I paid $6,000 to work for free at Nestlé. My friends thought I had lost it.
It was a uni industry placement program, and it is a big reason I landed 4 junior and graduate offers as an international student. Three of those four offers were in the same industry as my placement.
Here is how these programs work, why the odds beat applying through job boards, and the visa rule that keeps the placement hours outside your work limit.
What is a uni industry placement program?
It is a unit in your degree where the university places you inside a company for a semester.
At the University of Sydney it worked like this: enrol in the unit and pay its tuition, get through two rounds of interviews, get placed at a company, then work unpaid for the semester. You earn credit toward your degree for it.
Most Australian universities run something similar. Look for "industry placement", "internship unit" or "work-integrated learning" in your course handbook.
Why it beats applying for internships on job boards
Local experience at an established company. This is the line on your resume that most international graduates are missing when they start applying for full-time roles.
Better odds. An internship on LinkedIn or Seek is open to every applicant in the country. A placement program is competitive, but you are competing inside your own cohort, for companies that have already agreed to take a student.
A way into an industry. My placement was in FMCG. My first marketing job came from that door opening, and so did a later category analyst role.
Does a placement count toward your student visa work limit?
Student visa holders can work 48 hours a fortnight while their course is in session, with no limit during breaks.
Home Affairs states that work formally registered as part of your course is not included in that limit. A placement unit that counts toward your degree usually falls into this category, which means the placement hours sit outside your 48.
Check one thing before you rely on it: ask your university to confirm the placement is a registered component of your course.
If you are applying for your uni's placement program and want a mentor to prep you for the selection interviews, book a free 15-minute call.
Is paying to work for free worth it?
Half of international bachelor's graduates have a full-time job 4 to 6 months after graduating. For domestic graduates it is 3 in 4, according to the government's 2025 Graduate Outcomes Survey (QILT).
Local experience is one of the biggest things separating those two groups. A placement buys it before you graduate, while your visa clock has not started yet.
It is the wrong choice if you are at uni purely for the subject knowledge. Then a regular unit is the better use of the fee. If you are at uni to be employable in Australia when you finish, the placement is the better buy.
How to get into your uni's placement program
Find the placement unit in your course selection and check its application deadline. It is often the semester before the placement runs.
Enrol for the earliest semester you are eligible for. Placements fill up, and an earlier one leaves you time to use the experience in graduate applications.
Prepare for selection the way you would for a graduate role: a resume tailored to the companies on offer, and real stories ready for the interviews.
For the other ways to build local experience while you study, including a gym receptionist who turned his casual job into two internship offers, read: 3 Ways Your Part-Time Job Boosts Your Grad Job Search in Australia.