Jobspeak Academy

💼 Workplace discrimination is something I deal with far more often than people realise.

Over the past year alone, I can think of several migrant professionals who have come to me because they wanted help finding a new job.

But as we started talking, it became clear that the real issue wasn't their resume.

It was what had been happening at work.

Sometimes it was comments about an accent.

Sometimes it was being spoken over in meetings.

Sometimes it was "jokes" that didn't feel particularly funny.

Sometimes it was a pattern of behaviour that was difficult to explain, but impossible to ignore.

And honestly, one of the hardest things for migrants is that workplace discrimination is not always obvious.

Many people spend months wondering if they are overreacting.

They tell themselves maybe it wasn't intentional.

Maybe they misunderstood.

Maybe they should just try harder.

By the time many people reach out to me, they are often trying to work out whether to stay, whether to leave, how to protect their reputation, and how to rebuild their confidence.

This is why I wanted to create this carousel.

Not because I have all the answers.

But because I want migrants to know they have workplace rights in Australia, and they do not have to navigate these situations alone.

💛

I'm curious:

Have you ever experienced workplace discrimination, exclusion or bias in Australia, either as a migrant or as someone supporting migrants?

What happened, and do you think workplaces are getting better or worse at addressing it?

Let's have a respectful conversation in the comments.



👉🏼👉🏼if you don't want to comment, vote below

Everyone talks about how hard it is to get your first professional job in Australia.

And they're right, it is hard.

But honestly, after hundreds of conversations with migrant professionals, I think one of the hardest transitions is what comes next.

Because getting the first job is often about getting a chance.

Getting local experience.

Getting your foot in the door.

But progressing into something more senior, influencing others, leading projects, or positioning yourself for promotion requires a completely different set of skills.

And this is where I see so many capable people struggle.

Not because they lack intelligence, experience or technical ability.

But because they still feel grateful to be there.

They stay quiet in meetings.

They avoid disagreement.

They position themselves as someone who "helps" rather than someone who leads.

And they continue talking about tasks instead of outcomes.

Honestly, I understand.

Learning how to communicate confidently in English while also learning the unwritten rules of Australian workplaces is hard.

Which is why communication and confidence have become such a big part of my work.

Because career growth isn't just about a better resume.

It's about learning how to communicate your value, build visibility, speak strategically and help others understand the impact you already have.

And I promise, I have seen people transform surprisingly quickly when they stop thinking "I'm lucky to be here" and start thinking "I belong here."

💛

If you've got the job but feel stuck, invisible or unsure how to position yourself for the next step, I'd love to help.

I offer career communication coaching alongside resumes, interview preparation and career strategy, because sometimes the next level isn't about working harder.

It's about learning how to speak about your work differently.

Send me a DM if you'd like to chat.

One of the things I loved most about working with this client wasn't rewriting her resume.

It was helping her see her story differently.

When we first sat down together, all she could see were the casual jobs, the years it had taken and the fact that she wasn't where she thought she "should" be by now.

What I saw was something completely different.

I saw an amazing migrant who had arrived in Australia speaking very little English, worked while studying, built confidence, changed careers into community services, completed an Advanced Diploma, and was now preparing for the next step into a more senior role.

And honestly, that's often the work we do together.

Not just rewriting resumes.

Not just fixing LinkedIn profiles.

But helping people understand how to position their journey, translate their experience and tell a story that reflects the person they have become, not just the jobs they have done.

Sometimes that means grouping survival jobs together.

Sometimes it means focusing on transferable skills.

Sometimes it means rebuilding confidence and reconnecting with the professional identity that got buried under years of simply trying to survive.

Because employers don't just read resumes.

They read stories.

And the story you're telling yourself is often much harsher than the story everyone else sees.

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If you're embarrassed by your resume, struggling to explain your journey, or wondering how to position overseas experience and survival jobs in Australia, I'd love to help.

Whether it's a resume, LinkedIn, career strategy or communication coaching session, sometimes the biggest shift isn't changing your experience.

It's learning how to see it differently and communicate it with confidence.

Send me a message or book a free 15-minute chat through the link in my bio. I'd love to hear your story.

Still pinching myself that I'll be speaking at the in Sydney this August.

I'll be designing and facilitating a panel discussion with two incredible migrant women around the theme:

✨ For the Love of Belonging: But Who Really Belongs?

People often associate belonging with fitting in. But the older I get, the more I wonder if we've been asking the wrong question.

Recently, my daughter wasn't invited to a birthday party, and I found myself spiralling into fears that many parents probably recognise.

Will she find her people?
Will she feel accepted?
Will she be loved and liked for exactly who she is?

As someone who is neurodivergent and lives with CPTSD, belonging has always felt complicated to me too. I've often felt like an outsider and spent much of my life trying to understand rules that seemed to come naturally to everyone else.

Maybe that's why this conversation matters so much.

Because I think, in different ways, we're all searching for the same thing.

To be seen.
To be understood.
And to know that we belong.

More to come ❤️ And I'll be honest, I'm still working out how to bring this 40 minute conversation to life.

So, in true collaborative Natalie spirit, please tell me - what does belonging mean to you?

This is one of the most common things I hear in mock interviews.

A client will be doing really well and then I'll ask:

"Have you used SAP before?"

Or:

"Have you managed people?"

And almost immediately I see the panic.

Their face changes.

They apologise.

And they say:

"No, sorry, I've never done that."

As if the interview is over.

And I get it.

Because when you're already worried about your English, your accent, local experience or whether you're "good enough", one question you can't answer feels huge.

But interviews aren't school exams.

Most employers are not expecting you to know everything.

They're trying to understand whether you can learn, adapt and bring transferable skills.

And that's exactly why I love mock interviews so much.

Because this isn't something you fix by reading another article or watching another YouTube video.

