International students share their experience and advice on working in Australia
International students Khuslen Tsendbaatar and Zayed Al Kathiri reflect on working in Australia after their year-long paid Professional Placement in Swinburne’s Careers & Employability team. Photo by Hugh Burston.
In summary
- Bachelor of Business (Professional) international students Khuslen Tsendbaatar and Zayed Al Kathiri have completed a year-long paid Professional Placement
- Working in Swinburne’s Careers & Employability team, they have gained invaluable knowledge and share their advice on working in Australia
- Students are gaining practical work experience as part of the Victorian Government Study Melbourne International Education Resilience Funding
Discovering that “the more questions you ask, the better you’ll do,” required a shift in thinking for international students Khuslen and Zayed. They were pleasantly surprised by how their placement line managers challenged them to think for themselves and learn how to confidently ask questions – all in the pursuit of better outcomes.
As part of the Bachelor of Business (Professional), Khuslen Tsendbaatar (KT) and Zayed Al Kathiri have spent their year-long paid Professional Placement working in Swinburne’s Careers & Employability team and levelling up their career.
For KT, this experience led her to explore a new career track she has never considered before.
“I have grown to enjoy data reporting and analysis. I have been considering the possibility of choosing a career in data science so this experience has helped me understand what I would like to do as my career.”
Zayed encourages other international students to apply for placements that are out of their comfort zone.
“Studying at university allows you to build and gain different skills and qualifications, and having various other skills enables you to become adaptable and versatile when applying for a job,” he says.
With Zayed as a Marketing Administrator, and KT as a Junior Data Analyst, the students from Indonesia and Mongolia respectively aided the development of career resources for international students and featured as guest presenters in webinars and events. This was instrumental in fellow international students feeling nurtured, which broadens the possibilities for others study and work experiences.
As part of their placement experience, Zayed and KT learned how to use professional business analysis programs such as Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Excel and CareerHub.
“I am learning to be proficient in and understand how to use the organisation’s business analysis programs to perform data analysis and data visualisation that make sense of business data and draw insights. It also allows me to develop a deep knowledge of data sources,” Zayed says.
“These are all crucial software used in data science and it will help me as a technical skill in my future career pursuits,” says KT.
Global perspective
As part of the Victorian Government Study Melbourne International Education Resilience Funding, students like Zayed and KT are getting practical Australian work experience – relevant to their studies – while building their professional confidence.
Zayed says that one of the best resources Swinburne provides for Muslim students and staff is the prayer rooms. “They’re vast and spacious, and I am happy that they equipped that type of resource for their Muslim students.”
“I always enjoy talking about my own heritage and history as well,” says KT. “Almost everyone is curious and interested in the differences we had when we grew up. Everyone has been very welcoming to me and positive about our differences.”
Career Consultant (International) Olivia Doyle says an advantage of having KT and Zayed in the workplace was their “insider intelligence”.
“Getting their perspectives on work to better tailor resources and marketing to a diverse student audience was incredibly valuable.
“I am sure other organisations would benefit from similar insights which reflect our diverse Australian community along with the need to build bridges across the globe. Our team also enjoyed learning more about their cultures, meeting their families and sharing some delicious treats.”
As part of Swinburne’s real industry experience guarantee, previous students have had work opportunities ranging from robotics at Bosch Australia Manufacturing Solutions (BAMS) to IT at Media Links Australia.
-
Media Enquiries
Related articles
-
- University
TEDx is coming to Swinburne: seeking nominations for distinguished alumni to be celebrated
Swinburne will be hosting its first TEDxSwinburne event later this year and will showcase Swinburne's world class innovation and ideas from some of Australia's brightest minds.
Thursday 18 April 2024 -
- University
Swinburne's Social Innovation Institute backs projects on circular economy, ancestry and critical care nursing
Three Swinburne research projects have received seed funding from the Social Innovation Research Institute which helps support and co-create solutions to complex social problems.
Tuesday 23 April 2024 -
- Student News
- University
Swinburne ushers in a new era of student representation
Swinburne has been collaborating with students to improve the student experience and resolve challenges with student representation.
Thursday 18 April 2024 -
- University
Students get first shot in Victoria at entrepreneurial Swinburne Startup Year
Swinburne’s Startup Year will equip students with the skills required to build the foundations of a successful business venture, whilst also earning a qualification.
Monday 22 April 2024 -
- Astronomy
- University
OzGrav 2.0: A ‘new era of astrophysics’ launched at Swinburne
The next phase in the world-leading ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, dubbed 'OzGrav 2.0', launched this week at Swinburne University of Technology.
Wednesday 17 April 2024