Here's a number that should stop you in your tracks: over 60% of Australians aged 25 to 34 now hold a tertiary qualification.
Think about what that means for you.
You've spent three or four years completing a degree. You've paid international student tuition fees, often $30,000 to $50,000 per year. And when you graduate, you enter a job market where a degree is no longer a differentiator. It's just the entry ticket.
For many graduates, this is the hard truth: your university degree doesn't matter in Australia as much as you were told it would. It helps you get considered, but it does not get you hired by itself.
So how do you actually get hired?
After working with hundreds of international students across finance, consulting, marketing, and tech, here's what we've found. The graduates who land roles aren't always the ones with the best WAM. They're the ones who nail at least two of the following five traits. These are also the exact areas we work through in our 1-on-1 mentoring sessions.
The five traits that actually get international students hired in Australia
1. Strong interview skills
Australian interviews are different. Employers here lean heavily on behavioural questions, "tell me about a time when..." and they're looking for authenticity, not polish.
Many international students over-prepare. They script every answer, rehearse until they sound robotic, and treat the interview like an exam to ace. One of our own mentors did exactly this: five coffee chats, a scripted answer for every question, hours of case prep, and still didn't get the consulting role he wanted. His feedback? He came across as desperate rather than confident.
The shift that makes the difference: prepare five to six real stories from your experience and know them deeply. Don't memorise scripts. Know your material well enough to be natural.
2. A strong local network
In Australia, who you know genuinely opens doors. Research consistently shows that a significant share of roles are filled through referrals and networks before they're ever advertised publicly.
For international students, building this network feels harder, and it is, at first. You don't have the same family connections or school ties that domestic students lean on. But you can build it deliberately.
Start in your second year of uni, not your final semester. Go to industry events. Connect with guest lecturers. Reach out to alumni on LinkedIn. Ask for 20-minute conversations, not jobs. The goal is to become a known quantity to people in your target industry before you're applying.
3. Top academic results
A high WAM won't get you a job on its own. But for competitive graduate programs at firms like the Big 4, the major banks, or FMCG companies, a strong academic record keeps you in the running at the screening stage.
If you're aiming for structured graduate programs, a distinction average or better is worth protecting. If you're targeting direct entry roles at smaller companies, academic results matter far less than what else is on your resume.
4. Local internship or work experience
This is the single most powerful thing you can do while studying. A local internship, even a short one, tells employers three things: you understand the Australian workplace, someone has already taken a chance on you, and you can get things done in a professional environment here.
Don't wait for a formal internship program. Volunteer roles, part-time work in your field, university consulting projects, and even well-documented side projects all count. The goal is evidence that you can operate in an Australian professional context.
5. Timing and some luck
We'd be doing you a disservice if we left this out. The graduate job market in Australia fluctuates. According to Indeed's Hiring Lab, graduate job postings in early 2025 were tracking 16% below the same period in 2024, which itself was down 24% from 2023. The market is softer than it was two years ago.
That doesn't mean it's impossible, far from it. But it does mean the other four factors matter more now than they did when the market was at its peak. You can't control timing. You can control preparation.
What this means for you right now
If you're in first or second year, use this time to build network and local experience before grad recruitment starts.
If you're in final year or already graduated, stop bulk applying and focus on interview readiness plus direct outreach conversations.
Your degree gets you through initial screening. How you position yourself gets you hired.
If you want a clear, practical plan for your situation, book a free discovery call with one of our mentors. Our mentors are international graduates who landed corporate roles in Australia recently, many within the last 12 months.
If you want to understand how the overall market has shifted and what that means strategically, read: Is the Australian Graduate Job Market Actually Getting Harder?