A new Australian first program has been launched to help address shortages in the labour market by connecting international students in New South Wales directly with employment opportunities.
In an interview with SBS Tamil, Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade Alister Henskens said the NSW Government through Study NSW is partnering with leading employment marketplace SEEK to deliver NSW Jobs Connect for International Students.
“What this program does is it simultaneously meets our labour market demand for talented and skilled employees," Mr Henskens said.
"It gives international students the opportunity to work while they're studying and it also enriches our workplaces by having a greater variety of people from a whole lot of different cultures and skills coming into our workforce.”
We've decided that there's a great opportunity here to not only support our international students and our multicultural communities but also to support our employment sector.
The SEEK platform now includes the “#NSWJobsConnect” filter, enabling international students to easily search for job opportunities posted by employers across a range of sectors including finance, construction, manufacturing and technology.
Minister Henskens speaking at the NSW International Student of the Year Awards which were held in October Credit: Supplied
What are the eligibility criteria to join this program?
The program is open to international students enrolled at New South Wales institutions.
International students can go to the Seek website and filter jobs through “#NSWJobsConnect” and then they can go to the Study NSW website to find out more information about the program.
The students are responsible for ensuring that they're complying with their respective visa requirements.
International students Source: Getty / Getty Images
What benefits will it bring to students?
This program will help students to find work while studying. In addition, it may help them after they've finished their studies, when they may have 2-6 years of post-study opportunities and rights.
“We all know that it can be very hard for international students when they come here to find work. The great thing about this program is that this really makes it much easier for them to connect with prospective employers and gives them employment opportunities in a way that hasn't been available before,” Mr Henskens said.
While they're studying it builds their employment skills, helps with their cost of living, and then afterward, it provides them the opportunity, once they've completed their course, to get a great job.
Mr Henskens said the pilot program will continue until 30 June next year.
“It's very usual for new initiatives like this to be piloted initially and then assessed and then based on the learnings and the success of the program, then we look at making them permanent,” he said.
Source: Getty / Getty Images
Mr Henskens encourages those NSW employers who are interested in joining the initiative and recruiting international students and graduates, to submit their expression of interest.
If they would like to attract international students, they can register their interest by going to the Study NSW website. A member of the Study NSW team will contact them and they can then add “#NSWJobsConnect” as part of their Seek job ads after they've signed up for the program.
Employers considering hiring international students need to abide by Australian employment law. The Visa Entitlement Verification Online system (VEVO) allows visa holders, employers, and education providers to check visa conditions.
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