Must-Known Websites to Find Volunteer and Internship Opportunities for Your Graduate Employment Application in Australia
Employers in Australia place a high priority on relevant work experience when hiring candidates, and as a young graduate, acquiring work experience can be challenging. Fortunately, two of the most effective ways to gain experience are through internships and volunteer work. In this article, we’ll outline some of the best websites for finding these opportunities in Australia.
Finding Volunteer Work
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 31% of the Australian population over the age of 15 has been or is currently involved in volunteer work. Participating in volunteer work can offer numerous benefits for students, especially for those studying abroad. It can help you exercise your English-speaking, writing, and communication skills, widen your network, gain experience and multiple capabilities in unknown work fields, and make your resume more impressive, as volunteer experience is highly valued in Australia.
Before looking for volunteer jobs, it’s recommended that you check the official website of Volunteering Victoria, where you can learn about various information and support linked to volunteer services and prepare for the task at hand. Here are some of the most popular websites for finding volunteer opportunities in Australia:
- Seek Volunteer (https://www.volunteer.com.au/): Seek, one of Australia’s major job search websites, also posts volunteer opportunities. After joining the website, you can choose whether you want to work online or offline, as well as the region and job type you wish to work in.
- GoVolunteer (https://govolunteer.com.au/): GoVolunteer is a start-up website for volunteer services in Australia. The types of volunteer services on the website are divided into detailed categories, such as large-scale event volunteers, student volunteers, environmental protection volunteers, emergency volunteers, etc., allowing you to quickly find suitable positions according to your needs.
- Be Collective (https://www.becollective.com/): Be Collective is a website dedicated to finding volunteers for non-profit organizations (NGOs). It allows you to volunteer with internationally known organizations, and you can potentially work in NGOs for an extended period in the future.
- Vollie (https://www.vollie.com.au/): Vollie is a website that offers online volunteer opportunities. You can gain volunteer job experience without leaving your house or at different hours and locations by simply clicking “Volunteer Now” after you arrive at the homepage.
Finding Internships
Internship experience for graduates seeking employment in Australia is significant. However, it can be challenging to find internships on commonly used websites in Australia. Although many websites post numerous positions, most employers require applicants to have extensive work experience. Here are some internship-focused websites for recent grads to help you rapidly locate internships rather than searching for a needle in a haystack:
- GradConnection (https://au.gradconnection.com/): This website collects internships and graduate jobs, including Graduate Program positions at large corporations such as the “Big Four,” which can be quite useful.
- Grad Australia (https://gradaustralia.com.au/): Grad Australia features a vast range of internship and graduate career opportunities. The website’s categorization is clear and simple to navigate, and there is an overview of government workshops on job hunting and graduate assessments of prominent employers. It is a resource-rich and easy platform for grads seeking employment.
- Hatch (https://www.hatch.team/): Hatch is a website for recruiting students and recent grads. You can search for positions that match your qualifications based on categories such as internship, junior, long-term, short-term, etc. After registering, you will take a 30-minute to one-hour online exam, based on the results of which you be matched with relevant jobs and notified when suitable positions become available in the future. Every internship is paid.
- Stint (https://www.stintcommunity.com/job-board): Stint, which was founded by the University of Melbourne students, focuses on providing international students with jobs and internships. It is presently the largest job-searching website for overseas students in Australia. Due to its focus on international students, the primary feature of Stint is that it lists the PR criteria for various jobs; nonetheless, the majority of positions listed on its website do not require PR. It is ideal for students with no PR who have recently graduated.
EIA career centre is here to help
Keep in touch with our Career Centre, which offers regular career seminars, trainings, career assistance, 1:1 consultant and internship opportunities for EIA students, which is an excellent opportunity for your career development. We hope all students can find volunteer and/or internships that they enjoy and build sound resumes.
Next time, we will share some tips for applying for internships and volunteer opportunities, as well as how to make the most of internship and volunteer experiences to land your first real job.
