Written by Anushka Vineet
With grad season fast approaching, it is that time of the year when final-year students start wondering where the years have gone and finalise their post-uni plans. For many students, this is full-time employment, especially in graduate programs.
For ANU students who remain in Canberra, the Australian Public Service (APS) graduate programs and jobs are a hot commodity. Canberra, as the home of the federal government, is the home of the APS. In 2024, there were 185,343 permanent workers with ongoing contracts. However, to work for any governmental agency, there is one fundamental requirement: you must be an Australian citizen.
To be considered a domestic student in Australia, you can either be an Australian or New Zealand Resident or an Australian permanent resident. Thus, even if you have spent an overwhelming majority of your life in Australia, but do not have citizenship, you are ineligible for any APS employment.
Another major disenfranchised cohort is the international student population. Even if they gain full working rights and permanent residency in Australia post-studies, they are in the same boat.
Observer reached out to the International Students Officer, Seungbing Kang, about the issue.
They conceded that in Canberra, “there are not many graduate roles available for international students”. Consequently, many international students struggle to find full-time employment after graduation in Canberra.
Following graduation, most international students are eligible for a Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa. This visa allows recently graduated students to “live, study and work” after their degrees wrap up. However, Kang stated that many of the students on this visa “are often in casual or part-time work that is limited in their working conditions and wages”.
Kang stresses that the international students face a “barrier to entry for work” and a “lack of work opportunity”, which has become “a source of discontent for many international students”. As a consequence, they fail to find work after graduation, resulting in many international students either leaving Canberra or returning to their home countries.
On Friday, October 3, the International Student Department hosted its annual Careers Fest ‘25. The day aimed to provide students with networking opportunities, resources to aid with career development and exposure to employment opportunities post-studies.
The fest included a networking event, panels regarding working rights, and a careers fair.
At the fair, marketed as “Meet Your Employer”, many different businesses and corporations, predominantly from the private sector, were present at the fair discussing employment opportunities post graduation.
If you were unable to attend, Prosple is a great website tailored to help freshly graduated students, including international students, find employment.
Even though APS graduate programs closed in April, many private sector programs are still taking applications for 2026 graduate programs.
Graphics by Fatima Usman
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