and having a diploma will not put you in as good a stead as having a degree.
Best option is to network and find a role through word of mouth
maybe try and specialise in a particular field, I've hired plenty of people with advanced diploma in IT and they had no idea about IT
I’ve hired people with bachelors and masters and couldn’t write code to save their life. One guy didn’t know what an array was, one didn’t know what ASCII table or binary was. I think lots cheat these days
I work as a systems engineer/administrator, here are my tips
1) You're already on the right track. Get a diploma/cert IV - You don't really need anything more than this when applying for "entry" level jobs like service desk. A bachelor's degree is nice but honestly experience is way more important.
2) Get Vendor certifications as these are valued by employees. I would start with Cisco CCNA switching and Routing, or MCSA server 2012/2016
3) Look around for internships/unpaid work. Even if the positions are not advertised, call up IT companies and offer your services. You'll be surprised by the amount of menial/tedious tasks that need to be done around the office, and management would be more than happy to unload the work to an intern, rather than waste the valuable time of a senior engineer.
4) Build industry connections, you will be surprised by how small the industry is. Word of mouth is a great way to find job opportunities.
2) Get Vendor certifications as these are valued by employees. I would start with Cisco CCNA switching and Routing, or MCSA server 2012/2016
^ this. CCNA often gets bagged out but has played a crucial role in my current and previous jobs in the industry. I'm pumping out those commands on Cisco routers nonstop every week.
Engage an Job recuiter agency, I used robert half and got an IT job through them.
Do you have any work history where you were in a customer facing role using english? A lot of entry level service desk positions in larger companies are basically call centres where IT qualifications are not necessary, in those they are mostly looking for customer service experience.
I think Australia has an over supply of IT Professionals, so it's normal to send 5,000 applications and not get a response.
yeah they're like dj's, now everyones a it tech
Agreed. Every second kid coming out of high school wants to do IT cause they're gamers. You know some of them will actually brag about their games in their resumes? They go from my desk to the bin pretty quickly!
Luck of the draw, mate.
The missus went to an eye-wateringly elite international boarding school, racked up two undergraduate degrees as an international student at a GO8 as well as having the highest possible IELTS score in inclusing to native proficiency in two languages other than english.
She was knocked back by firms who probably would have taken her seriously in her native country as she is on a 802 visa (Relationship Visa) and she had no assurance of PR.
She took an entry level at Telstra and let her skills do the talking. Networked, moved up quickly and hasn't really lost too much career time against her graduate program colleagues.
Lesson - Your best strategy is to choose a company you'd like to work for, get in its level 1 roles and show value on the inside. Employers always want to retain talent.
If you sent the same resume to every job ad, you wouldn't go very far. Normally, based on the job description, you need to update/adjust your resume to give you a better chance to get an interview.
Some employers like to see a cover letter (i.e. it shows that you spent some time and effort, rather than just send in your resume). Don't underestimate the employers. If you didn't put in enough effort in the resume, they can easily tell.
Not getting the interview… the answer is simple: your resume is not good enough or too many people with better resume applied. So your resume needs to improve. You need to be in the top 3 in terms of resume to get an interview and you need to be the best in the interview to get the job.
For help desk type jobs, you could try getting some certifications done (Microsoft ones). After that, you can put the certification logo(s) on your resume.
1) Make sure you write a cover letter for EACH application you are submitting, I suggest have a general template and fill in the empty spaces with content that suits your application
2) Number game, trust me, I haven't discussed topic of numbers with anyone in Australia, but one of my friends in Russia told me once he submitted 300 applications for his first job. Of course Australia's situation is so much better than Russia, but I would still expect more than 50 applications before you get a job (since you are not local)
3) Send a thank you email to every interviewer after the interview. I like to do it around half hours later, if they didn't mention they have more interviews coming up (if they do, I will do around close of business). I GOT my job because I sent a thank you letter, here is the story: I talked to my interviewer after I got in my company. He mentioned that he was not that impressed with me at first, and just wanted to give me some advices at the end of interview on my resume and send me away. But he decided to give me another chance when I actually sent a thank you email with improved resume (from his advice) attached. And I am grateful that he did gave me a chance.
