Where the platypuses (platypi?) roam...

Over the past summer, I ambitiously decided that I would go to Australia after I graduate so that I can have the adventure of my life before heading off to grad school. However, as life at Cornell started to pick up again, I began to feel less confident about whether I will be able to pull it off. I’ve been contacting people and doing research but it seems like I’ve only made the most marginal amount of progress:

I’ve talked to my friends in Australia, I’ve talked to my relatives in Australia, I’ve talked to my advisors about moving to Australia, and I’ve talked to recruiting agencies in Australia. I’ve also browsed through the international binders at the A&S Career Services Library, and I’ve scoured the Cornell Career Services site for information about going abroad. And, so far, the general impression that I have right now is that it’s not impossible but it’s definitely going to be a lot more complicated than I had originally thought it would be. For one thing, I have to worry about getting a visa, then there’s the fact that Australia is in the Southern hemisphere, meaning I would be going in the winter. And where would I stay while I’m there? What if I get sick while I’m there? And of course I can’t forget the fact that I haven’t even found a job yet.

But I have been investigating opportunities through AIESEC, and there is always BUNAC to fall back on or even some other volunteering opportunity. Plus, I’ve been going through books in the A&S Career Services Library and I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration. International Jobs, by Nina Segal, has a lot of great resources that I’ve been slowly going through. The recruiting agency contact that I spoke to had also recommended that I do some research about the Australian market so I’ve been going through this other book, Jobs and Careers Abroad, by Guy Hobbs, which covers just that. It describes the visa process and has country profiles for a number of different countries. The book also lists online employment sources specific to each country, long-term and short-term opportunities, and even lists international companies with subsidiaries in the country. Hopefully I’ll be able to find something that works for me in those books. If not, my next step would be to start contacting alumni through CCNet. In the meantime, I also have the luxury of stressing out over job applications and grad applications in the US! If worse comes to worse, I can always work at a McDonald's - in Australia.

Jessica
Student Career Ambassador
Arts and Sciences Career Services