Career Conversations @ Home – Helping Parents Have Positive Career Convos!

Organisation: Arrive & Thrive

Location: Online

Date: November 19, 2025

Come join Tyson Day, the Co-Founder and Lead Facilitator of Arrive & Thrive, as he shares the best way to have impactful career conversations in and around your home environment that produce clarity, career discovery, and momentum. Tyson will share concepts and practices that he has learned through his 10+ years of experience in career education and the 85,000 students who have attended Arrive & Thrive workshops since 2019.

In our webinar, you can expect to learn:

How can you positively influence your young person in their career decisions.
How can you effectively navigate the future of work and understand your young person's options.
How to communicate effectively through the GROW model to support your young person in career exploration.

We can't wait for you to join us!

All participants will receive a Career Conversation Kit to kick off conversations with their young person as soon as possible!

Find out more

UCAT, GAMSAT and Pathways into Medicine – Webinar for Students, Teachers & Parents

Organisation: National Institute of Education

Location: Online

Date: November 26, 2025

This forum is an excellent opportunity for teachers, students and their parents to find out about the UCAT, pathways into medicine, and have all questions answered by an expert teacher who has been working in the field since 1999.

The session is packed with invaluable information during which we will be covering the following topics, and more:

What is UCAT? UCAT scores? UCAT Sub-tests?
Year 10, 11 and 12 - things to consider now
The undergraduate selection criteria
Application process into universities for medicine and dentistry
When and who can sit the UCAT?
GAMSAT
Can you prepare for the UCAT?
Undergraduate interview process
What, how and why about Gap Year?
Alternative degrees and career choices
Work experience advice
Q&A

Find out more

International Songwriting Competition

Organisation: International Songwriting Competition

Location: All

Value: Up to US$25,000

Close Date: November 24, 2025

Find out more

9 jobs that didn’t exist 10 years ago (and what they pay)

The job market is changing faster than ever before, and some of the roles that are hiring right now simply didn't exist a decade ago. Technology advances, social changes, and new industries have created career paths that weren't even on the radar when today's university students were in primary school.

If you're thinking about your future career, it's worth knowing that you're not limited to traditional paths. Many of the most interesting opportunities are emerging right now, and understanding what these roles involve and what they pay can help you spot possibilities you might not have considered.

Here are nine jobs that have emerged in Australia over the past decade, along with what you can expect to earn and where to learn more about each field.

Music Therapist

Music therapy sits inside the health, care and medical emerging space, using music as a therapeutic tool to help people with physical, emotional, cognitive, or social needs. Most therapists earn between $800 and $2,000 a week (roughly $41,600 to $104,000 a year), with a smaller group earning above that range.

Recent job advertisements show full-time roles in the $90,000 to $95,000 range, and Jobs and Skills Australia has identified it as an emerging role. If you're interested in both music and helping people, this relatively new profession combines both in meaningful ways.

Where to learn more: Australian Music Therapy Association

NDIS Support Coordinator

This role barely existed before the National Disability Insurance Scheme rolled out across Australia, which is why it appears as an emerging occupation. NDIS Support Coordinators help people with disabilities navigate the scheme, connect with services, and make the most of their funding.

Census data shows that 89% of workers in this role earn at or above the national average of $805 a week (about $41,860 a year), with 5% earning $2,000 or more per week ($104,000+ a year). Current Australian job advertisements and industry guides put most Support Coordinators in the $75,000 to $90,000 range, with specialist coordinators able to charge higher hourly NDIS rates.

Where to learn more: National Disability Insurance Scheme

Climate Change Analyst

As organisations and governments work to understand and respond to climate change, the need for people who can analyse data, model scenarios, and develop strategies has exploded. This is one of the clearest examples of the sustainability and net-zero career stream that's emerged recently.

Australian roles advertised for climate or decarbonisation analysts in government and large organisations commonly sit around $145,000 to $155,000 plus superannuation. For example, NSW EPA's Principal Climate Change Analyst role starts at $148,230 plus super. Wider salary datasets put the typical range from about $102,000 to $181,000, making this one of the better-paid emerging fields.