Job hunting is a long road, especially for international students. Good luck on your journey
Op. Can't spell. Poor grammar. Asks Internet forum for help. Wonders why no one replies to his job applications. Guess op will just have to learn the hard way
It's uplifting to see so many people being friendly and helpful.
Are you still on a student visa with limited work permit? If this is the case, your resume will go straight into the bin unfortunately. HR only looks for PR/citizens for part-time and full-time positions in this country and they rarely interested in sponsorship for your visa as well.
If you already have a PR but not getting any response from the jobs you applied, then there is something wrong with your resume or you are well over-qualified for the job that you applied for.
Not trying to be sarcastic here and these are genuine observations to answer OP's question. Even in your brief post and replies to other people's comments in this thread, I can easily tell that you won't be able to string a sentence together without grammar/spelling errors in a professional environment. That is a massive red flag in any employer's eyes. English is not my first language either.
No worries, most of the people are trying to be helpful, i do agree i need refine my English.
Hold on, if you're an international student why didn't you do a degree? Did you really move to another country to study at TAFE? TAFE doesn't have a good reputation in Oz (it's associated with high school drop outs and trades).
As an employer I would assume that you were not smart enough to get into an IT degree (which is a huge red flag). Also, with your diploma you basically know nothing (no offense), without a degree or experience you are going to struggle.
I didn't come here to study diplomas or certificates, at beginning i intended to stay only 6 months.
I landed on certificates, was the only option at the time, agencies push diplomas and certificates as a pathway for uni and it is way cheaper, later on you can apply for RPL(Recognition of prior learning) or transfer credit.To start uni you need about 15k -20k upfront every 6 months excluding visa,insurance fees.
You could assume that for a local people, i would think the same. It is much easier to them to go uni than an international student.
Write in your resume you are willing to accept low offer. When they want to hire someone, it's just like us looking at ozbargain finding best deal.
No offense, but I think this is more an issue of how to get a good job in a specialized field, when you have poor English skills (compared to native speakers) and no permanent residency .
The 'looking for an IT job part, is rather secondary tbh.
Naturally any employer will be hesitant to employ you firstly due to the language barrier and potential difficulties in even basic communication. Secondly (as others pointed out) they would like to invest their training and time into someone who will/can stick with the company, and they do not want to have to worry about sponsoring you, or getting the daughter/son to marry you to stay in Australia etc :) .
I suggest brushing up on your English speaking and English writing skills (to lesser extent) . I've had many Indian students working for me, and the 1 that accelerated his English skills the most rapidly, he moved into housing with an Australian guy, and only spoke Australian. So many foreign students tend to mostly hang around other foreign students (which is fine, and their choice) but its sure asf not going to help you learn aussie english speaking (and interpretation).
Fair points but what exactly is speaking Australian? Wasn’t aware such a language existed.
Australian English.
We shorten everything, say "no worries" a lot and call everyone a mate.
Sorry no such thing. That's purely slang.
There is just one English language. No American, Candaian, Aussie English.
I sympathise with your predicament. Unfortunately I do not have any good news to share or advice that would make you feel better or give you hope. I have been in the IT industry for over 30 years. I have worked as a permie and contractor, for both large and small organisations, in private and government sectors, here in Oz, the UK and Europe. I have presented at conferences, I have lectured at university. Yet despite my background, experience and knowledge, I struggle to get to interview. Yes you need to pitch yourself correctly, yes you need a good cv, yes to lots of other good comments and suggestions that have been posted here. But at the end of the day It comes down to luck. To that one break that gets your foot in door and allows you to show your ability. Unfortunately this is not a one off. You’ll need to pull this trick off time and again. And as i’m finding out too much experience is just as bad as not enough experience.
I've done hiring in HR before. Even though you say your resume is spotless, from the way your sentences are structured, I assume that grammar is completely off target. Your resume would like end up in the bin if I was reading it based on just your english. Get it done professionally and also do an individual cover letter for each application. In the mean time, volunteer, get an internship, etc.. anything to get yourself in the door.
Are all industries this critical on grammar?
