These are stories from migrants in Australia. It highlights how skills assessments and assessing authorities have helped them in their employment journey in Australia.
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Elen
Assessing Authority: VETASSESS
Occupation: Marketing Specialist
How improving employability skills helped Elen in Australia.
Elen is a highly skilled Marketing Specialist from Brazil, and holds qualifications in communications, marketing, and journalism.
Upon arriving in Australia on a skilled visa, Elen initially worked as a Digital Marketing Manager for the Australian franchise of her former Brazilian employer.
However, when she moved to South Australia, she struggled to find roles aligned with her capabilities, and has been working as a Personal Assistant.
To help improve her Australian workplace skills, Elen participated in the Australian Government’s Employability Assessments for Migrants Pilot, which provided her with a free employability assessment, coaching session, a personalised plan, and up to $3,000 to cover employability skills training.
Elen received an email from VETASSESS advising that she was eligible to apply for Pilot 3. She was interested in learning more about the Pilot, which led her to complete an application and the survey.
Upon commencing the Pilot, she found value in the coaching sessions and her personalised plan, as it helped sharpen her employability skills, giving her the tools to help drive initiatives with her employer.
As part of this initiative, Elen also undertook subsidised training to further develop her business and professional skills for the Australian workforce. She found these courses very helpful, with learnings that she regularly shares with her work colleagues including time management techniques.
She has since shared the certificates she received for these training courses on LinkedIn, which has assisted with her employment prospects.
“I think it was important to give me the endorsement of my skills,” Elen said. “So, when LinkedIn asks me for the evidence of my skills I can indicate the courses I recently completed. It helps build up my professional profile.”
As Elen’s Assessing Authority, VETASSESS also provided her with employability resources, including links to relevant professional bodies and a resume optimisation guide.
Elen’s current employer is now looking to promote her into a role that makes best use of her skills.
The Pilot has helped Elen improve her employability skills, and she is confident that the training she received under this initiative will help her with future job searches.
Elen said: “The training organisations were highly reputable and having the opportunity to do these trainings for a fraction of the price was really worth it for me, specifically the university provided short courses.”
Oleksiy
Assessing Authority: Trades Recognition Australia (subcontractor: Future Skills International)
Occupation: Electrician
Oleksiy was a highly skilled and experienced electrician in Ukraine who came to Australia on a humanitarian visa.
To help with his employment prospects in Australia, he sought to have his skills recognised under the Australian Government’s Skills Assessment Opportunities for Migrants Pilot. The Pilot, which ended in February 2024, offered free and fast-tracked skills assessments for onshore migrants who hold an eligible visa.
As part of this Pilot, Future Skills International (a subcontractor of Trades Recognition Australia) provided Oleksiy with detailed advice on the application process, customised feedback on the required documentation, and offered all the necessary tools that he needed to use for his assessment and exam.
Recognising that English is Oleksiy's second language, his assessor tailored their service to his needs and explained all the assessment requirements before the commencement to ensure Oleksiy had a complete understanding of the process.
“Oleksiy showcased exceptional performance during his technical and practical assessments”, his assessor said. “He demonstrated high-level skills across all aspects of the evaluation. Notably, he achieved a perfect score of 100% on all parts of his written exam.”
Oleksiy has now received a suitable skills assessment outcome letter, which he is using in his job applications. He was also awarded a provisional licence to work as an electrician in NSW.
Acknowledging Oleksiy's high-level skills and experience, his assessor went above and beyond by encouraging him to explore future employment opportunities. Oleksiy’s assessor provided him with insights into the pathway for obtaining a full electrical licence, outlining the additional training required for his continued professional development, including the Electrician – Minimum Australian Context Gap Course.
The Pilot helped Oleksiy with his employment prospects as an electrician in NSW by providing him with a free and fast-tracked skills assessment. Without the Pilot and his assessor’s tailored services, his journey towards obtaining a licence would have been more expensive and might have taken longer.
“The pilot has been helpful to me,” Oleksiy said. “Thanks to this program, I was able to obtain a temporary licence, which brought me closer to obtaining a full licence.”
“The incentive is a great Pilot. It has been smooth and very well-tailored. Thanks to everyone who developed and organised it.”
More success stories
To read more stories from people who chose Australia to live and work, please visit Migrant stories | Smart Move Australia.