Where to learn more: Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Electric Vehicle Technician

As Australia's electric vehicle fleet grows, there's increasing demand for technicians who understand batteries, electric motors, and high-voltage systems. This role builds on traditional automotive skills but requires completely different technical knowledge.

Australian job advertisements for EV technicians and mechanics tend to run from about $55,000 a year at entry level up to $90,000 or more for council, utility, or fleet work. Field service roles can pay even higher. Job boards list hourly rates of $37.75 to $48.05 for local government workshop positions.

Where to learn more: Electric Vehicle Council

Battery Design Engineer

This is one of the most future-facing roles to emerge recently. As renewable energy storage becomes crucial for Australia's energy transition, engineers who can design and optimise battery systems are in high demand. Census analysis shows that 41% of workers in this field were already earning $2,000 or more per week (at least $104,000 a year) back in 2021.

Current Australian battery and energy-storage engineering roles sit roughly in the $105,000 to $155,000 range, with senior positions paying considerably more. This field combines electrical engineering, chemistry, and sustainability in ways that simply weren't needed a decade ago.

Where to learn more: Future Battery Industries CRC

Quantum Computing Scientist

Quantum computing represents a completely different approach to processing information, and Australia is investing heavily in this emerging technology. The 2021 Census found that 69% of people in quantum computing roles were earning $2,000 or more per week, meaning most were already over $104,000 annually.

Current Australian figures show salaries ranging from about $100,000 to the mid-$160,000s, depending on whether you're working in a university, with organisations like CSIRO or in defence, or in commercial development. This is highly specialised work that requires advanced physics and mathematics knowledge.

Where to learn more: UNSW Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology

Machine Learning Engineer

Machine learning engineering was rare a decade ago but is now firmly established as an emerging field. These engineers build and deploy systems that learn from data, powering everything from recommendation algorithms to medical diagnostics. The Census shows that 67% were already earning $2,000 or more per week, so over $104,000 annually.

Australian job market data currently has machine learning engineers earning about $135,000 to $150,000, with senior roles pushing towards $180,000 or more. As artificial intelligence continues to develop, this field is only likely to grow.

Where to learn more: CSIRO's Data61

Robotics Engineer

Robotics engineering sits within advanced manufacturing and automation, designing systems that can sense, think, and act in physical environments. Census data from 2021 showed that 35% of robotics engineers were already earning $2,000 or more per week ($104,000+ annually).

Current Australian job listings show typical robotics engineer salaries in the $120,000 to $130,000 range, with specialist or senior positions reaching about $170,000. This field combines mechanical, electrical, and software engineering in ways that are becoming increasingly important across industries.

Where to learn more: Australia's Robotics Strategy

Bioinformatician

As health, medical research, and genomics push further into data analysis, bioinformaticians have emerged to bridge biology and computing. These professionals analyse genetic and biological data to help understand diseases, develop treatments, and advance medical knowledge. Census data shows that 43% of bioinformaticians were already earning $2,000 or more per week ($104,000+ annually).

Current Australian salary sources put bioinformaticians mostly between $95,000 and $120,000, with senior research or clinical bioinformatics roles in WA and VIC health services at around $105,000 to $110,000 plus superannuation.

Where to learn more: Australian Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Society

What this means for your future

If there's one clear message from these emerging roles, it's that the job market is constantly evolving. Many of the careers that will be common in ten years' time don't exist yet, and the skills that matter most might be ones you're still developing.

The fields represented here span health, technology, sustainability, and social services – areas where Australia is investing heavily and where problems need solving. If any of these roles spark your interest, it's worth exploring the organisations linked above to understand what pathways exist and what qualifications you might need.

Want to explore more career possibilities? Find more job spotlights here.

Ms Melissa Dillon & Ms Robyn Cardamone

Careers

St Peter's News

Issue 18 · 14 Nov 2025

In this issue