VETASSESS Professional Assessment: Process and Pass Criteria

VETASSESS assesses two different occupation groups through different processes: Professional occupations and General occupations (trade/technical occupations). This article focuses on Professional — the group that includes management, consulting, education, business and many other specialist fields.

What are Professional occupations

Professional occupations under VETASSESS usually have an ANZSCO code in group 1 (managers) or group 2 (professionals) — for example: Marketing Manager, HR Specialist, Accountant, Teacher, Psychologist, Dietitian, Journalist, and so on.

For the full list, see the VETASSESS website — each occupation has its own assessment guidelines. The important thing is to check the correct ANZSCO code for the occupation you want assessed.

The two components VETASSESS assesses

Component 1 — Qualifications

VETASSESS assesses your qualification against the equivalent Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) level. The result is usually one of:

• Equivalent to AQF level 7 (Bachelor) or higher: eligible
• Equivalent to AQF level 5–6 (Diploma, Advanced Diploma): may be eligible with additional experience conditions
• Not equivalent or insufficient level: not eligible on qualifications

Overseas qualifications are assessed based on:

• The name of the education provider and its level of recognition
• The coursework content compared with the occupation you want assessed
• The year of graduation

The qualification does not have to be in exactly the same field. VETASSESS may accept a highly relevant field if the content is suitable.

Component 2 — Employment

This is the second component — and often the more challenging one for many applicants.

VETASSESS requires work experience in the occupation (the correct ANZSCO code or a closely related one) after obtaining the qualification (post-qualification employment). Experience before the qualification is usually not counted.

Common requirements:

• At least 1 year of experience after the qualification, or
• At least 2 years, depending on the occupation

VETASSESS also considers the quality of the experience — whether you genuinely worked at the level appropriate to that occupation, or only did basic work unrelated to the correct occupation.

How VETASSESS grades and the outcomes

Positive outcome

You pass if:

• Your qualification is assessed as equivalent to the appropriate AQF level, AND
• Your post-qualification experience meets the number of years and is in the correct occupation

Negative outcome

VETASSESS declines if:

• The qualification is not equivalent to a sufficient level, OR
• There is insufficient post-qualification experience in the specific occupation, OR
• The experience is not sufficiently related to the ANZSCO code being assessed

Referred for interview

Some applications may be asked to attend an interview — usually when the profile sits on the borderline between a pass and a fail, or when VETASSESS needs to verify further information.

English requirement

Some VETASSESS Professional occupations have an English requirement. See the details at English requirements in a skills assessment.

Time and cost

• Assessment time: varies by assessment type and application volume — check the current timeframes on the official VETASSESS website.
• Cost: varies by assessment type and over time — see the official fee schedule on the VETASSESS website.

VETASSESS offers a Priority Assessment service with a faster processing time (around 10 working days) at a higher fee — see the VETASSESS website for more.

Documents to prepare

• Graduation certificate and academic transcripts
• Letters from employers confirming work experience
• Detailed job descriptions (duties and responsibilities)
• Certified translations (if documents are not in English)

See the details at Documents to prepare for a skills assessment.

Differences from VETASSESS General

VETASSESS General (for trade and technical occupations) has a different process — assessment through an exam or a practical skills test. Professional is based only on documentation (a documentation-based assessment). See VETASSESS Professional vs Trade for a comparison.