I earn 55K a year currently working in customer services. Have Masters in Business Administration. Already have 2 year experience now in a Big Health insurance organization. Not sure how to increase my income. It seems to increase like a snail. Need advise people. The only draw back i see is that I ve been in Australia for 6 years now and only local experience matters. Open to all advises. Think about business but not sure or any skill. HELP
How Do I Increase My Income ! Help Needed
Lzhk89 on 05/12/2019 - 17:22
Comments
Not every dog n cat can get MBA, it's not that easy and expansive.
MBA doesn't get you a good job/payrise but experience and good contacts does.
Firstly Do not aim for Salary increase… aim for getting better and getting new skill that is relevant to your field. Money will follow you.
Steps:
make some goals
Break down your goal into small tasks. eg where you want to be —> what it will be require to reach there —> Who can help/guide etc —> resouces etc.We get absorbed in our comfort zone and stop looking around. Come out of it. Identify the career options that can give you handsome salary and job satisfaction. then put your heart and soul to earn it. Once acheived aim for another goal.
Consistency is the key.
Climb the corporate latter, get a call centre manager job . decent earning of $87k per annum (quick google based in NSW), that would be increase of $32k. Do you wish to become a manager though?
To put it into perspective, 55k is approx the median salary in Australia so you're in middle which is pretty good!
You're definitely on the correct path as your English (and communication skills) can only improve whilst working in a call centre. Both skills are paramount in today's workforce so embrace your role and remember that you'll only continue to grow in it and it'll help you step up into your next position.
Also remember your salary is relatively in a good place today and it'll likely increase over time. Stay positive!
Thanks Richard :) Appreciate your feedback
Average wages increasing by 2% pa and have been for a few years now.
Welcome to Australia !Where did you obtain your MBA from? There is a huge difference in getting it from a school nobody has heard of, or if it's a internationally recognised school. First things first, you'll want to ensure your English, either verbal or written, is immaculate. If you put the effort in to ensure your language is not the issue, people can help you with other aspects.
How is your resume? Tailor it to your job applications as well, instead of sending the same resume and cover letter to every organisation. Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years? Do you see it in management, or somewhere a bit different?
Addressing these questions will go a long way in ensuring you have the best possible chance of increasing your income.
Thanks for your suggestion. I did it from CQU (Central Queensland Uni).
And your experience? I highly doubt that employers only look for "Australian based" experience, particularly as international experience is more renowned these days. Where/what was your work experience outside Australia?
Human resource executive 1 year experience from overseas. 6 months in Australia as well. Sales experience in Australia. Hospitality experience in Australia.
Anyone can get MBA's from random online places these days
OP, enough about language skills etc.
Why did you do the MBA? If the answer was to earn a lot of money, you wasted your time. MBA's themselves provide skills to do this. If you are not using those skills, or went through a 'mill' (or didn't do the work) to obtain the paper it's as valueless as any other paper. The MBA's value lies in the learning which teaches opportunity creation and business management.
Decide what career you are interested in. It might not be immediately profitable, but if you studied your MBA, you will find a way to monetise your interests that benefit you.
Switch jobs, that's the way to jump in salary, as long as you are moving upwards, or upskilling, you're moving. I would query an MBA graduate content to spend 2 years in cal centers working instead of using their skills to obtain a junior (yes junior) position in business, make it their own, and progress, possibly 1 to 2 jumps by now.
Getting ahead is a hard slog, and most people say they aren't lucky, because luck often comes in overalls and is easily mistaken for hard work. I know which one will pay off.
Yes, back to communication skills, treat everything you wrote with care, you never know who will read it, and careless is a habit that bleeds into the rest of your life. If you talk as you write, then you are about a 4-5 IELTS. Considerably better than I speak a second language, so don't be discouraged, but not at a level where you're going to slot into a 6 figure job, that is years of work away, that's the reality, it's not impossible, it's just several jumps away.
There is no way after 2 years of working in a customer comms role your spoken or written English shouldn't be as good as a local, other than accent.
Good luck with it all.
Faith restored in sensible comments and suggestions. That is how you can help someone with constructive feedback. Appreciated mate. Thanks for the encouragement.
Nice informal English ;) seriously, wouldn't know you weren't born here. Those first posts were a shocker though. Maybe check a thesaurus or spell check if you're not sure?
I've heard that taking an anglo style name when applying for jobs can be useful too. Although, I kinda dislike this idea personally, and I guess it would depend on the country the recruiter or company were from.
