Anita Anchery participated in Engineers Australia’s Global Engineering Talent (GET) program and as a result, gained full time employment with her host employer. She chats to us about her experience.
The GET program is an outcome of Engineers Australia’s Barriers to employment for skilled migrant engineers research, which found 47 per cent of migrant engineers actively seeking an engineering job are unemployed.
After working in India for a few years and then taking a break to look after her children, Anita and her family migrated to Australia in 2018. Although she was a qualified engineer Anita found it very hard to get a job.
“Businesses were not willing to hire me,” she says. “I applied to so many places, but I got no calls back. And when I got calls from somebody, they would ask me about the gaps in my resume and whether I had Australian experience.”
While looking for work, Anita got her overseas qualifications accredited and decided to study for a building and construction diploma with TAFE Queensland. “This course was quite good because it helped me get access to the Australian standards,” she says.
Anita continued her job hunt and came across an expression of interest calling for participants for the GET program. Anita was keen to apply her skills in an Australian context, as well as practice local ways of working.
“A program like GET is very helpful, especially for people like me who have had a career break and who also have engineering qualifications from overseas,” she says.
Anita also found it handy being able to do the first part online and remotely with the support of a mentor before going into the workplace for a paid placement with a potential employer.
“The online component of the program was very good,” Anita says. “It was helpful, because we were given learning material about how important work safety, health and different requirements specific to an Australian workplace.”
Participating in the GET program was Anita’s first experience working in an Australian workplace as an engineer. She received a lot of mentoring and support from the team at PTG consulting.
She says there were a lot of different projects that came her way and she was able to get a range of experiences.
“Different projects came my way, and I was not just handling one single type of design,” Anita says. “I was included and considered on different parts of the projects and I had a lot of exposure to offsite and onsite work. By the time the three months were up, I was sure this was what I wanted to do and the company I wanted to work for.
“I hope other migrant women engineers who wish to re-enter the workforce see the GET program as an opportunity to do so.”
Anita is now a full-time member of the Brisbane structures team at PTG Consulting and she is thrilled to be officially kicking off her career as an engineer in Australia.
Find out more about the GET program. Engineers Australia also has a wide range of resources for migrants including information on the initial move to Australia, pathways and study, migration agents and skills assessments.
This article was first published by Engineers Australia on 1 July 2024.