The Lucky

Country -
the Land of
Dreams
Ar#cle by Tom Quinlan

Australia has beau-ful landscapes and beaches,

clean and safe living condi-ons, and some great
universi-es. The chance of a be:er life a:racts
many interna-onal visitors and high demand for
permanent residency. Interna-onal students ock
to Australia ready to roll up their sleeves and put
in hard work in return for a good career se@ng
them up for life.

Most then discover that the phrase land of dreams is not because it is the dream-easy run to a be:er life,
but because for many it will only ever be a dream. In fact, the saying Australia is the lucky country was
actually intended to be a wakeup call to all Australians that easy street will not last forever! So the reality is
many students complete their Australian undergraduate and cannot nd work, ever, in their chosen eld, and
aHer a number of years of despair and depression they retreat back to their home countries. During these
years many will assume that a masters course will x the issue, but in reality it oHen has the adverse eect by
making the student overeducated. I specically say that they are overeducated and not overqualied for an
entry-level role and badly lacking experience for a senior role. Some get lucky by securing a posi-on in
graduate programs but these are a high minority, and for interna-onal students I have heard the gure is as
low as 6 percent.

Some disciplines are more oversupplied with skilled candidates than others. These are typically ones that
require more technical skills than communica-ons skills, such as accoun-ng and IT. In other cases, its a result
of the government opening up visas to those in certain elds such as hairdressing and cooking in the past.

The reality is Australian employers want people with experience. As I say, Employers want you to make
mistakes at work so you learn; they just want those mistakes with the past employer! This is a combina-on
of employers wan-ng condence that you can do the work and the fact that universi-es curriculum in some
disciplines is seriously misaligned from what the bulk of employers are chasing. A classic example of this is in
Accoun-ng where the course content is aimed at senior accoun-ng roles, air fairy theory, and whole subjects
on ethics. CPA and CA are both pres-gious brands and many students, rightly so, aim to complete one of
these accredita-ons. However, this steers students to subjects at university that meet the CPA or CA
requirements rather than taking the basic courses rst, and universi-es oHen bow to the same pressure. The
analogy I put forward is like teaching students how to be formula one drivers and not teaching them basics of
driving a car on the road! As for ethics, yes everyone needs them, but it is interes-ng that there is such a need
to focus on teaching ethics predominantly to accountants, and less so to HR and other business disciplines.

Then the biggest issue hits interna-onal students: the need for strong communica-on skills. As a recruiter, my
biggest obstacle in placing interna-onal students is English communica-on skills, followed by lack of
experience, then technical ability. The phrase recruit for culture and teach skills is followed because
technical skills can be taught. The same principle applies to communica-on skills. Employers may take a
chance that they can teach you the technical aspects of a role, but they wont even try teaching you English.
So if your communica-on skills are subpar they will simply select another candidate. This is not racist but a
simple business requirement. However, there are also racist employers in Australia. (I make it clear I dont
condone this and that 95% of my sta are from interna-onal backgrounds.) Some employers are
subconsciously racist, born from laziness and -me constraints in that they will look at an applicants name,
see it is an interna-onal name, assume the applicant cannot speak English and delete their resume. I have
observed rst hand an experiment where the same resume was taken and the name only was changed from a
foreign-sounding name to a more common Anglo name. Both resumes were sent a few hours apart. Im sure
you can guess which one of the two the employer responded favourably to.

I alluded to the fact that over-educa-on can be an inhibitor to obtaining entry-level roles. In countries
throughout Asia, the culture dictates that aspiring professionals complete an undergraduate degree. They
then do their postgraduate course and subsequently get a great job. In Australia, unless you gain work
experience along the journey it does not work that way. In fact, even the leading postgraduate courses such
as a MBA require you to have work experience before they will admit you. This is to ensure that all students
enter at a certain level and so that their graduates get jobs at the end of their course, a sta-s-c which is
cri-cal in protec-ng the brand name of their agship courses.

Many students are smart enough to work out that they will need work experience. Others nd out six to
twelve months aHer star-ng university. Either way, having then spent upwards of $30,000 on a postgraduate
course they are willing par-cipants in gaining voluntary work experience. However, Fairwork Australia has put
a stop to many of these prac-ces, crea-ng bigger problems for students because they now have no
opportunity to gain experience. In Fairworks defence, they are trying to stop exploita-on of people, but the
wording of their legisla-on is very grey and there have not been enough test cases yet to make employers
willing to risk legal ac-on by hiring a student. The ones that do tend to be the smaller backyard businesses
where exploita-on is more likely.

CPA printed an ar-cle in their In the Black magazine presen-ng the thoughts of one lady who argued that
some students having access to voluntary work was a social injus-ce as richer families could aord it and
others could not. I agree with her implica-on that voluntary work is clearly highly benecial but would argue
that as a parent I will provide my children any assistance I can star-ng with a private school if I can aord it, a
good university, aHerschool tutoring, and I certainly would not hesitate at giving my kids a strong compe--ve
advantage with voluntary work experience down the track. In fact, my younger brother completed a
Marke-ng degree and, like most candidates, struggled to get a role so went and did a masters in Marke-ng
and s-ll could not get a role. I had a contact in my business network willing to take him on for 3-4 months as
an intern. My brother learnt a lot, took the experience, got a job, and has not looked back. I would certainly
never exploit my family members, so you can see my view on the importance of experience.

It is true that many interna-onal students do not have the circle of friends and family to help them gain
experience, that many have communica-ons barriers they need to address more so than technical
deciencies, and that their home culture steers them down a dierent study path to what may be op-mal in
Australia. Many of the people not ge@ng roles are highly mo-vated and willing to put in the work to actually
make Australia the lucky country once again. They just need an avenue to achieve this vision.

Tom Quinlan is a CPA and MBA (Monash) who has mentored a number of local and interna#onal students into the
workforce for over a decade. Tom is Director of www.quinlanconsul#ngteam.com and www.quinlanpte.com and a co-
Director of www.quinlantax.com. Tom can be reached at tom@quinlanconsul#ngteam.com