I mean, play the cards you're dealt the best you can. I'd love to speak an Asian language, so many opportunities on our doorstep. Australia, particularly Sydney is an incredibly multicultural place with plenty of business opportunities for the entrepreneur. Plenty of foreign companies operate here too such as banks.
I have to ask the same as one of the above questions…
What did you actually do the MBA for? What did you imagine you'd be doing, job/career-wise…? You don't seem to have answered that part.
This is a real issue I've noticed with a lot of overseas folks (I'll point out im married an Indian woman, but she's super westernised), that they just do degrees almost for the sake of it. No real thought about what those degrees will actually do for you. I don't really see the point of an advanced qualification if you have no/minimal experience in actual working environment. Yes I realise experience is what you're after but I suspect you're aiming a bit high right now, gotta start off in the right job (ie not a pointless call centre job) and put in the yards, then either get promoted or work your way up via hopping to another company
tfw you do MPH just for the letters after your name when you write medical certificates
Learn coding and become a developer where you don't need much of communication skills and you could easily make over 100k.p.a in 3 years times.
Where to start? How long it takes for learning it? And in 3 yrs time you mean including the time I spend on learning it or after learning take 3 years?
Spend some time on YouTube/internet to know what are the booming technologies and find out what YOU find interesting to learn.
There's sales on cheap courses on udemy for Java and C++ the most common languages, it's not easy to learn and it won't be too easy to find a job either. You'll have to learn from a very junior role in a smaller company but you can work your way up to huge salaries, a little bit of talent helps to.
Take a serious look into coding and development before investing into it, it's not for everyone.
Easier said than done. Its one thing to just be able to print "Hello World!" and a different ballgame to be a GOOD AND EFFICIENT programmer.
3years time might be achievable or may just be an absolute waste of time and resources. This will all depend on how determined OP is.
Plus developers don't always get respect these days and they're trying to push down the salaries or outsource.
Get a good job that pays good money- derr- The Honourable Joe Hockey
Why don't you just, like, make more money?
-Ja'mie, Private School Girl
I'd worry less about trying to improve the salary of your job and try to find an actual career. Then find an entry point to that career and don't worry so much about the starting income being more than you're currently getting. Careers actually have growth potential. There's so little potential to grow in a skill free job. Doesn't matter what you want to do, but think of a career you might actually care about.
Figure a product how to control bush fire and prevent haze coughcough* the haze is killing
meus.Turn all the trees into furniture. Tear down the royal national park in Sydney and build houses to decrease the cost of housing. Just don’t give the profits to the Aboriginals via native title.
What you need is $200k from an investment.
Lol
simple get a job that pays more and/or work more hours
You have been out of uni 2 years and you got a generic degree how much do you expect to earn..?
This seems to be a post of desperation. I'd guess you have great intentions but your approach is what is holding you back.
Let's be hypothetical and call your post your resume. If your resume came across my desk the first thing I notice is the lack of direction. I also see your objective (earn more money) as selfish. I am a business owner looking to make more money for my business but I can't see how you're going to help in your post.
Let me make this short… Your attitude is the problem.
I have friends from overseas who hold only an Australian MBA (from a very well respected University) secure a very well paying job because their attitude was aligned to the company's values. If you learn from this one paragraph I 100% guarantee you will have success in future years.
Good luck
I understand the pull towards wanting a higher salary I do but your focus is on the wrong spot. You need to be trying to achieve excellent references. Good money is about relationships. Go out of your way to help your colleagues and ask for nothing in return. Anticipate what your boss needs before they need it, try to make their lives easier. Try to get to know people in your field and hang out with them. Organise social events at work. For a while you might feel like they want to keep you there forever because you do such a good job that they don't want to promote you - and that's when you ask for more money and they realise they don't want to lose you. And if they don't come to the table, that's when you leave and get a better job with the excellent references you have based off the good relationships you've fostered.
More and more the workplace is becoming about people and not about the work. You need relationships. Networking isn't showing up to random events and trying to get to know people through small-talk anymore. It's about building a reputation amongst those immediately around you, and that spreads. You've got good work experience now, you've got degrees, it's time to think about what field you can work in where you're so passionate about it, you're willing to help those around you and not expect anything in return. Not gonna lie. It's hard. It requires a degree of patience and maturity. But it really does work. It takes about ten years of consistent application to really take off in life.
