Chinese, Indian students just as good as locals for jobs in Australia

19 Sep 2017

To demonstrate this, Melbourne startup Outcome.Life has made posters showing six international students dressed up the same way as the iconic one from World War II featuring Rosie the Riveter and saying ‘We Can Do It’.

In the posters, graduates from Mauritius, Colombia, Malaysia, China, India and Indonesia wear the same denim shirt as Rosie and strike the same pose in a bid to show their strength, according to SBS.

“There are issues with systems in Australia that make it hard for international students to succeed here, on top of the negative views some people hold about their abilities,” says Outcome.Life co-founder Gerard Holland.

The aim is to give international graduates “a fair go”, according to Holland.

International students in Australia pay premium fees compared to their local peers. SBS notes that the figure is 400 percent more for higher education courses than local students.

Once they graduate, they face a hard time landing jobs. A report by Hobsons Solutions found only slightly more than one-third (34 percent) of companies hire international graduates.

Thus, Outcome’s Life’s campaign aims to increase job opportunities for this group of students.

“We want to highlight that they are just as qualified as locals and they can do it too, if we let them,” says Holland.

International student education was Australia’s third largest export after iron ore and coal a record $21.8 billion https://t.co/4Xn5i3pkoM

— Ramon Querol Bonet (@templarquerol) March 5, 2017

One of the faces on the poster, Harsh Solanki, an IT graduate who originally came from India and also one of the faces on the posters, experienced these difficulties and prejudices when he was looking for a job, despite his qualifications. Many companies are worried about visa issues, he says.

“The interviewer asked me the final question before finishing the conversation over the phone that ‘Are you a permanent resident?’ I didn’t hear anything from them afterwards.”

While some research has shown there are greater risks in hiring international graduates, Holland wants the poster to show that these graduates are qualified and should be given a chance to prove so.

“Once employers have experienced their skills, passion and dedication via an internship, they’re generally always blown away and want to hire them.”