Career development support

Career planning

Your career journey starts now, while you’re studying!  Exploring potential career pathways is an ongoing process, and UWA India provides the programs, resources and support to help you build your skills, gain experience and prepare for your future career.

Through personalised advice and industry engagement opportunities, the Careers and Industry Engagement Team can help you explore career options, develop your employability skills and prepare for future employment.

Employability skills

As soon as you get started at UWA India, we encourage you to build your employability.

Getting a degree is just one part of preparing for your future career. Building your employability means developing the skills, experiences and confidence that employers value alongside your academic studies.

Whether it's through volunteering, joining student groups, getting involved in professional associations or taking part in extra-curricular activities, every experience helps you grow and stand out in the job market.

LinkedIn Learning

As a UWA India student, you have access to LinkedIn Learning – a one-stop careers, employability and skills development platform. With learning pathways, AI coaching and role play, videos, live-streamed events and interview skills practice – there are employability development opportunities for all career levels.

Your steps to success

UWA India can help build your employability at each stage of your degree so that you graduate job-ready with a rich and well-rounded résumé.

Getting started

• Explore the resources, development and learning opportunities available on LinkedIn Learning.
• Create a professional resume and cover letter that showcase your skills, experience, and education.
• Gain experience through casual work, part-time work, or volunteering.
• Get involved with a club, society or sports team.
• Follow UWA India socials to keep updated about any upcoming industry engagement
• Reflect on your study choices and research industries and jobs that interest you.
• Investigate Work Integrated Learning (WIL), internships and other industry engagement opportunities that may be available through your course. Reach out to the Careers and Industry Engagement Team for information on opportunities and eligibility requirements.

Mid-degree

• Update and tailor your resume and cover letter.
• Attend employer events and jobs fairs to build your network and seek opportunities.
• Participate in industry activities such as competitions, job simulations, or industry projects.
• Utilise the resources, development and learning opportunities on LinkedIn Learning.
• Build your LinkedIn profile and start connecting with peers, alumni, and recruiters online.
• Network with employers to identify opportunities and build your confidence.
• Practice your interview skills – with your peers and with the AI coaching function on LinkedIn Learning.
• Set up job alerts on jobs board sites and with employers you are interested in through their company websites.
• Reflect on your study and work experience. What did you enjoy? What are your values? What will you do next?

Final year

• Start applying for graduate jobs and graduate employment programs with corporate, not-for-profit, and government organisations.
• Get involved in a committee of a club or society and join a professional association.
• Manage job alerts on your selected job board sites and employer websites.
• Continue to update and tailor your resume and cover letter according to job roles.
• Attend employer events, careers and jobs fairs to build your network and seek opportunities.
• If you haven’t already, build your professional experience through internships, industry projects, volunteering, part-time work, or other activities that strengthen your employability and career readiness.
• Update your LinkedIn profile, follow companies you are interested in and extend your network online.
• Practice your interview skills – with your peers and with the AI coaching function on LinkedIn Learning.
• Utilise the resources, development and learning opportunities on LinkedIn Learning.
• Reflect on your experience to identify your transferable skills and attributes.
• Reflect on your study and work experiences and investigate postgraduate study options.

Masters and Professional Degrees

• Create a professional resume and cover letter that showcase your skills, experience, and education.
• Reflect on your experience to identify your transferable skills and attributes.
• Gain experience through casual work, part-time work, or volunteering.
• Get involved in a committee of a club or society and join a professional association.
• Attend employer events, careers and jobs fairs to build your network and seek opportunities.
• Participate in industry activities such as competitions, job simulations, or industry projects.
• Build your LinkedIn profile and start connecting with peers, alumni, and recruiters online.
• Network with employers to identify and source opportunities and build your confidence.
• If you haven’t already, seek opportunities to gain relevant professional experience through internships, industry engagement activities or Work Integrated Learning (WIL) opportunities where available.
• Practice your interview skills – with your peers and with the AI coaching function on LinkedIn Learning.
• Strengthen your employability and build technical skills through the resources, development and learning opportunities on LinkedIn Learning.
• Reflect on your study and work experiences and develop a career plan.

Resume and cover letter support

A professional resume should clearly communicate your experience, skillsets and qualifications to a recruiter at a glance, while your cover letter serves as an introduction and opportunity to briefly describe your motivation for applying and address any specific criteria required by the employer.

Your resume will evolve as your career progresses and should always be kept up to date. Key tips for a professional resume include:

• Use a professional, easy-to-read format with consistent headings, spacing and a clear font.
• Ensure the most important information is summarised on the first page.
• Keep your resume to two pages, with a clear summary of your experience and qualifications on the first page.
• Focus on key achievements in your work experiences.
• Tailor the detail of your work experiences and achievements to the requirements of the role you are applying for.