If a prospective employer sites poor english skills and grammar in a document which they reasonably would expect you have put a great amount of effort into to make resume look its best… then what can they expect from such an employee on a day to day basis if given the job :/
As a contractor, I've had to go through my fair share of OHS and induction modules across all sectors of industry as I change sites.
One of the areas of interest was that in more than three of these online inductions, citing poor English as a reason to either exclude people from a team, promotion or employment is now against fair work as it's inequitable.
The only time when this is is equitable is an instance where the job may be copywriter or translator, at which point they do not meet basic requirements to effectively perform their duties.
Otherwise, there isn't a precedent for a particular standard of English. Also, stating a standard of English is also exclusionary as it's not evenly tested.
What are your views on this?
@Trusty Dussty: I agree, I think all jobs require different levels of English proficieny.
Some people stating they throw out an applicantants CV’s based on grammar alone, without looking at their skill set doesn’t seem just. And in some cases probably their loss.
I work in the creative industry and my formal written skills are quite poor. But it doesn’t matter, as on a day to day basis I am communicating through slack (a chat client) or face to face.
@Trusty Dussty: Having had people work for me who have very poor english skills (foreign students just arrived in country) . I can say it certainly does make them less competent in the job, ie. When their job is to do exactly as I ask, how I ask them to do it, when their English skills are poor, and I have to explain the same thing to them 3 times, over and over, for each different task, and they are still struggling to understand but don't tell me they don't understand they often just go ahead and do it wrong, then I have to spot this and explain to them again… For me to not hire such a person, or to pay them a lesser rate of pay, is NOT discrimination.
Many jobs involve much communication between the worker and the employer/management. It is nit discrimination to refuse them employment based on their inability to follow/understand direct and clear instructions.
What’s the point of your comment?
Is this guy a troll?
Seems every response is intentionally misspelled or written by someone with a minimal concept of the English language and grammar.
Old mate is posting from their phone which evidently does not have spell check. Hmmm…..
Im not a troll.
Mobile phone it is stetted up in another language, most of the times auto corrects by itself and i didn't check how was written.
Learn how to add a 2nd language in your spell check… Something so simple you got to know.. If not how to work in IT?
Here are my tips:
1. Look for Meetup.com groups in your area of interest and join them
2. Blog through Medium.com, Linkedin.com etc to build your portfolio
3. Join a local Hackathon event
4. Get relevant certification
5. Follow the experts in your area on twitter
6. Look at doing volunteer work to get experience or start your own project and share code on GitHub
PS: Most of these are for not just when you are starting out but ongoing stuff to improve your knowledge and standing in the market
I'm a Helpdesk Manager. For an entry level IT Tech I'd be looking for passion, interest, and motivation over any kind of experience. Plus communication is key.
You'd need to convey that in your CV, which can be difficult. Try to give specific examples of how you have done things that match the provided job criteria.
They usually don't hire internationals in level 1-2 support because of the accent. try a call centre or ISP.
The problem is, there is alot of unemployment in the IT industry in Australia due to outsourcing.
Try looking at roles in India or Manilla.
That’s not true at all. There are IT Support roles a plenty in Sydney.
Outsourcing is dead.. Fad is over.. Heaps of job in IT.. But experience is what counts.. Unfortunately..
I believe another problem is the working hour restriction on your student visa. From memory, it's 20 hours per week?
There are just not much part-time IT support jobs out there
Best to find a resume tailoring service to get your resume checked.
Learn share trading, you don't need a day job.
OP i reckon you won’t get far in IT with the way you asked, replied … better continue to be a chef and enjoy life
Hi Junoo, pop me a PM with your resume. If you're willing to look outside the box by asking here then maybe you're the proactive type who is willing to find solutions where none are apparent. L1 Support tech: http://www.firstfocus.com.au/about-us/careers/
Hello
I've just tried to send you a pm and i couldn't find the private message option on your profile.
I think you haven't tick the "Allow private message"
If you go to My Account > Settings > Messaging, you will see a check box "Allow private message".
Thanks!
I got my 'lucky break' into a junior role in IT Security after I studied my ass off to self study CCNA. This was after I'd finished my double degree and was doing an IT support role where you went out to businesses and peoples houses to fix their MAC computers… actually I also got this support role because I had CCNA (over the few other candidates interviewed) I'm also a local.