Edit - don't forget the magic of compounding money. Read The Barefoot Investor.
What field do you want to work in? Not sure why someone would go for a Masters in Business Administration with no relevant experience under their belt.
some of us may have already mentioned, your attitude is your problem but I still don't think you realise it.
your reply to seraphim2017 "That is how you can help someone with constructive feedback." make me think that you did not realise own problem, you think we are just picking on English.
I used to live in a busy country/ city in Asia, people there are very competitive, smart and hardworking, but most of the people there never admit their fault ( always denies and find excuses), never apologise, like to pretend they know everything and they like to bluff.
I don't know you at all, but by just reading your post, I feel like you are just like one of those people who never admit their own problems.
everyone makes mistake, everyone has a weakness.
if you make a mistake at work, just say sorry to ur boss/ co-worker/client.
if your boss gave you something you are not familiar with, just voice it out and mention you are still up for the challenge, or ask someone to go through with you.Learn to be humble, unless you are the best in the world, there are lots of people much better than you. ( even you are the top 1% human being in the whole world, there are 75 million people better than you.)
I have done some recruitment and when I get 100 plus applicants some of the easiest methods to cull that list is to remove resumes with poor grammar, spelling and very little experience. I would recommend getting a couple people to review your resume and cover letter. Pay for it if you have to. I also get many applicants with masters with little to no experience. When I advertise permanent positions I want the candidate to have experience because I don't have the time or resources to train them and I am unwilling to pay top dollar without experience. I would recommend applying for short term contract positions these roles are hard to fill with experienced candidates and employers are more willing to take a risk on candidates with very little experience like yourself because if it's not working out you can be finished up that day.
Lol y'all know you wouldn't care if it was a known native speaking ozb user that was speaking informally on this thread
Only cause he's a non-native you raise your expectation of written English and professionalism on a forum thread
It doesn't help that the second sentence in says OP has a MBA. It also doesn't help that the first response from OP was defensive rather than introspective - he/she needs to accept 'advise'
I'm a first gen migrant too. My English is far from perfect. Learning another language requires lots of practice but more importantly a brain that us wired to retain languistics skill. I'm not that lucky so I purposely chose IT as my professional. I'm comfortable staying in my corner writing code, making sure things running smoothly and leave the talking to people who are more fluent in English than me. It seems to work fine. So option 1 is to find a job utilizing your strength and not showing your weakness.
Coincidently I also had a MBA because I wanted to challenge myself as well as learning new skills. I found the course very useful however I would never go for a MBA in order to get a job in Australia. Almost 80% of my classmates were mid level managers who fluent in English and more importantly very skillful in playing the politics game. I dont think ops has any of these 2 quality bases on his posts. The rest of the class were fulltime overseas students who never intended to look for job here. So option 2 is going home. You can be success anywhere, it does not have to be in Australia
A very successful person that I know barely speaks English. He arrived in 2005 with his family with less than 10 grands. In 2015, he already owned 2 Asian grocery shops in Richmond and Springvale. He lives a very modest life no showing off but looking at the number of ppl choosing to shop there I am sure he is earning top dollars. He told me once in his broken English how he starts the day at 2 AM to drive to the wholesale market in Footscray to purchase fruits and veggies for the shops then works until late night often skipping either lunch or dinner. I don't know how much is true in the story but I'm sure small business owners like him have to work very hard. So option 3 is starting your own business, putting the skills you learnt from your MBA to the test. Unfortunately, the MBA courses here do not gear toward entrepreneurs but still you must learnt a lot. Use your MBA connections and network too. Many students are keen to start their own businesses.
I feel that a large number of migrants coming to Australia expecting everything to go smoothly. When faced with the reality, they quickly blame the gov for lying about skills shortage or businesses for not considering people with no local experience. The truth is the job market is competitive. Everyone including the local have to sell themselves. If communication skill is not the strength then either improve it or go for a job that utilize a different set of skills.
Btw 55k is not bad. I got 38k per yr at my first job as an IT helpdesk officer
Good luck
My brother is an IT helpdesk officer too and has been in similar positions for about 3 years. He wants to move onto other fields in IT but who he works for currently has very less IT roles. What skills do you find future-proof as a career to move on in any of the areas like business analyst, programming (which languages), testing etc. and after learning them from Udemy or YouTube, how should be apply for jobs with no experience in those particular areas? Any help would be much appreciated.
