Want to know which jobs are popular with international students?
We asked our friends over at OneShift to dig into their massive data set and tell us which jobs are the best matches for international students in Australia.
Here are the results as well as some a brief summary of each one:
1. Retail Sales Assistant
This job involves helping customers in the store, dealing with stock and cleaning. It’s a great way to learn English because you have so many interactions with colleagues and customers.
Pros: Flexible working conditions, lots of time to practice English, usually finish at 5.30pm.
Cons: Low pay rate, early starts, on your feet all day.
2. Administrative Assistant
You could be making coffees, sorting the mail, writing emails, managing calendars, making copies and more. This role is an entry-level position in an office environment, and you’ll usually be asked to do fairly simple repetitive tasks.
Pros: Relatively easy work, good working hours (9am-5pm), good pay rates.
Cons: Can be quite boring and monotonous, not a lot of interaction with others.
3. Waiter
The typical student job, a waiter/waitress will work in a restaurant to ensure hungry diners are left satisfied. You will be cleaning, serving food and drinks, taking bookings, dealing with patrons and more. Some restaurants take customer service very seriously, so the training and the stress involved in this line of work can vary widely.
Pros: Reasonable pay rates, lots of time to practice English, always busy and rarely bored.
Cons: Long hours can be tiring, some chefs are crazy, no tipping culture in Australia.
4. Kitchen hand
One of the most physically demanding jobs, a kitchen hand will wash dishes and do easy food preparation tasks in a restaurant’s kitchen. You are often the last to leave the restaurant as you will be scrubbing pots while the waiting staff finish.
Pros: Reasonable pay rates, time goes quickly because you’re so busy, a good work out!
Cons: Long hours can be tiring, not a lot of conversation, can be a stressful environment.
5. Bartender
This is the job for those that enjoy talking to strangers, like making cocktails and have a strong work ethic. For this job you need to be tolerant of drunk people, be able to work long hours but also not take yourself too seriously to get along with customers and fellow staff.
Pros: Good pay rates, fun atmosphere, a great way to practice English.
Cons: Long hours, have to deal with drunk people, can get very boring on a slow night.
6. Call Centre Staff
No other job will give you this much practice for your English. Your job is to be on the phones all the time, either selling something or helping people through customer service. Many international students quite enjoy this line of work, and it’s the Insider Guide’s pick of the lot!
Pros: Excellent pay, flexible working conditions, often a fun work atmosphere, good practice for English.
Cons: You have the same conversation hundreds of times a day, no physical activity.
7. Customer Services Officer
This job was invented for those that are good with people. Your job is to deal with customers complaints, requests, specifications, issues and more. If you take this job, your job will be to be the bridge between the company and the customer, which can be challenging but also quite rewarding.
Pros: Good place to start if you are looking for a better job in the organisation, reasonable pay rates.
Cons: Can be stressful.
8. Cleaner
This is a job for those that don’t mind night shifts, low interaction with people and hard work. Big companies employ hundreds of cleaners and then assign them to office blocks to clean each night.
Pros: Not a lot of communication required (if you don’t speak English well), not overly complicated.
Cons: This industry has issues with exploitation of workers (so be careful), often have to work at night, you don’t get to practice English.
9. Receptionist
Your job is to welcome guests, assist with administrative duties, book flights, prepare meeting rooms and more. You are often a company’s first interaction with walk-in guests, so you need to be very professional and punctual.
Pros: Good pay rates, excellent hours (9am-5pm), lots of interactions with people from the company.
Cons: Mundane tasks can be boring, can be very stressful, difficult to manage work load as staff members keep giving you work.
10. Sales Representatives
Not a job for everybody, Sales Representatives require a high resistance to failure (you’ll get rejected a lot) and a very strong work ethic. You may be paid a base wage + commission, or you could be paid just on commission (which we don’t recommend).
Pros: Can earn a high salary if you can close sales, lots of interactions with people make it a good way to learn English.
Cons: You get rejected a lot, may have to work on street corners selling to strangers, can be paid just on commission (which means you don’t get paid unless you sell).
