Mechanical engineer Surendran Rajindram is one of Engineers Australia’s participants in the Global Engineering Talent (GET) program through Hydro Tasmania. 

The GET program includes a six-week training course and 12-week paid work placement. Each engineer has a mentor to give them support and help them make connections in their local community. 

Surendran has been in touch with Engineers Australia since 2018 because his partner lived in Australia and he was visiting twice a year. Surendran says he was looking for work opportunities and had his “eye on” Hydro Tasmania.  

"I diligently studied and earned my degree, acquiring seven years of diverse engineering experience in Malaysia before leaving a lucrative position,” he says. 

During mid 2023 Surendran made the move to Australia from Malaysia and settled in Tasmania where his wife was residing.  

He tried applying for job opportunities while waiting for the GET program to kick-off but kept being knocked back due to having no Australian engineering experience. 

Engineers Australia CEO Romilly Madew AO says “currently, overseas-born engineers living in Tasmania are around 40 per cent more likely to face unemployment compared to their Australian-born counterparts.” 

Hydro Tasmania offered him an internship program through GET and another engineering company from Sydney also made him an offer. “I made the decision to take the pathway shown by Engineers Australia though the GET program,” Surendran says. “After all they got me the offer with Hydro Tasmania... the employer that I have been eyeing since 2018.”   

The GET program is an outcome of Engineers Australia’s Barriers to employment for skilled migrant engineers research, which found 47 per cent of migrant engineers actively seeking an engineering job are unemployed. 

Romilly says “the Global Engineering Talent program is an industry-supported solution that helps engineers like Surendran transition into jobs that match their skills and experience.” 

Surendran’s experience in the program has been a positive one. With the support of Engineers Australia, he says the program was well structured with experienced facilitators and if it wasn't for the program, he would have would have been “struggling” in the workplace by now. 

“The GET program has definitely elevated my engineering skills and knowledge and I am looking forward to being a chartered professional engineer in years to come.” 

Image: (from L to R) Engineers Australia CEO Romilly Madew, GET participant Surendran Rajindram and Tammie Chu from Hydro Tasmania.