Skillmax and English for Employment (EFE)
Helping skilled migrants access employment
Skillmax is a short, intensive course that prepares skilled migrants to find employment in their professional area. It is FREE* to eligible participants, and develops skills required to be successful in job applications. Skillmax provides an understanding of the current labour market, as well as strategies for making the most of employment opportunities in the Australian market.
The Skillmax job seeking course is a fast-track course, usually comprised of 15 hours of classroom tuition per week, delivered over five weeks, with possibilities for delivery online, face-to-face, or a combination of both.
English for Employment is a longer, slower paced course that covers the same content, with additional support to improve skills in workplace communication, such as report writing and presentations. English for Employment (EFE) is again 15 hours per week, but typically delivered over ten weeks.
The course content covers essential areas for your job search, including:
- resume and cover letter writing, tailored to the Australian market
- job seeking skills and self-marketing techniques
- applications for public sector positions
- preparation of answers to common interview questions
- interview skills for face-to-face, online, and telephone interviews
- networking techniques, including using LinkedIn
For further information, please download the flyer and email your completed registration form to: skillmax@tafensw.edu.au
Download Skillmax Flyer
Download English for Employment Flyer
Download Skillmax Registration Form
Frequently Asked Questions
Step 1
Ask yourself the following questions:
Do I have full working rights in Australia?
Your Permanent Resident visa will give you this, but other visas, such as spousal visas, can also meet this requirement.
Do I have an overseas qualification in a professional area?
A degree and sometimes a diploma studied at a higher educational organisation, will meet this requirement.
Do I have an IELTS level of 6.5 for Skillmax or 5.5 for English for Employment?
If you have completed IELTS within the last two years, you meet this requirement. If you have done other English language tests (such as PTE), you will need to complete the registration form for your level, to be compared. If you don’t have an IELTS test, you can be given one by an assessor from TAFE NSW. There other conditions, such as further study completed in Australia, which may enable you to meet the requirements.
Step 2
If you think you meet all the requirements, or have any further questions, please submit the registration form on this page, and we will contact you personally.
No. Both Skillmax and English for Employment courses have the same core content. Skillmax is for people with higher levels of English, and the course is more intensive. English for Employment is a longer course and has additional content to specifically assist with improving workplace communication.
Australian employers expect applicants to demonstrate both technical proficiency and the ability to display relevant employability skills. A 2019 survey* by the National Skills Commission, showed that 75% of employers considered employability skills to be as important as, if not more important, than technical skills.
* Ref: nationalskillscommission.gov.au Search for: Skills for the future
Employability skills are attributes needed to perform well in any role. Not all employability skills are required in every job, but usually, job advertisements will include at least one of them in the criteria that the applicant needs to meet. They have been identified and detailed in The Employability Skills Framework+ as: communication, teamwork, problem solving, initiative and enterprise, planning and organising, self-management, learning, and technology.
Other terms for employability skills include, core competencies, soft skills, foundation skills, and behavioural skills.
+ Ref: Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Business Council of Australia (2002) Employability Skills for the Future
Yes. They will give you real practice in how to give good answers, to not only questions relating to employability skills, but also to the most common interview questions.
You will need to have a résumé that is in a suitable format for Australian employers. This may be quite different from what you currently have, however the courses will help guide you in developing an appropriate résumé for the Australian job market.
Past students have found the courses extremely valuable in helping them to find employment. You can read their comments here.
There is a course workbook that you will have access to, once you are enrolled and participating in the course.
No. Typically, classes have fewer than 20 participants. This helps to ensure that you receive more individual attention from your teacher, to help further increase your employability.
These are job skills courses, where the focus is on helping participants to improve employability. There is no direct focus on improving your English, however, an outcome of the courses is that participants will gain information on how they can improve either general or workplace English, through self-study or other formal courses.
Skillmax Testimonials
The Skillmax course at TAFE NSW will help anyone new to the job seeking market, gain knowledge on Australian-specific requirements and processes.
Skillmax is very useful for the job seeker, with so much professional information, experiences, and skills you can’t get from other places.
The course has a well-established curriculum of five weeks - enough to cover all aspects, like being aware of the local culture, nuances, perspective, and requirements.
The course has a well-established curriculum of five weeks - enough to cover all aspects, like being aware of the local culture, nuances, perspective, and requirements.
Skillmax was really helpful for me, because it covered all the stuff related to the job market in Australia. I personally enjoyed the part related to simulating the HR interview. It helped me to gain enough confidence and courage for my recruiting process, and after about two months, I started my role at my new company.
I found this course informative, well-planned, well-structured, easy to understand, and most of all - relevant for people who are seeking jobs and are quite new to the Australian job market.
The Skillmax course was structured and designed to fulfil all the requirements a newcomer like me needs to adapt to the challenging Australian Job market.
The teaching methods of Skillmax are very engaging and interactive. The content of the course is useful for every newly arrived migrant in understanding Australian job market, and every topic has its own importance.