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Outcome-Hub launched: Int’l students to benefit from work experience opportunities

Stevi Lee

Thu May 18 2017

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With an increasing number of international students choosing Melbourne as their choice Australian city to study in, it should also come as no surprise that those who choose to study here would also like to stay and find meaningful work here. Some may even wish to fulfil their own dreams of starting their very own business.

But with the job market across all industries as competitive as it currently is, finding any job can be difficult. International students in particular might feel disadvantaged in the hunt for jobs; visa restrictions and a lack of local work experience and networks can make job searching that much more difficult.

To remedy this, Outcome.Life Co-Founders Gerard Holland and Domenic Saporito have launched the Outcome-Hub, a co-working space aimed at building a community of international students and graduates and giving them the means to network with local businesses and find local work experience.

Noticing a gap that current businesses and employers weren’t addressing, Outcome.Life wanted to create a space for international students to connect with the people they needed to and give them the same opportunities any other student should get.

By being connected to the Outcome-Hub, international students and graduates can gain access to a range of collaborative industry programs and internship opportunities.

At the launch of Outcome-Hub, Mr Holland commended international students for their brave decision to study overseas and noted the difficulty of starting over.

“International students have left their family, friends and connections back home, and they do not have any connections to start with,” Mr Holland said in his speech.

Mr Saporito also noted that Australian workplaces would benefit greatly from creating a diverse work force, adding that international students could contribute significantly to any company.

“There are a lot of great things that international students could bring to local companies through their different culture, different opinions, and different innovations,” Mr Saporito said.

Photo: Michelle Leong

Also present at the launch was LaunchVic CEO Dr Kate Cornick, who herself was once a former international student struggling to find her place when she migrated to Melbourne. She spoke about the benefits Outcome.Hub can bring in the start-up space.

“What this co-working space has created is opportunity for both local entrepreneurs and international students to learn from each other,” Ms Cornick said.

Meanwhile, Hobspot co-founders Alfonso Ordonez and Sam Ethell also spoke with guests at Outcome.Hub’s launch and further empathised with the struggle international students often face in the pursuit of a career.

“Being an international student myself, I learnt that there were not much [in the way] of resources for international students who have brilliant ideas and innovation. That makes it hard for them to start their innovation,” Ordonez said.

With the launch of Outcome-Hub, international students can expect to meet and be connected to the right networks as they build and work towards their ideas and innovations.

For more information on Outcome-Hub, visit the co-working space’s official website. To learn more about Outcome.Life, visit its official website.

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