# Flaws in the job ready program - my thoughts, your say..



## spindoctor

In view of fairness,

I would like to highlight this to readers whether it is a workable and fair solution to us international students going through the job ready program.

Now before I start, Im not biased as I can understand why the job ready program was implemented. I am willing to go through the program but there's a major flaw that will be an obstacle to me and every other applicant and needs MAJOR attention or even scrapping.

FYI, Before the job ready program was implemented, I gather that once you've completed a course listed in the skills shortage list(MODL) you're immediately given the go ahead to apply for any visa. Its a loophole IMO and obviously there's a need of some sort of control or monitoring.

This is where the job ready program comes. Im sure most of you reading this know how it works therefore Im gonna skip the intro.

The BIGGEST problem I see with this program is this part which is taken directly from DEEWR's website :-



> Your employer must be prepared to register their details with TRA and would be expected to pay relevant award wages





> 2.2 Job Ready Journal
> 
> During your employment you will be required to demonstrate your proficiency in the workplace across a range of tasks related to your occupation and relevant to your workplace.
> 
> When your employment registration details have been approved by TRA, you and your employer will be provided access to the Job Ready Journal.
> 
> The Journal is to be used by you and your employer to validate your skills. You will use the Journal to record tasks and duties you perform on the job to indicate your proficiency against workplace capabilities listed in the Journal. Your employer will sign off on your Journal entries every 3 months and comment on how you are progressing in the workplace.


*Realistically*, from an employer's point of view, would you employ someone :-

*A)* where you let your employee do their job and pay them after every fortnight

*B)* where you need to monitor your employee's work ie baby sitting, sign in/off journal entries, pay a certain fee(TBC, this is what I gathered) to TRA(example), and then pay them every fortnight

My say? I'll take A...why would I employ someone who I must babysit, pay a certain fee to assessing bodies and pay your employee their wages. You dont need a Harvard business qualification to understand that. Its a no brainer.

If I REALLY have to take option B, that person must ULTRA skills in what their do, to the point that you're willing to employ them.

In this very competitive job hunting market, international students would have a VERY hard time convincing future employer(s) to employ them..and in desperation, chances are international students who must go through this program this may or will be exploited. Someone might highlight that there's standard award and wages but when you desperately need that job in order to gain residency, there's every loophole for the employer to pay you the absolute minimum and very likely you will have to keep your mouth shut or else....

Now with the fees..

Again, extracted directly from TRA :-



> Step 1 Provisional Skills Assessment
> AUD$300
> 
> Step 2 Job Ready Employment
> AUD$500
> 
> Australian Workplace Language and Culture professional development
> AUD$1,200*
> 
> Step 3 Job Ready Workplace Assessment
> AUD$2,000
> 
> Step 4 Job Ready Final Assessment
> AUD$150


Observe step 2 and the fees(!!!). It somehow contradicts their IELTS requirement for this job ready program(minimum of 6 on each band). Im willing to bet that any random local, say in the skills trade, ie brick layer, tiler etc would not get a 7/9 on each band...Im not trying to give the local tradies a bad name and I have a great deal of respect to all of them, but what Im trying to relay here is it looks and sounds like a money making scheme...

Its rather strange why they make it SO hard for us skilled people to stay here and work, yet they say they want to fill up massive shortage in the skills trade. Their filtering process is totally overkill and painfully expensive. My lifetime savings($) is pretty much gone because of the sacrifice that I must make to live here..

This are my thoughts and I hope to hear some reply from fellow forummers here. Is there anything that can be done to solve this problem? Your say...

Thank you


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## Wanderer

I have moved this because of its general content.

On the content, though you do miss appreciation for why a lot of changes have occurred to immigration regulations including TRA skills assessment, the Job Ready program etc.

*1.* Over a number of years with lobbying by those with vested interests and then vested interests using overseas recruitment agencies to seek students, the international education sector was not developing in the best interests of international students, Australian employers nor the Australian employment market generally.

In short a lot of rorting and actually downright false and illegal practices were occurring.

What you have described are just some of the features/changes addressed to ensure that if people can succeed with a PR visa application they do in deed have a proper skill and are employable as far as suitability and demand.

There may be many people that will be impacted that are needlessly so but that is the way of life in all things, we having road rules for instance that we all do not obey all the time, though many of us do and so the argument could likewise be put, why have them?

As for


> Its rather strange why they make it SO hard for us skilled people to stay here and work, yet they say they want to fill up massive shortage in the skills trade. Their filtering process is totally overkill and painfully expensive. My lifetime savings($) is pretty much gone because of the sacrifice that I must make to live here..


It is not at all strange that it is desired to have supposedly skilled people appropriately skilled whether they have studied here or abroad.
We do not want international students to just fill massive skilled shortages as you put it as students will generally in many trades have very limited capacity to be useful, the reason itself for the Job Ready Program and the thoroughness to ensure rorting does not extend into it.

What must always be remembered is that people will make a decision to study either in their own country or abroad for a particular career and if they choose Australia, that has never guaranteed that a person will be successful with a skilled PR visa application and studying here should definitely never be considered as just a road to PR.


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