Hey there I work as a Support Engineer (basically helpdesk for our customers' helpdesks) for a large software company.
IT is a pretty huge industry and there are lots of areas to go for so at first I'd recommend finding one specific area he likes and he can work from there. Lots of companies even offer movement internally (I was a BA for about a year, realised I was more into the technical stuff than just talking and switched).
For future proofing, I think its better to get into one area first and then learning what skills are needed and what certification would be good.
If they have no real experience I'd really recommend a tertiary course (either TAFE or Uni) for the core skills (basics of networking, IT Administration, network infrastructure, etc…).
Once you get out, many companies offer entry level roles where you get taught anything you need to know and you might even find what you like (or hate).
Thank you for such a wonderful insight. He has an overseas bachelor degree which is recognised by the ACS (Australian Computer Society) and has done numerous projects in PHP, Java, C++ SQL server. He says he likes programming too but doesn't know where to start and what to start learning. Not many entry level programming roles in seek as they all want a mid-level or senior people.
Me not hire pepol who no experience me looking for.
How to increase your income? Find another job that will pay more. Talk to recruiters in the area and see how your skills can match potential job offerings they have or will have open in the near future. Start from square one.
Join a good Toastmasters club.
Don't settle for free advice here.
Go to a career or recruitment specialist or coach to help you identify your strength and weakness to help you achieve your goals.
Focus on Value creation. What have you done above and beyond the core role and how has that led to a positive outcome.
Masters degree means FA in business. It's a check box. You need to sell yourself on what future value you bring.
My 2c…
Re English, I think the biggest issue here is your mindset about it. Even though I have been studying English (it's my third language) since childhood, I'm always on the outlook to improve and do find many things to work on. Maybe your English is as great as you are saying but to think it is perfect would be rather unwise.
RE MBA, my brutal opinion is that it is not worth much. If I were to hire someone based on the information you just gave me, your MBA would not add anything to your profile. 2 years of experience is not much and would be considered junior. Also, MBA holders in the workplace tend to have 10+ years of experience, including managerial responsibilities. This is not to discourage but rather to inform what the usual profile of other possible candidates for jobs you may be applying for.
What skills are you trying to sell when applying for jobs? More importantly, what kind of jobs are you looking for?
Maybe your English is as great as you are saying but to think it is perfect would be rather unwise.
No it really isn't and telling him it might be is no more helpful than mocking him. His English is terrible. The grammar is awful for a start.
You need a 80k high yield investment vehicle.
Your prospective employers aren't taking you seriously enough without one.
Surprised it took 3 pages before this comment showed up :D
This comment just never gets old hey? I wonder where the original investment vehicle OP is now.
This comment just never gets old hey?
Oh no, it is painfully old.
I wonder where the original investment vehicle OP is now.
It was a troll thread.
i love these threads
Commanding the Queen's English is no easy feat for a natural born Australian let alone a bilingual or trilingual person.
Op, your English is just fine. It is not holding you back from making more money.
The concept of language skills being discussed in this thread is interesting.
In my line of work I have encountered a lot of people in positions of power with poor English. I ought to note, however, these people are often well credentialed - think Doctors, health professionals and the like. You don't necessarily need perfect English to do well.
However, the people noted above do have tangible skills that they are able to leverage for income.
If you aren't in a role like those mentioned, good English is critical to demonstrating your worth. Especially if some external stakeholder, or somebody paying you money, is receiving your work.
I do have faith that OP likely has good spoken English. I have a bunch of international friends who write in much the same way as OP, however, speak better than many typical, anglo Australians.
You have to give the guy some credit though. For all intents and purposes he is able to communicate and express himself in a second language. I would not be able to do that.
I've met so many native English speakers who say they wouldn't be able to speak in a second (or third) language… that is, until they get thrown into the deep end.
To be honest, I don't think it's a lack of capability. It may just be a lack of motivation or necessity. FWIW, English is my second language, and I am able to communicate in a couple more (fluent enough to be understood, hopefully), aside from my birth language.I don't necessarily think I am unable to learn another language, I can pick up tidbits and phrases pretty quickly.
I guess I was more commenting on the fact that if I was to learn another language, it would likely take a great deal of time before my written expression was sufficient to thrive in another country where that language was dominant.
Granted, OP has probably learned English drom a young age.
Yeah, you'd probably have no trouble if you were forced to learn it.
