How possible is it for a U.S student to intern in Melbourne?

Hey monkeys,

I'm hoping by some miracle someone on this forum has experience with this- I am a student studying at a U.S university and I want to get an IB internship (and eventually a job) in Melbourne AU. A few questions:

  • In an application I can pick different cities I would be willing to work in, but what about different regions entirely? Just as an example, the Asia program is a completely separate application with Goldman Sachs. Will I be able to apply for the NYC program as well, or am I going to have to choose one?

  • Is being from a completely different continent going to hurt my chances? ie- work visas/eventual sponsorship

  • for anyone who actually works in IB in Melbourne, are there even opportunities for a person like me, or are spots quickly filled up by locals?

  • Is transferring from NYC to Melbourne (or any foreign city, really) going to be possible if I decide to do NYC for a few years?

  • More importantly, am I being an idiot? I don't care so much about compensation, hours, etc. I just want to a chance to do what (I think) I love in a place I have always wanted to live

I don't care about flying out for superdays and interviews. I don't go to a prestigious school at all, so I won't even be able to flout that clout. Basically I'm just looking for someone to tell me what I want to hear so I can send it, but please smack me over the head if I'm shooting my (already slim) chances in the foot.

PS- This may be the wrong place to ask this, but I have to start somewhere eh? How are jobs in the financial services over there? I know there aren't many aussies on this forum, but any insight/advice is always welcome.

Thanks folks

 
Most Helpful

I completed an internship this summer in Melbourne at a BB so I can try to answer some of your questions. Hopefully someone with more experience can also chime in.

Bkijevcanin:
- In an application I can pick different cities I would be willing to work in, but what about different regions entirely? Just as an example, the Asia program is a completely separate application with Goldman Sachs. Will I be able to apply for the NYC program as well, or am I going to have to choose one?

Banks do allow you to submit applications for different regions. However, if you accept/complete an internship for one city (e.g. Melbourne), it's unlikely you can then intern at another city (e.g. New York) with the same bank.

Bkijevcanin:
- Is being from a completely different continent going to hurt my chances? ie- work visas/eventual sponsorship - for anyone who actually works in IB in Melbourne, are there even opportunities for a person like me, or are spots quickly filled up by locals?

Banks require applicants to be an Australian citizenship or a permanent resident. Your application will be automatically rejected otherwise.

Bkijevcanin:
- Is transferring from NYC to Melbourne (or any foreign city, really) going to be possible if I decide to do NYC for a few years?

It varies from bank to bank – some are more supportive than others. From what I understand, it tends to be easier to move from NYC to Australia than the other way around.

Bkijevcanin:
- More importantly, am I being an idiot? I don't care so much about compensation, hours, etc. I just want to a chance to do what (I think) I love in a place I have always wanted to live

In my opinion, assuming you don't have Australian citizenship or permanent residency, the best approach would be t start in New York and then internally transfer to Melbourne.

 

This is just my experience when it comes to work/visa/sponsorship. I am from Europe and ended up living a few years in Sydney. The visa I got for my traveling and working was a Working Holiday Visa (WHV). I am not sure if you can apply for this visa and when accepted apply for the internship. On a WHV you eligible to work up to six months for the same employer and you can stay for max a year. After that you either need to get sponsored, which gives you an additional fours years, or do your rural work to get another WHV for a year. I choose the latter one and after ended up getting sponsored by my boss in construction. The thing with the sponsorship is, that certain jobs are excluded from that list. Also, your boss basically has to sign a sheet of paper saying that they will provide work for you for the next four years. I highly doubt that you will get a IB to sign off on that.

 

Interesting. I was under the impression that once you get sponsored you have permanent residency. Also, when in your life did you live in Sydney? Were you right out of school or inbetween careers? I'm interested to see what other people's experiences were like

 

From what I know, after the 4 years of sponsorship you can apply for a permanent residency, the process takes a year. During that time you can still get rejected. I knew a Irish bloke that got rejected during that time due to a minor offence. Thus, what the other monkeys have said; try to get a job and move internally. I hope to do the same but then to Sydney. After high school I did two years at uni, decided that it wasn't for me, and spend 3 years in Australia.

 

As above, citizenship/work authorization will be a big hurdle for you to overcome.

Additionally, you typically can't do summer internships in Australia because their summer period is late-Nov to mid-Feb, which overlaps with both fall and spring semesters on the US school calendar. You'll have to take a gap semester (or two). Otherwise, Australia has winter/off-cycle internships in July-ish but spots are even more limited.

Overall I'd say your time is probably better spent looking for jobs in the US first. Much easier to move from New York to Melbourne than the other way around.

 

Much like any other region, you need to have the right to work before being able to qualify for a job there. You could hypothetically work a few years in NY, transfer to the Melbourne office then? I’ve seen that done before, so if you’re very keen on going there that could be a decent bet, but you’ll have to land a multinational firm that is big on inter office transfers. Not all are.

Slightly easier but perhaps a more expensive option is for you to do a Masters degree in Australia then try to find a job out of there. Not up to date on immigration policies for Australia, but usually if you graduate from a school there governments give a bit of a back door in to jobs from there.

 

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