Issues Faced by International Students in Finding Jobs

This research proposal discusses the issues faced by international students in finding jobs after completing their study. It addresses the factors such as communication gap, lack of participation in work-integrated learning programs, cultural issues, and quality of knowledge. The research aims to identify the problems and reasons behind them through a qualitative research approach.

Running head: ISSUES FACED BY THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Research Proposal on Issues faced by the International Students
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ISSUES FACED BY THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Introduction
In recent years, it is observed that, due to effects of globalization, the students are
facing serious difficulties in getting jobs after completing their study. In case of the foreign
students the condition is more severe as they are facing more difficulties in getting jobs. In
addition to this, it is also evident that, after paying almost 400% more than the local
Australian students, the international students are struggling in getting jobs after completing
their study. This fact is adding burden on those who are already facing the same issues in the
country. However, due to their huge course fees in various universities of the country, the
foreign students are contributing almost 19 billion to the Australian economy every years.
Due to this problems in the work environment of Australia, it has become a great challenge
for the international students to enter the labour market and work force of the country
( Norton, 2014). In recent times, the post study placement option has become one of the
mandatory requirement of the international student who are planning to study in abroad. In
Australia, it is observed that, the international students are facing difficulties in entering the
local market of Australia as they have poor knowledge about the local workforce network in
the labour market of the country (Akbari & MacDonald, 2014). In some case it is also
observed that students are also facing problems due to lack of knowledge regarding the job
application process and lack of proper communication skills. In this research proposal, the
issues faced by the international students in getting jobs after completing their study will be
discussed by addressing the proposed research question.
Review of Literature
The study of Hanapi and Nordin (2014), raised issue of unemployment among the
students who are studying in Malaysia. In this study, it is observed that, the increasing issues
of unemployment is one of the major concern in all over the world. This research tried to
investigate the factors that are promoting the unemployment issues in Malaysia. The human

2ISSUES FACED BY THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
capital resources are full of competitiveness and potentiality and those are very crucial in the
modern global era. The authors reported that, the issue of unemployment of among the
students are not only present in Malaysia, but in all over the world. In this study, the authors
found that, the job vacancies are increasing in every year, but those vacancies are filled by
only a few number of students and so that it can be said that the students are not getting job
not due to that lack of job opportunities, but also due to other factors. In this study the author
found that the graduates international students in the country are facing problems due to lack
of suitable skills, and qualifications of the candidates seeking for jobs. The study of Gautam
et al. (2016), suggested that, the issue of language barrier for the non-English speaking
country student is one of the major cause of not getting jobs after completing their job, This
lack of communication skills are affect the interview sessions of the passed out students in
the foreign countries. It is observed that, the English language proficiency skills are very
crucial for both the academic performance and the performance in the interview sessions of
the foreign students while seeking for jobs in a particular country. This language barrier not
only influence the job opportunity of the international students but also altering the social
interaction of the foreign students. This lack of proper communication skills are also
hampering the confidence level of the students as they feel ashamed of speaking English
while attending any job interview after their education. The study of Mesidor and Sly (2016),
also reported about the issue of confidence among the foreign students who have problems in
English speaking. The study of Jackson (2017), investigated the challenges of the
international students during the work-integrated learning (WIL) in Australia that is
associated with the getting employment after completion of their study in the country. In
Australia, it is observed that, the international students are underrepresented in WIL programs
and as a result they become less efficient in getting any jobs. In addition to this, it is also
reported that, the employers are showing bias to the foreign students while comparing to the

3ISSUES FACED BY THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
students of host countries such as Australia. The researchers pointed that the employers
showed the nature of bias due to cultural differences of the foreign students and they also
supported the issue of weak communication skills. Not only, in Australia, but in New
Zealand the foreign students are facing the same problem. The study of Anderson, McGrath,
& Butcher, 2014) showed that, more engagement of international students by the local
community is required in New Zealand through the WIL program in the country. The study
of Arthur and Nunes (2014) identified that, relevant work experience and related skills are
another reasons for not getting selected in any jobs after completing their study. WIL
program is one of the primary requirements of the foreign students and for getting a job after
the completion of their study, it is very crucial for the foreign students to attend non-technical
and technical skill development program. The study of Gribble, Blackmore and Rahimi
(2015), also identified that, the after completion of the study, the students are facing
difficulties after completion of their study. In this study, almost 59 students of Australian
study of international business and accounting course was recruited as sample population.
The study finds that, there is no employability related skills in the course study and may be
due to this students are facing difficulties. This study also showed that, the students of this
course are also facing difficulties in getting jobs. However, if the work opportunities of the
international students can be increased in Australia, the country will become an active study
options for the students of world (Arthur & Nunes, 2014). In various studies, it is reported
that, the post-study job opportunities are the primary concern for the international students
and only a strong local labour market can resolve this issue of unemployment of foreign
students.
Research Question
1) Why international students face problems in finding jobs after completion of study?

