The 3 things that decide graduate program offers

Before I finished my bachelor’s in economics, I already had a job offer from a startup in Delhi.

Naturally, when I moved to Australia, I expected the same thing. However, it doesn’t work like that here.

There are no campus placements, no recruitment drives.

In Australia if you want a job offer before you graduate, there are only two ways.

1. You’re already working part-time or as an intern and the company converts you.
   This happens, but it depends on funding, timing, and an open role. Relies a lot on luck and 50 other things working in your favour.

2. Graduate programs.
   That’s the only structured path to having an offer ready before you finish uni, so don’t miss out on your graduate program applications.

After working with hundreds and hundreds of graduates and international students over the last 4 years, I can very confidently tell you:

Graduate program applications and the things I’ve covered in this newsletter need to be your top priority, especially if you’re graduating in 2026. Yes, even above your assignments and grades.

1. Are you actually eligible for the graduate program you are applying for?

I won’t spend a lot of time on this as it’s very straightforward.

Only apply for graduate programs you’re eligible for.

Every program has a strict criteria. This includes who they accept, whether international students are eligible, and which graduation years they consider.

If you don’t meet the criteria, don’t apply.

Most programs receive 500+ applications. Applying when you’re ineligible is not “taking a chance”. It’s wasting your time.

The second part I see people mess up is stream selection.

Most graduate programs are structured across multiple streams and business areas. In many cases, eligibility is locked to specific university degrees.

But in many programs, eligibility is deliberately kept open. This is where you’re given the freedom to nominate the stream or division you want to be assessed for.

When there are separate applications for each stream, it’s pretty straightforward. You simply apply for the stream you are most interested in.

But quite often, there’s a single application covering all streams. This is where you’re expected to clearly state your preference within it.

A lot of students lose ground here.

They keep their answers broad. They hedge. They try to sound flexible.

Don’t.

When a graduate program application gives you the choice, you’re expected to make one. So choose a stream and be specific about that.

2. Maximising the pre-application window most people waste

Most graduate programs open around mid-February or March. That gives you a small but meaningful window right now to put yourself in a stronger position before applications even open.

This is important to understand.

Graduate programs don’t care about what courses you have taken or the classes you’ve attended.

They’re trying to understand how well-rounded you are.

So, what makes a far bigger difference is the evidence you can point to, outside the classroom.

I’m talking about active learning; internships, work integrated learning, part-time work, side-projects, and volunteering.

Even if these experiences aren’t perfectly aligned to the stream you’re applying for, they still matter and should be included in your application.

If you’re graduating in 2026, the next couple of months are not a waiting period. They’re your opportunity to build evidence.

The more experiences you can get right now, the stronger your application will be.

The other thing you should be prioritising right now is learning more about the graduate programs you’re applying for.

What do people in these roles and these companies actually work on. What are the technical and soft skills that are most valued by them.

The best way to do this is by speaking with previous graduates and even senior employees from those companies.

University employer events and industry showcases are very useful for this. That’s where you start picking up how the company talks about its work, the language they use, and what they value.

These insights should feed directly into how you write your resume, your cover letter, and even your video responses.

When you use the company’s language in your application, you stop sounding like an outsider, and that is a huge advantage when you are competing against 500 other applicants.

3. Turning a good profile into a strong application

A good profile is the baseline for graduate programs.

What actually determines the outcome is how well that profile is translated into an application.

In other words, how clearly you can address the selection criteria and market yourself on paper.

On the resume side, evidence matters a lot more than page count. So unless a program explicitly asks for a one-page resume, don’t worry about it.

Instead highlight all your recent and relevant experiences that show how well rounded you are, and support your resume with evidence, both quantitative and qualitative.

Things like the dollar value of the project you worked on, how many people you collaborated with, how long the work ran for, or what changed because you were involved.

If you built or improved something, what was the outcome. Did an automation reduce manual work. Did it save time. Did it improve accuracy. Did it increase users, revenue, or engagement. Even directional outcomes matter if exact numbers aren’t available.

Together, they help a reviewer understand not just what you did, but how you operated.

When it comes to graduate program applications, cover letters are just as important.

Unlike most roles on Seek or LinkedIn, cover letters are a core assessment criterion in graduate programs. They are read, compared, and actively used to decide who moves forward.

If a program allows a two-page cover letter, I’d recommend using the full two pages. Use that space to answer, “why this program”, and “why you’re a good fit for it”.

I’ve got a simple litmus test to assess how strong a cover letter is.

If you can remove the company name and submit the same letter to another graduate program without changing anything, it’s not strong enough.