You fix it by practising.

You fix it by hearing yourself say:

❌ "No, I've never done that."

And then having someone help you turn it into:

✅ "I haven't done that directly yet, but here's what I have done, and here's why I'm confident I can learn."

That one small change can completely change the direction of an interview.

Honestly, after hundreds of interview simulations, I can tell you this:

The biggest breakthroughs rarely come from teaching people what to say.

They come from helping people realise that they are already more capable than they think.

Sometimes they just need someone to help them communicate it.

💛

If you've got an interview coming up and want a safe place to practise, make mistakes and receive honest feedback, my mock interview sessions are designed exactly for that.

Because confidence doesn't come from memorising answers.

It comes from practising them.

This Refugee Week, I keep thinking about the 13 migrant women who trusted me with their stories earlier this year.

Their stories reminded me that migration is about so much more than visas, jobs and statistics. It is also about identity, belonging, safety, racism, confidence, rebuilding, and creating a sense of home.

These conversations became a four-part article series on LinkedIn:

📖 International Women's Day Through a Migrant Lens: What "Balance the Scales" Really Means
A reflection on inequality, recognition and the everyday realities migrant women navigate.

📖 The Stories We Rarely Hear: Belonging, Bias and the Quiet Power Struggles Migrant Women Navigate at Work
Stories about invisibility, confidence, workplace culture and rebuilding careers.

📖 The Stories We Rarely Hear: Identity, Race and Finding Your Voice
Conversations about racism, identity, reinvention and redefining success.

📖 The Stories We Rarely Hear: Safety, Vulnerability and the Realities of Migration
Stories about isolation, family, power, support networks and what safety really means when you're rebuilding life in a new country.

These articles are important to me because they centre lived experience. They move beyond statistics and allow women to speak for themselves, and I believe there are lessons in these stories for all of us.

The carousel only shares a few moments from those conversations. There are many more voices and stories that deserve to be heard.

❤️ If you'd like to read the full series, comment STORY below and I'll happily send you the links.

Most people think they need a better resume.

Sometimes they do.

But sometimes the problem is much bigger than that.

This week, I met with a client from Bangladesh who had completed a Diploma of Civil Construction Design in Australia and wanted to work as a Civil Draftsperson.

He was frustrated because he wasn't getting traction with applications and assumed his resume was the problem.

The reality was more complicated.

Yes, the resume needed work, but even the strongest resume in the world would not have solved the bigger issue.

The roles he was targeting either required more experience than he currently had, or there simply weren't enough opportunities in the location where he was living.

So instead of spending the entire consultation rewriting a document, we stopped and focused on strategy.

We talked about alternative pathways, locations, entry points into the industry, and what employers were actually looking for at his level.

By the end of the session, he had something far more valuable than a polished resume.

He had direction.

This is something I wish more job seekers understood:

A resume is important, but a resume is not a career strategy.

Sometimes the fastest way forward is not updating your CV again.

It's stepping back and making sure you're aiming at the right opportunities in the first place.

If you're feeling stuck and wondering whether your resume is really the problem, send me the word STRATEGY.

My name's Natalie and I'm a certified career consultant and communication coach for migrants and international students. I help people rebuild careers in Australia through strategy, resumes, interview coaching, networking support and communication coaching.

⚠️ PLEASE SHARE THIS WIDELY ⚠️

Tomorrow at 4:00pm (Wednesday 17 June), a national warning system test (AusAlert) will take place in Liverpool and surrounding suburbs.

Mobile phones, tablets and smart watches in the area may receive a loud alert and vibration lasting approximately 10 seconds.

While this is only a test, it is important to recognise that some people may have hidden devices for safety reasons, including people experiencing domestic and family violence.

If a hidden device could place someone at risk if discovered, consider taking precautions before the test, such as:

👉 Switching the device off
👉 Hiding the device somewhere secure
👉 Leaving the device with a trusted friend or family member until after the test so it is completely out of the house

Please don't just scroll past this.

Share it to your Facebook groups, community groups, neighbourhood pages, school groups, sporting clubs, community organisations, support services, and local networks. The more people who see this, the more chance we have of reaching someone who genuinely needs this information before tomorrow afternoon.

Areas expected to receive the alert include: 📍 Liverpool
📍 Moorebank
📍 Warwick Farm
📍 Milperra
📍 Casula
📍 Surrounding suburbs

For transparency, the information and screenshots attached have been taken from the official NSW Incident Alerts page and AusAlert communications.

A share could genuinely help keep someone safe.

DomesticViolenceAwareness DFV FamilyViolence WomensSafety CommunitySupport

Over the last few years, I have worked with hundreds of migrants and international students across Australia, from engineers and accountants to project managers, community services professionals, executives and graduates trying to secure their first professional role.

One of the reasons I love this work so much is that I get a front-row seat to people's careers, challenges, fears and successes.

I hear the things that people often don't say publicly.

I see the confidence that can disappear after months of rejection.

I see talented professionals questioning decades of experience because they have been told they need "local experience".

I see people enrolling in course after course because they are hoping another qualification will finally make them feel certain about their next step.

And I also see what happens when people stop doubting themselves, start understanding the Australian market, and begin communicating their value more clearly.

The 7 lessons in this carousel aren't theories.
They are patterns I have observed over hundreds of conversations with migrants rebuilding careers in Australia.
Some of them might feel uncomfortable.

Some might feel very familiar.

But my hope is that they remind you of something important:
You are probably much more capable than you are currently giving yourself credit for.
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Which lesson resonated most with you?

My name's Natalie and I'm a certified career consultant and communication coach for migrants and international students. I support people to rebuild careers in Australia through strategy, resumes, interview coaching, networking support and communication coaching.
If you're feeling stuck and would like support, send me the word HELP.