4ISSUES FACED BY THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
This research question will address the issue of research gaps such as communication gap,
lack in participation in WIL program, cultural issues of the foreign students, quality of
knowledge and moreover the reason of facing this issues in Australia.
Methodology
In this research method a qualitative research approach will be used. For this,
qualitative research phenomenological qualitative research method will be used. For
conducting this research, an interview will be conducted by using an self-developed open
ended questionnaire. In phenomenological interview based qualitative research will allow the
participants to express their certain experience. Moreover, phenomenological study helps to
keep the bias aside. The detail experience of the participants helps the researcher to get detail
understanding of the experiences of the users. The phenomenological research approach
helps the researchers to look at the trends. In addition to this, this phenomenological
qualitative approach will help the researchers to know about the misconceptions of the
research objects and direct voice of the participants will help to understand the exact scenario
of the condition as well. As in this research, it is required to assess the experience of the
participants through the interview method, hence the phenomenological qualitative research
approach will be useful in this research process (Padgett, 2016).
Data Collection Method
In order to collect the data for this research method, a questionnaire comprises of
open- ended questions. For collecting the data, a random sampling techniques will be used
and along with the four previously known people of the researchers will be included in the
research process. The researchers have planned to conduct the research on almost 50 subjects
and the questionnaires will be given to then for collecting of the data. The questionnaire
comprises of ten open ended questions.

5ISSUES FACED BY THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Expected Outcome
The researchers expect that they can identify the problems and the reason behind
those problems after completion of the research.
Reflection
The main reason behind conducting this research as I also faced severe difficulties
during those day when I was searching jobs. Luckily I got a job after one year of hard time.
However, many foreign friends of mine had faced difficulties in getting their job. From that
time, I am interested about that topic. That is the reason that I chose this topic as an area of
research of mine. Moreover, I saw many friends of mine who did not manage a job due to
their cultural practice, weakness in knowledge. In some cases, I also heard from them that
only because they were foreign students, their job applications were rejected. I was very
upset for my friends that time and the four persons who will be included in this study, also
were known to me previously.

6ISSUES FACED BY THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
References
Akbari, A. H., & MacDonald, M. (2014). Immigration policy in Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, and the United States: An overview of recent trends. International Migration
Review, 48(3), 801-822.
Anderson, V., McGrath, T., & Butcher, A. (2014). Asia-born New Zealand-educated business
graduates’ transition to work. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 34, 65–79.
Arthur, N., & Nunes, S. (2014). Should I stay or should I go home? Career guidance with
international students. In G. Arulmani, A. Bakshi, F. Leong, & T. Watts (Eds.), Handbook
of career development (pp. 587–606). New York, NY: Springer.
Gautam, C., Lowery, L, C., Mays, C., & Durant, D. (2016). Challenges for Global Learners:
A Qualitative Study of the Concerns and Difficulties of International Students. Journal of
International Students, Volume 6, Issue 2 (2016), pp. 501-526.
Gribble, C., Blackmore, J., & Rahimi, M. (2015). Challenges to providing work integrated
learning to international business students at Australian universities. Higher education,
skills and work-based learning, 5(4), 401-416.
Hanapi, Z., & Nordin, M. S. (2014). Unemployment among Malaysia graduates: Graduates’
attributes, lecturers’ competency and quality of education. Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Sciences, 112, 1056-1063.
Jackson, D. (2017). Exploring the challenges experienced by international students during
work-integrated learning in Australia. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 37(3), 344-359.
Mesidor, J. K., & Sly, K. F. (2016). Factors That Contribute to the Adjustment of
International Students. Journal of International Students, 6(1), 262-282.
Norton, A. (2014). Mapping Australian higher education, 2014-15.

7ISSUES FACED BY THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Padgett, D. K. (2016). Qualitative methods in social work research (Vol. 36). Sage
Publications.

8ISSUES FACED BY THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Appendix
Questionnaire
1) Which course did you complete?
Ans-
2) What is the job opportunities in this course?
Ans-
3) Is there any other job opportunity after finishing this course?
Ans-
4) Are you employed yet?
Ans –
5) In which organization are you working right now?
Ans-
6) Do you have any professional experience ?
Ans-
7) What are the professional experiences of yourself?
Ans-
8) Do You have English language efficiency?
Ans-
9) Do you face any issues regarding communication skills during searching of job?
Ans-
10) What do you think is required additionally for getting a job?
Ans-
11) What is the flaws of the course that you have completed?

9ISSUES FACED BY THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Ans-
12) What are the advantages of the course that you are suggesting?
Ans-
13) Why do you think that the mentioned course will help you in getting job after
completion of the study?
Ans-