Rucha graduated from the Melbourne Business School in July of 2020. With the pandemic, the difficulties of securing a job as an international student showed itself. This was a tough time for a lot of people and luckily had a part time job to support herself.
After completing a short contract with one of her consulting club’s sponsors, KPMG, Rucha became intrigued with government work within her project in risk consulting. In February, Rucha applied for a job at the Victorian Police, advertised on LinkedIn. One of the product specialists recruiters from the IT division reached out to her for an interview. Despite not having 4 years of experience as advertised for the job, she displayed her own passion and skills which they took a chance on. Her work started in April and it currently is her second month into the main project with the Victorian Police.
What activities were you involved with at University?
I pursued a Masters of International Business and started in July of 2018. At my orientation, I met someone who I would then go on to form a club with, called the Melbourne University Consulting Club (MUCC). Both of us were very keen and ambitious and during orientation, we went around all the clubs to see if they had any openings or positions available. I had a little consulting experience in India with KPMG and we decided to take the opportunity to form our own consulting club. We decided to give it a try and found out more about the UMSU application process including getting signatures and expressions of interest. In the month of October, we got approved from UMSU and we had an inaugural meeting to form our committee. From there, we had 7-8 members and ran a recruitment drive to get more members in February 2019. I then became the president and formed a new committee until I graduated in 2020 where we handed over the club to the existing committee.
What were some of your cherished memories on campus?
You might think that I talk a lot about the club but the amount of time I invested in my classes, group projects and assignments as well as my club was a lot. I went to all sorts of events and workshops for clubs like SAMM, FMAA and MBSSA to try and participate in the first few months. After that, MUCC took all of my focused.
Did you face any challenges after graduating in particular? How did you tackle them?
I faced a particularly difficult job market, with all sorts of people that had become redundant and unemployment which meant I was competing with experienced professionals. During this time, this was the biggest challenge because I had to figure out what I needed to do. To be honest, it was a very confusing and tough period because on the one hand I did have a contract but I didn’t want to settle and wanted to keep applying for jobs. There were companies asking for 5,6 and 7+ years of experience and I didn’t know whether to upskill and learn more things to be able to apply. What helped me a lot was connecting with the right people on Linkedin who actually became my mentors and kept guiding me in the process. It’s important to be out there and keep following up with people. People are a lot more empathetic and willing to help international students, especially during this difficult situation.
Any advice for current students?
Reach out to people. Keep chasing connections on LinkedIn, don’t hesitate! If you show that you’re willing and prove your skills and passions, I think anybody would be willing to give you a chance. Now that things are picking up and companies are willing to take international students and get back on track, that shouldn’t be a problem.
Another thing I would say is focus on your CV, which was still a challenge in the past for me. You have to tweak and keep mending your CV and go through the key criteria. Definitely connect with people in the industry too.
Thank you so much to Rucha for your time and inspirational words. Connect with Rucha on LinkedIn here.
MBS Student Association 