You can use employment experience as a way to obtain a QTAC selection rank to improve your chances of getting into a course. Your employment experience does not have to relate to the course you want to study.

Employment experience can be used on its own or combined with the Special Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT). 

Some institutions have age restrictions or other policies that affect whether you can use employment as an admission pathway to your course. Find institutional policies on using employment experience as an admission pathway.

Including employment experience in your application

It is optional to include employment experience in your application, unless it is an entry requirement for your course. 

Please call us on 1300 467 822 if you have listed employment in your application but now do not want to use it. 

Year 12 students

If you are in Year 12, you cannot use employment experience for most institutions. There are a small number of exceptions. Contact the relevant institution for their policies.

How employment experience is assessed

We allocate a selection rank for employment experience based on skill level and length of service. To determine skill level, we use the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO).

We can assess:

• a minimum of six months full-time (or equivalent) paid employment either in Australia or overseas. This might be continuous employment with one employer or periods of employment doing the same job with different employers
• periods of self-employment.

We can’t assess:

• unpaid work experience
• volunteer work
• the time-at-work component of apprenticeships and traineeships.

Documenting your employment

If we ask you to document your employment, you will need to provide a statement from your employer about the role you performed.

If you have been self-employed, your accountant, solicitor or tax agent can write the statement.

Find out more about documenting your employment experience, including sample employment statements.