Case Study 5

International students may not be aware that many jobs will take graduates from any discipline and this may put them off applying for certain jobs. Dress for interview seems to be much more formal here, than in Australia with suits being the norm even for non-executive positions. And disclosure checks—depending on your occupation—are far more common here than in my previous experience.

I don't know about other European countries but being paid monthly is very uncommon in Australia. Add to this the fact that if you start at the wrong time, you may not get paid for 6 weeks or so! There seems to be quite a while between application and interview, and interview and start date here. This has implications for both budgeting and having to look for a job well before you actually need one!

I still don't understand how Public Holidays work! Seems like workplaces can choose whether they grant public holidays and they are different between cities as well. It would be absolutely unheard of for anyone to work on Good Friday in Australia (unless you were in hospitality/tourism etc)!

Social culture is basically the same as at home - people are quite professional at work, but socialising as a work-group is quite common. I think people are quite aware of being polite and politically correct and respectful.

Australian graduate, working in Edinburgh