“在毕业生大军中，你如何脱引而出？”

If you have applied for jobs on Seek, CareerOne, MyCareer or any other job site for a long time, but ended up with only few interviews, this blog may be helpful to you.

As an international student who also experienced the same situation, I would say that you are in an overwhelmingly disadvantageous position. I understand the reality is hard and cruel. As you have invested huge $$ in the Australian Higher Education system and you assume that you are ready for a job. That’s totally wrong. Basically, what universities teach you is theoretical knowledge and outdated technique. Usually, employers in the job market can seldom get some things from it. Employers want to hire someone who has years of relevant experience to the job title which we don’t have. And now the problem arises, how do we try our best to meet the expectations or requirements from employers? My one answer could be to show your passion, to rectify your attitude, and to show your professionalism.

Those details are really important in the present job market. And those things are inner parts of yourself which can either motivate you or hold you back. Believe it or not, 90% of us don’t have to compete with our talents throughout our lives, because we haven’t worked hard enough to exploit our potential. If you want to know the short path to success, most successful people will tell you. It is “Great Efforts,” nothing special. For 99% successful job seekers, they are not genius. They just prepared earlier, and worked harder.

Without doubt, I know how hard it is when you came out of university, and you stand among native speakers. You were starting to feel nervous, and you were careful of every sentence you spoke. Moreover, you found that your expertise is not that competent. That’s all fine, since most of international graduates all sit in the same situation. You are not alone.

Here I give my suggestions to kick off your dream career. First, you could try to do volunteer work for the government or charities. The reason behind is that this kind of work is free of charge, and it allows for mistakes during the process. You can treat this kind of experience as your cornerstone to the next paid position. Undoubtedly, employers in the job market recognize volunteer experience related to your profession. Also, employers may think you are good-hearted individuals which contributes a lot to your personality. Alternatively, you could do an internship (paid or non-paid) which really connects the gap between the university and the workplace. Frankly speaking, nobody starts out knowing everything, and there is a gradual process between newbies and masters. Internships involve real work and real projects which can teach you a lot, and give you the chances to practice, and prove yourself to the employers.

Last but not least, in terms getting a job guarantee, my sincere advice is to forget it. The world is variable, the universe is variable, and why do you think you can sit in the same high paid and well-known position for your rest of your life? If you have to-do attitude, and show your contributions and efforts to your company, your employers will surely retain you and give you what you deserve.

Thanks for your patience to read my post about such a big topic. Sincerely, I hope everybody similar to me can find a job at last. Lastly, to reference an old idiom, “Chance favours the prepared mind”.