Contact the Careers and Industry Engagement Team for guidance and support. LinkedIn Learning also has a suite of tools, tips and resources to support you in developing a professional resume and cover letter at all career levels.

Sample resume templates

Sample resume templates are available to download in Word format. As they are designed with tables, ensure that you have ‘View Gridlines’ selected in the ‘Table Layout’ menu ribbon so you can personalise and amend the formatting.

Sample template: graduate-level resume (Word 31KB)

Sample template: mid-career resume (Word 31KB)

Professional networks

Building and maintaining your professional networks throughout your studies and career expands opportunities for collaboration, innovation, knowledge sharing, mentoring, career opportunities and broader industry development. Being an active member of your professional network reinforces your professional reputation and benefits you, the people in your network and the industry you work in.

Tips for success

Leverage digital platforms:

Develop a profile on professional networking platforms such as LinkedIn and industry-specific forums. Keep your profile up to date, contribute to industry updates and knowledge sharing.

Attend in-person industry events and professional forums:

In-person forums are a great opportunity to meet other professionals in similar roles and different career levels.

Professional associations are a great resource for industry events, particularly for entry-level professionals. For professionals already in industry, taking up opportunities as an employer-representative on cross-industry committees or advisory boards is an impactful way to deepen your professional connections, contribute to the development of your industry and discover other mutually beneficial opportunities for business and professional development.

LinkedIn Learning offers a suite of tools and resources to build and refine your networking skills at every stage of your career.

Know your value and unique professional offering:

‍ Practice introducing yourself to new people – develop an ‘elevator pitch’ that concisely describes who you are as a professional. A good elevator pitch can open up a conversation and help you and others identify commonalities for connections and knowledge sharing.

Interview preparation

Your UWA India access to LinkedIn Learning provides you with a diverse range of resources to prepare for interviews.
This includes  :

• role play and coaching with AI
• commonly asked interview questions and tips for interview preparation
• videos and other skills-building tools.

Employers often use behavioural based interview questions to gain an understanding of your experiences and applied skillsets in relation to the requirements of the role you are interviewing for. These questions are often framed in a way that asks you to describe a time when you demonstrated a particular skill, and what the outcome was. Common behavioural skillsets can include teamwork, collaboration, leadership, communication, dealing with conflict and managing competing priorities.

The STAR framework

Practise answering interview questions using the ‘Situation Task Action Result’ (STAR) framework .This framework helps you to reflect on how you have developed your capability throughout your  experiences, supporting your interview preparedness, confidence and performance during interviews.

Developing your own personal set of examples using the STAR framework is a useful exercise at any career level.

Internships and industry opportunities

Some courses at UWA India may Work Integrated Learning (WIL) opportunities. Availability varies by course and discipline.

Enrolling in a WIL unit during your studies could be a life-changing experience. Investing time and effort into clarifying and building your future career path while learning is a wise choice. It's never too early to explore your options.

Reap the benefits

Practise what you learn:

‍Putting what you learn at university into action in a professional setting is a great way to consolidate your learning and gives you a deeper and more authentic understanding of your discipline of study.

Gain credit:

‍We are determined to produce graduates who not only have specific discipline knowledge, skills and understanding, but who have acquired a broader suite of transferable skills that prepare them for employment in a changing world. Where available within a course, WIL units provide students with the opportunity to earn academic credit while developing valuable professional skills and industry experience.

Learn from industry experts:

‍ By undertaking a WIL placement, you can start building your professional network. You'll also be exposed to new and diverse perspectives, and gain the opportunity to demonstrate your ability to adapt to new environments.

Improve your employability skills:

‍WIL placements give you the chance to expand your knowledge, identify gaps and enhance and develop skills that employers value such as professionalism, teamwork, problem-solving and interpersonal communication techniques in work settings.

Clarify your career direction:

‍Undertaking a WIL placement is a great way to explore future career options. It gives you an opportunity to experience and understand work culture and specific competencies of professions and industries. You'll get to test drive your potential career, find out whether you enjoy the industry and decide whether it's a career path you want to pursue.

Maximise your career prospects:

‍WIL placements are a fantastic way to learn career development strategies and expand your work experience portfolio, both of which are great to include on your resume. With new skills, industry experience and a host of new contacts within the sector, you'll have a head start on the jobs market when you graduate.

Get started

Contact the Student Experience Team via student-experience@india.uwa.edu.au to find out whether WIL opportunities are available in your course.

Please note that WIL, internships, placements and industry engagement opportunities vary by course, discipline, location and availability. Students should consult the Careers and Industry Engagement Team for information on current opportunities and eligibility requirements.