Please stop feeding the troll
For call center and assuming if not in selling but purely post sales ops then unfortunately that would seem to be in line with industry standard. The only way you can grow that is if you take a leadership role. Be mindful Australia has seen on average 2-3% at best per year wages growth in the last 4-5 years assuming you been in the same role and organisation. The on,y other way I can think of you getting some pay increase if to be still in similar profile to go to a competitor and play industry knowledge as a trump card.
Having said that I would rather try to leverage of using MBA, try getting of the phone and into a more office job within same company. Be marketing, finance or sales which you have right qualification for. High performers always find a way. All the best.MBA = Master Bullshit Artist
Most that I've seen are only "Mediocre".
I see an MBA as a qualification your employer pays you to get once they've decided you would be useful in that role, not one you go get preemptively.
Yep the more my eyes open the more I realise how useless that degree is
Employment is a good way of making a living, but a rubbish way of making more money. You've got your $55k survival wage. Put in the minimum effort to stay employed there, but nothing more. Having a job is not gonna make you rich, unless you're in the top 1% of talented salespeople, or you're a surgeon. Man I've even met broke surgeons. Repeat after me: it is not your boss's job to make you rich. It's your boss's job to extract as much labour from you for as little money as possible. It's literally their job to wring you out. So forget about making more money at work. Work is to pay your rent, bills, and groceries. You wanna make more money? You gotta find more money out there. Think about it: even if you raise your income by $10k per year, after all the extra responsibility your boss will load onto you, you're looking at about an extra $120 in your pocket per week. Absolutely not worth it.
You gotta start your own cash hustle outside of the confines of your job. You gotta treat it seriously, and put real time into it. Most of all, you must provide actual value. You gotta be doing something people are willing to pay for. When you figure it out, you can easily double your current income and it won't even take much extra time out of your day. Just forget about trying to get a raise or a promotion. That stuff is for industrial revolution suckers.
Can't agree more on this..here's a +1 from me.
If you don't mind me asking, what is your cash hustle, freakatronic?
Junk arbitrage at the moment, but I'm gonna use the profits to start something else next year.
Now I definitely not getting an MBA. it's proven to be worthless.
Since you didn't mention from which uni, I am assuming it is from unranked uni?
Maybe he deleted the post, but he said CQU. So you're assumptions are on the money.
I earn 55K a year currently working in customer services
Do you think your efforts in your current job deserve $55k (or less) or more?
If your efforts deserve only $55k or less then that's all you'll get paid for.
Put in more effort, far more than $55k - e.g. learn about the business broader than your function, deeper than your function, at a higher level than your function, and your pay will increase, or you will develop into the person that will command more elsewhere.
For the long term, develop your self awareness to understand what field you enjoy and become an expert in it. No, not in a year or two, but 10k hours and more. Then you will start earning a lot more.
Terrible advice. You're asking OP to gamble his life on a business that's not his own, that he can't control, that he could be made redundant in at any moment. Become more useful to his boss? Your boss's job is to take credit for that. You put in 100 today, then it's your boss's job to get 110 from you tomorrow. After 10000 more hours he might start earning more? Terrible advice, and it'll probably result in no profit.
- Very short-sighted
- You miss understand the 10k hours of becoming an expert - not becoming a call centre expert actually doing it. Read "Outliers".
This comment will probably be buried but BS aside - We are living in a golden age for side hustles, just think of anything you could do after finishing work or weekends
From physical: gumtree flipping,Uber,Dog walker,delivery driver,mystery shopper
To online: content creator/youtuber/reviewer/web designer (all these could be learned no need for degrees)
For contex: A friend (in IT) creates wordpress themes in her spare time and making thousands on the side
what is reviewer?
Personally, I think this must be a troll. In case I'm wrong I'm not going to mock him though.
My guess is he's Indian and over qualified but lacks any polish or people skills. That or it's a troll and no offense intended.
There are far too many international student who keep on studying because they don't have the ability to get a job out in the real world. MBA is useless unless it's combined with relevant experience and skill set.
In a way, it will only make it harder for you to find a job as employers will consider you to be over qualified.Two problems; your English, and your attitude. Scoring well in IELTS is not something to brag about. I've spoken to people who clearly passed IELTS, yet could barely converse.
Present professionally, humble your attitude a bit, but still come across and confident and competent, and you'll pick something up in no time. The job market is not too bad here in skilled professions.
