2020: How UOW gets you ready for your dream career - University of Wollongong

Striding through BlueScope's bustling Wollongong steelworks, it's hard to believe that Joel Coelho was once so shy, he'd rather walk alone to uni than catch the free UOW bus.

Joel: My name is Joel. I'm from Mumbai, India and I'm a University of Wollongong Graduate. As a child, I always wanted to be an astronaut. So, mechanical engineering is my pathway to getting there.

Kaiyang: My name is Kaiyang. I’m from China and I’m a University of Wollongong graduate. I feel like it’s a very good University, especially in the computer science, telecommunications, engineering field. And today I’m a data scientist at one of the biggest supermarkets in Australia.

Joel: The opportunity to get work after university was a massive factor for me when coming to Australia. The University’s Careers Central is really amazing. They run a lot of workshops to get you job-ready.

Kaiyang: The University provided a free course to get me prepared for the job market. I studied a lot of interview techniques, I got prepared for the behavioural questions. Carrying vegetables was my first part-time job, and then later on I actually found a job at the University of Wollongong doing the 3D modelling.

Joel: While volunteering and working on campus, I created a lot of networks, and through my networks, I found a job at BlueScope, because they connected me to the people out in industry.

Martin: It’s that sort of human connection – underpinned by your studies – that’s the stuff that makes you employable. One of the great things about being somewhere like the University of Wollongong is that there are lots of great ways to network and get to know the place, and really, that can lead to ways into such businesses.

Joe: The degrees that the graduates from the University of Wollongong have are recognised across the globe. The level of talent in the students we’ve seen come from the University has been very good. But it’s the individual person that’s come through. So the University has provided a fantastic foundation for you to go and achieve things. But it’s then for you to go and leap frog into the next part of your working life.

Joel: For other international students who have considered coming, what I would say is just take that leap of faith.

Kaiyang: Be brave to embrace the challenges, and do the hard work.

Martin: Challenge yourself, meet new people, go for it.

"I was really afraid", recalls Joel. "But I also knew nothing would be handed to me. I had to make the most of the opportunities and put myself out there."

Originally from Mumbai, India, Joel was then a mechanical engineering student at UOW, with quietly held dreams of one day becoming an astronaut. Starting with volunteering, and later, the help of UOW Careers Central, Joel slowly started to gain confidence and diversify his experience outside the lecture theatre.

"One of the things we are looking for in students, or potential employees, is that they are curious and they're willing to ask questions,' says BlueScope's Digital and Social Media Marketing Advisor, Martin Field. "Sure, you need to have knowledge from your university studies, but as the economy changes, as the industry revolutionizes, we want to know if you have the language and the interpersonal skills to solve problems and move the industry forward generally."

This is a sentiment of which Joel McLaren - APAC Account Manager at FDM Group - agrees.

"We are always looking for people that have skills, whether that be through internships, work experience, university, team projects... Our employability criteria is not a set of bullet points on a job description, we're really looking for the person and what they possess, the skills that they can bring to a work environment and what potential they have."

Now working with FDM group, UOW Engineering graduate Kaiyang Li is testament to UOW's unique career-ready approach.

"High marks are not the be all and end all. For example, volunteering says a lot about who you are and personally, it gave me different skills and enriched my experience. You need to have stories to share. This was my key learning to get me prepared for my working life" says Kaiyang.

For Joel, his role working at BlueScope is now part of his narrative, with a journey to space no longer such a distant dream.

"For other international students, I would say there are a lot of opportunities, but it's up to you to make it happen."

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