Lots of long hours and sleepless nights of work to finish and pass CCNA, but it paid off. This was 12 years ago and not looked back.
I don't recommend any vendor specific certification (I don't have any valid ones any more) but would recommend something like CCNA that also contains a lot of general networking theory. There are others I can recommend that will definitely get you interviews (for junior IT security positions) but they are HARD, even I study for several months before attempting the exam, and if you don't have general IT knowledge then there's also a lot of basic knowledge that you will have to learn to even understand what the questions are asking.
This will also only get you a telephone interview, which you need to pass, followed by an in person interview that are now Behavioural Style. Won't go into how to answer these in detail except to say you need to have a bunch of stories from your past work, study, life that you can massage into an answer.
Lastly, the biggest piece of advice, and probably the hardest, keep trying, never give up. What you are doing is HARD, but it will pay off. When and where, you won't know until it does.
I will always back CCNA because Cisco gear is used by a lot of the big corporations and service providers worldwide. Also worth looking into learning how to configure Riverbed and Bluecoat. I deal with all 3 frequently and it's an area a lot of local workers don't have any experience in.
What kind of work are you looking for? Developer? Help desk? You can PM me if you like I work in IT and might have some pointers depending on the field you’re going for
If you're studying..take up course with industry placement.. Experience beats education any day in IT..
Whenever I hire someone.. I always look at experience..
And yes.. Please please include a cover letter written for the role you're applying for!
Sometimes you have to think outside the square, be prepared to work in a different position. I was in the exact same position as you. Had a bachelors degree in information systems, couldn't find a job anywhere, rejection after rejection. Ended up having to work in customer service, while working in customer service I kept on applying for IT related jobs. It was about 3 years after graduation that I finally landed my first IT job. Start somewhere low, like helpdesk? or even QA. I landed a job in QA and started working as a software tester - usually these low end IT positions dont require any qualifications in IT, so if you do have any, you will have a higher chance in landing them. Dont go for high end testing jobs, try something like a UAT - user acceptance testing or system testing. After that its all history. Fast track 8 years later (and jumping between IT jobs in different companies) I'm now an IT Services Manager of a major international company. Dont give up.
no experience, then no chance, you dont exist. try grad roles, they are too contemplative and nonsensey imo.
next is to get some experience, volunteer or something.
without wanting to sound narcy, but the IT industry in Oz is hard to break into cause of all the international IT students coming into the country.
source: 20 years working in IT in Sydney.
get a pet project. Code an app or something similar. I always look for people with passion. I don't care about the CV at all. Get involved in open source projects etc
Stay positive and take in all the criticism OP. Your grammar may not be on point, but you may be a star awaiting to crack into the IT field. Get a good friend to help you with your letters and resume submissions.
Note that cover letter and resume is only to give the employer a snapshot of who you are at first glance.
Letters & resume's can be bluffed. I'm not saying to put false information but you need to get your foot in the door, do what it takes to get yourself noticed and get called in for interviews.
I remember the days in my final year at uni looking for work. It took me a while to absolutely nail my cover letter and resume. I applied for so many jobs, and everytime I applied my letters and resume evolved. The more I read it, the more I improved on it.
The resume is the only solid shot you have in impressing a potential employer, as they are spending a good 5 minutes of their time on reading your stuff.
Make their time count. Perfect your resume and make it appear seriously good.
It's amazing how some sweet tweaking of words and sentence structure in your resume, can make the most inexperienced candidate into a potential star.
The employer knows the position is entry level, and they know they are not going to always get an experienced person applying.
If you can show your potential you're in a good position to be considered.
Be persistent and stand out from the rest. Good luck.
I think IT is always hard to break into since the industry values experience so much.. but if you dont have experience then can be a brickwall. Just keep on trying and take any job in IT then work your way up. Keep on learning, take a few certs, do IT related hobbies & interests you can put on your resume..
Have a look at Western Technology, they provide Managed IT Services to businesses across Australia. Send your resume to [email protected]
Yes booming in India, China, USA, Singapore, … Except here Australia. Here the property is booming.