- Become a politician, some Secretary and Minister earns over $500K! Have no idea what they actually do other than talk.
- Buy old rundown property and flip them. Sydney's property prices seems to never drop.
- Broden everything on Ozbargain then flip them on Gumtree/eBay.
55k with an MBA I would say experience and qualification isn't your issue. It's your language and people skills. When Homer said popularity is everything… he was right :)
Joe Hockey says: Get a better job.
Or rich parents.
I think your English is fine, if you want to go into management, your English just has to motivate and train people on gettin required outcomes, and your written English is always going to be excellent enough.
I would suggest you do Management accounting and organisational behavior.
Look at the bright side, You already got a job. 55k for an entry-level job in customer service is quite reasonable. I'm not saying it a fair pay, but that seems to be the standard in that industry. My wife has been working in customer service for the last 8 years and she is still earning around 60k.
I guess, if you want to stay in the same industry, look at improving your skills and apply for supervisory and managerial roles. Just doing a great job will not be sufficient as it will go unnoticed by most managers. You got to put yourself out there to get noticed. Networking helps a lot!
Also, try changing industries. Certain industries may pay a bit more for similar work. For example, customer service roles in mining or pharmaceutical industries may pay a bit more compared to some other industries. That's another avenue for you to explore.
Anyway, as a new migrant to this country, I think you have done well to have a job. You are working, paying taxes and contributing to this economy. Keep improving your skills and you will get where you want to be. Do not get discouraged by any negative comments here. Good luck mate!
Spend less than you earn and invest the rest.
Change jobs and be part of the gig economy ie Uber driver, Uber eats etc.
That MBA hanging on the wall is pretty much worthless.
A banana tape to the wall is worth $170k to the right buyer!!
Mate, you have an MBA. Use those skills…
Get out there and convince someone that you can grow their business (i.e. a start-up or SMB) or start your own firm and work on projects that can buff your reputation in the market. In the meantime, go out there, network and try to open some additional doors for yourself. Perhaps in this process, you'll improve your business acumen, get some feedback from other professionals and even make some new friends along the way.
My take as a fellow MBA - You have just done a degree that should have given you the tools and empowerment to spin up a firm or new business line or help someone else improve the management of theirs. Just do that. Even at the lowest rung of salary, you'll get 55K-75K.
Can you comment on your employment and interview experience post-MBA? What kinds of jobs did you apply for and did you get some good feedback along the way?
Where did that MBA come from? That might make a difference…
What was your take away from your MBA?
Seems you lack the skills it's designed to teach.Daigu?
Nothing like a bit of undeclared tax free income, I am sure your clientele will appreciate your perfect English.Go back where you came from :) Your MBA will be more useful elsewhere in your native country.
Be happy you got a job here.Everyone seems to want to get their boot into you on this one. There is also some good advice.
- If you did an MBA it is probably more of a business role you are looking for.
- MBAs unless you have a career already is just a glorified business degree.
- Have you identified the role you do want? If so what is the skills gap to get there? Are you prepared to accept 45k to start there. I know people who refuses to take any pay cut, although in 2 years time they will be making more.
Unfortunately most universities are selling you an expensive dream. MBA programs unless you come from a top international school isn't worth that much. I know people who came from UNSW / AGSM which are pretty sharp. Haven't ran into any Melbourne people. I'm finishing one at a Top 10 global university.
You may also want to get in touch with class mates or alumni to see if they can keep an eye out on roles. The team spirit and the vouching for quality of your degree might be important if they are a reference.
Or your cohort might have good business ideas. Mine has quite a few and we're all working through feasibility.
Potentially go out there and do something and show people what you can do. Volunteer your time at a charity and sort out their processes. I once spent 2 weeks part time in between jobs working for a charity and did a spreadsheet that took all the source data and produced their financials in 2hrs. It used to take them 2 months of manual work to do it at end of financial year. Charity group have good connections to corporate sponsors and generally very nice people to learn language and other skills from.
Unfortunately CQU is not a reputable university and neither is their MBA program. As many have said, the MBA itself, if not from a recognized program is not that useful for career progression because the value of the MBA is in the contacts and networking aspect. If you are really chasing the money you can go two ways. Do something people don't want to do or something that is not easy to do. Demand and Supply will work out the rest. Unfortunately that means relearning a new skill or trade. Just consider the MBA an additional qualification and get a local certification in something else.
Not a reputable and valued MBA.