Doing an internship or a work experience program is the fastest way to get a skilled job in Australia. We have put together a list of common questions to guide you through the internship process.

Internships are an effective way for gaining local work experience, understanding how the Australian workplace operates, gaining skills in your field of study and in the industry where you want to work and building a professional network.

Not only internships give individuals an edge over other candidates when applying for jobs but also our statistics show that 70% percent of international students that do an internship get a job in their field of studies.

Anyone can apply for an internship, young, old, student graduate local or international. Note you must be enrolled or enrol an accredited internship program as defined by the Fair Work Act 2009.

Also, international people must have a valid visa to stay in Australia.

The length of the internship depends on the program you enrol. JobNow internships usually run for 3 months and 20 hours per week. But internships vary and can be as little as 1 to 2 months and 3 days per week.

But each program is accredited differently so we recommend that you speak to your education provider to confirm the duration of the program.

Our program includes the following:

1. Personalised professional coaching
2. Interview preparation
3. Access to our network of companies and start-ups
4. Invitation to events and seminars
5. Connections with our community of professionals
6. Training on programming languages and accounting software
7. Support in Spanish, French and English.

Internships are regulated by the Australian government to protect students and companies. To do an internship you need to.

• Be enrolled or enrol in an accredited program by the Australian government with a subject called “internship” or “vocational placement”. Unfortunately, there are not many programs that include an internship as a requirement or as an elective. The most common are:
  • Work Readiness program (WRP)
  • Work Integrated Learning (WIL)
  • Professional Year Program (PY)
• Have a contract between the 3 parties involved describing as a minimum: the objective of the internship, the key learnings and the duration of the internship:
  • The education centre, the college or the university “Education Provider”
  • The company “Host Company”
  • The “Intern” or the student.

Here we explain the pros and cons of each program:

• Work Readiness Program (WRP): It is a short program designed to help you to get a job in your profession. It generally includes 2 parts: Preparation to get a job and the work placement.

Pros: It is the cheapest and shortest program on the market. The price of the program varies between $ 1,600 and $ 6,000 depending on the company, the industry and the duration of the program. This program is open for students and graduates in multiple fields of study including engineering, administration, marketing, law, IT and accounting.

Cons: You cannot apply to a visa with this program. Therefore, you need to enrol in this program on top of the main study program to access a student visa.

• Work Integrated Learning (WIL): It is a subject part of a diploma, bachelor’s degree or masters’ degree. This subject can be an elective or a compulsory unit that gives you credits to graduate. Onlys some programs include this subject. The best way to know if your diploma includes the option to do an internship is to speak to your education provider.

Pros: Usually, the education provider supports you finding the company and giving you tools to prepare you for the internship. In some cases, the cost of the internship program is already covered so you don`t have to pay any additional fees. If this is your case, we recommend that you do the internship as soon as possible and take advantage of this opportunity.

Cons: Usually, only the most expensive study programs include this subject and in some cases, you need to pay to enrol this subject, fees fluctuate between $ 4,500 to $ 7,000.

• Professional Year Program (PY): It is a program for international students that includes theoretical studies and an internship. The duration of the program is 12 months and the program is only open to engineering, accounting and ICT students.

Pros: The program is accredited to get a visa and there are multiple programs, some of them with affordable prices.

Cons: Only people who meet the requirements defined by the Australian government can access this program and in the workplace this diploma is not as good as a “bachelor degree” or a “master degree”.

Our recommendation is the WRP and JobNow offers this program, contact us for more information.

Internships are not remunerated, and this is legal and covered by Fair Work Act 2009. Please visit the Fair Work Australia website to get more information on the rules around work experience and internships.

Just keep in mind that you need to enrol an approved study program and you must have a contract between the education provider, the company and the student.

Some companies give a small remuneration to the interns (never monetary) for example: gift cards and vouchers.

A remunerated or paid internship is no longer an internship but an employment. In this case you don’t need to be enrolled in any program and this is a normal job.

You should have an employment contract between the company and the employee.

If you get this opportunity, you are among the 10% lucky people who find work in their field. Congratulations!

Keep in mind your working rights and do not exceed your eligible hours to work in Australia under your visa.

Yes. The internship program is an opportunity to gain professional experience and is not considered as a job. Therefore, in addition to doing the internship program you can work in according to your working rights in your visa.

Approximately 90% of interns begin working within their field of study within 6 months and 70% of students receive an employment offer at their host company. However, we cannot guarantee that interns enrolling the JobNow program will be offered an ongoing role. This depends on the job vacancies of the company and the intern performance during the internship.

By doing an internship, you can improve your chances of receiving a job offer at the end of the program by learning as much as you can about the business and industry, working hard, networking and continuing to develop your knowledge and skills throughout your time with your host company.

We have partnered with an education provider that specialises in facilitating internship placements for international students with the intention that the internship turns into ongoing employment. They have helped over 3,500 international students to start their careers in Australia through an internship.

The main difference is that as a volunteer you support an organisation or a non-for-profit company for free with the aim of supporting a cause, learning skills and meeting people. The important thing to remember is you have no obligations to commit to hours and can opt out at any point. Also, your help cannot generate any added value or direct monetary benefit to the company or the foundation.

Most of the volunteers work for foundations or non-for-profit companies and perform unskilled functions.

As previously explained, an internship is part of an education program with a main objective to gain professional experience.

This is against the law. Australia does not support unpaid work and penalise companies that target vulnerable people who need to gain professional experience. If you are in this situation, you could get free legal support at your local international student center (i.e. Study Melbourne).

For your safety, only work for a company with an internship program or with an employment contract.

The program includes the following costs: Firstly, the education program costs: program, teachers, online platform, licenses, accreditations and evaluators; secondly, finding host companies and third, administrative costs including insurance, advertising, customer service, etc.

If you are interested in getting more information about our Work Experience Program, please email us on info@jobnowgroup.com.