Landing a job used to be a rite of passage for students trying to make ends meet. Now, it’s more like a scramble. As living costs soar and rent eats into casual pay checks, students are being pushed to their limit while they try to balance study loads with casual or part-time work. One study of student work practices found that half of students say they work primarily to cover essential costs such as rent, food and transport.
Issues ranging from poor management to insufficient work income can contribute to the stress of students trying to make ends meet. According to the 2017 Student Finances Survey by Universities Australia, an organisation that provides insight on higher education trends, “working hours and financial hardship are closely linked” with many students experiencing financial stress.
Behind those numbers, some students can struggle with rigid hiring practices and the unspoken barriers that shut many out of the job market altogether. Jesse Fraser, a 22-year-old student from Monash University, moved from regional NSW to Melbourne to study a double degree of Science and Arts. Finding a job that fit around university hours was not easy.
For Fraser, the biggest struggle was: “finding something that would both fit in with my university schedule – but also was something I had the qualifications or the training to actually be able to do.”
Many students looking for jobs also experience what is known as ghosting, a growing trend where employers don’t acknowledge applicants after their initial job application, creating an uncertain and demoralising experience. According to a LinkedIn survey, 51 percent of Australian job seekers report being ghosted during the application process. For Fraser, the silence following an application was also discouraging.
“Typically I actually wouldn’t get a response at all,” they say.
“I wouldn’t hear anything from them and I’d assume at that point they had been rejected.”
Nikila Amarasena moved from Sri Lanka at 21-years-old to study genetics and ecology at La Trobe in 2022. He recalls his struggle to find work and understand the unfamiliar job market after moving to Australia.
“I had no idea how to apply for a part-time job, and I didn’t know how to make a resume,” he tells upstart.
Many students face barriers not only in securing work but also in adjusting to the job market. A report by Study Melbourne, a government initiative that supports international students, found that international students and graduates often face exclusion from equal employment opportunities in Australia due to standardised recruitment practices and perceived barriers.
Students must also contend with job requirements that frequently ask for significant prior experience or certifications, even for entry-level positions. Fraser found both of these things a challenge, with most jobs requiring “a lot of flexibility in terms of when you can work” and “a lot of prior experience”.
“One personal issue I’ve had is that because I’ve worked at a few different places around Melbourne, especially in the last couple of years, that often doesn’t present well on a resume because it looks as though I’m job hopping.”
Naren Chellappah from Career Success Australia, an organisation that provides career coaching for graduates and migrants, says employers must adapt to the changing dynamics in the workforce.
“Employees are looking for flexibility, and if employers don’t offer this, they risk losing talented staff,” he says.
The expectation for employees to always be available, particularly when balancing the demands of education can lead to burnout, pushing students to seek better opportunities elsewhere. Research finds that students working 15 or more hours are significantly more likely to report skipping classes, delaying assignments and lower engagement with their studies and around 50 percent of students reporting their work negatively interfered with their studies.
According to Study Australia’s website, international students are allowed to work a maximum of 48 hours per fortnight while their course is in effect, and unlimited hours during holidays. Failure to comply with those rules can result in their visa being cancelled.
For students like Amarasena, limited work hours have led to financial difficulties. Despite securing a job, he was given fewer hours than he needed to support himself.
“I wasn’t getting enough shifts, and the job environment wasn’t great,” he says. “The manager had unreasonable expectations and would monitor us through CCTV.”
A Mercer report on flexible work challenges indicates that since the pandemic, over half of the Australian employers (54 percent) believe their culture now emphasises ‘work-life balance’, up from 43 percent in 2019. For students, this means evaluating whether the work environment offers the flexibility they need to juggle work and study. Humanforce’s research showed that 54 percent of workers pursued better work-life balance than higher pay.
But finding that balance often comes down to the attitude of individual employers —and not all are on the same page. Jesse has experienced both sides of that coin with employers who are collaborative and supportive, and others whose rigid expectations made balance impossible.
“I’ve had a lot of employers with expectations that exceed anything that someone can realistically achieve,” Jesse says. “But I have also had employers who have been very opened and very accommodating, and being able to work between the two of us to create a work environment where I can achieve the best I can and they get the results they’re looking for.”
Article: Ethan Withers is a second-year Diploma of Arts student at La Trobe University. You can follow them on Twitter at @EthanWithers.
Photo: Woman in Gray Long Sleeve Shirt Sitting on Chair in Front of Laptop Computer by Czapp Árpád found HERE and used under a Creative Commons license. This image has not been modified.
