Written by: Ahsan Ahmed
An international student in Australia is legally allowed to work up to 40 hours fortnightly or 20 hours a week while course work in place. In the break time or off study period, there are no restrictions and this limitation does not apply.
Finding the first job while being an international student can be bit tough. International students are heavily employed in the hospitality, retail, and cleaning industry in Australia. I will discuss the job searching strategy and industries below where the students can find a job easily. Also, the certifications and licenses that can be helpful or required to work in a particular industry or role.
Requirements before start working:
– A tax file number or TFN (can be applied online: https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/tax-file-number/apply-for-a-tfn; )
– Australian Bank account (to get the wage or salary on account)
– Australian Business Number or ABN (Optional) (if you working as a contractor or as a business)
Job searching strategy:
– The most effective and efficient way to find a job is to get a referral by someone that can be friend, relative or maybe someone you know here
– Applying online through a different platform can be effective as you know exactly who is hiring. Some of the great online places for job searching are: www.seek.com.au; www.gumtree.com.au; https://au.jora.com; https://au.indeed.com; www.airtasker.com;
– You can contact your university career department or different recruitment agency who can help you to find a job in some cases
– You can write a lovely email with your resume and sent it to the businesses around whom you think may hire you
– Walk into the establishments with your resume and asking for a job can be useful sometimes but make sure to avoid going there on rush hours and find the manager or owner to hand over your resume who can possibly offer you a job.
Working as an international student: opportunities and areas
– Food delivery: this is one of the easiest ways to start working as you don’t have to search or apply for any job. There are various food delivery companies in Australia with whom you can register online and start working straight away once they add you to their system. Some of the popular food delivery companies are UberEats, Menulog, Deliveroo, and Doordash. You can start working with them if you have a bicycle, bike, scooter or car.
Pay: usually, one delivery can pay you $5- $15 depending on the distance you travelled to deliver the food, timing, or maybe customer tips.
– Driving: it is one of the great way to make quick money. The requirement is, you must have to have an Australian driver license and different states have different requirements for how long you are holding that license before you can commercially drive. Some of the ride-sharing companies in Australia are Uber, Ola, and Didi.
Pay: any ride-sharing driver in Australia on average earns around $20-$50 per hour depending on the time and zone they are working.
– Security guard: being a security guard require you to have an Australian security license. There is a certificate course for being a security guard that needs to be completed before applying for a license. Once you have the license you can start working as a guard on business sites, construction sites, events, or particular areas.
Pay: a security guard usually gets paid around $20-$30 per hour. There may be penalty rates on top of that if they are working on weekend, overtime, or night shift.
– Hospitality: The hospitality industry covers all restaurants, cafes, pubs, hotel, motel, pizza, and kebab shop or takeaway. Usually finding a job in this industry is by word of mouth or referral. You may walk in to distribute your cv around for getting a job in hospitality. Searching at www.gumtree.com.au; www.seek.com.au; can help to find out exactly who is hiring.
Pay: hospitality is still somewhere underpaid industry for international students as most of the businesses still pay by cash in hand. So, you don’t get the minimum industry rate or award rate for the work you do. Businesses in the hospitality industry started paying in TFN now for government and fair work strict regulations where pay rate vary from $20- $30 per hour plus penalty rate for working on the weekend, overnight, or overtime.
– Retail: supermarket (like Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, Kmart, Officeworks or big w), convenience store or fuel store (like 7 Eleven, Shell, BP, Caltex) and fashion store (like Myer, David Jones, cotton on) all fall under retail industry. The best way to find a job here is referral and online application from their website or through the www.seek.com.au;
Pay: retail is now a good industry to work on as the pay is great here. Any retail assistant or worker can earn around $20- $30 per hour plus penalty rates on top of that if they are working on weekend, overtime, night shift, or public holidays.
– Cleaning: cleaning is a job that requires bit of physical labour and after-hour work. Cleaning work usually can be at the office, premises, school, university, or maybe at someone’s house. You can find plenty of cleaning jobs online.
Pay: a cleaner can earn around $20-$30 per hour.
– Aged care (Personal care): working as a personal care assistant at aged care requires completion of a certificate course. This job requires all the personal care to be provided to the elderly people who are residing at the aged care or retirement houses.
Pay: a personal care assistant earns around $20-$30 per hour plus penalty rate on top when working on weekend, overtime, after hour or public holidays.
– Construction: working in construction industry is tough and it’s not for everyone. There are different licenses required for working in construction sites like “a white card” and a “traffic control license”.
Pay: construction workers usually earn around $25+ per hour.
Courses to do to get a job in a different industry:
– Certificate II in security operations: this course will let you to apply for a security license and get a job as a security guard.
Course length and fee: the course can take up to 20 full days to complete and cost around $900- $1200.
– Traffic controller: traffic management course to work on road or construction site. Usually responsible to stand on the road by holding a stop or slow sign to control the traffic in under construction areas.
Course length and fee: a one day course and it will cost from $150- $250.
– Certificate III in individual support: this course allows working as a Nursing Assistant, Home Care Assistant, Personal Care Assistant, or Residential Care Worker, etc.
Course length and fee: the course can take up to 24- 26 weeks by doing classes 2 days a week and cost around $900- $1200.
– White card: white or induction card is compulsory for working in the construction industry.
Course length and fee: it is a one day course and can cost around $100- $200.
– Barista course: this course can help to get a job as a barista at café or to work at the bar where coffee making is required.
Course length and fee: it is a 3-4 hours course and costs around $150 – $400 depending on coffee making, latte art, etc.
– Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA): this course is mandatory to work in a bar or a restaurant where alcohol serving is involved. There is a very high penalty in Australia for serving alcohol to underaged or intoxicated.
Course length and fee: it is a 3-4 hours course and cost around $50 – $100
– Responsible Service of Gaming (RSG): this course is necessary to work in the gaming industry or with gaming machines.
Course length and fee: it is a 6 hours course and can cost from $50- $100.
– First aid: a mandatory course for working in the health industry. It is also a great course to put in your basket does not matter which industry you are going to work.
Course length and fee: the course can length from one to two days and cost $100 -$200.
– Responsible service of Food (RSF): this course is for anyone going to work in food preparation or food handling.
Course length and fee: a one day course and can cost around $50- $100.
Note: Please seek advice and help from university or friends if you don’t know something or need clarification with anything. Below are some of the great sources available to get to know about all the rights and requirements while working in Australia.