About us
Over fifteen years of paid internships, mentoring and First Nations leadership.
Our purpose, vision and mission
- Our Purpose
To build a legacy of First Nations leadership, impact and opportunity.
- Our Vision
First Nations professionals leading with excellence and purpose in industries and communities across Australia.
- Our Mission
To accelerate the careers of Indigenous students, graduates and emerging leaders by creating career opportunities, access to networks and developmental support that unlock leadership potential and drive lasting change.
A national movement for First Nations careers, leadership and excellence.
CareerTrackers is a national not-for-profit. We partner with universities, industry and community to accelerate the careers of First Nations students, and to build a future where Indigenous professionals thrive in every sector of Australian life.
We support students through every step of their university and career journey — paid internships, mentoring, leadership development and a lifelong network grounded in community and connection.
Over fifteen years in, that work has become an ecosystem of students, alumni, universities and leading employers who between them have changed what a professional career in this country looks like.
The values we work to.
How CareerTrackers started.
Just as INROADS set out to break down barriers for minority groups in corporate leadership, CareerTrackers was established so that First Nations people in Australia are represented in the workforce and leading it — driving economic empowerment and self-determination.
Michael Combs on where the idea came from, and what it took to convince the first nine employers to back it.
2009
Eighteen students, nine companies
Michael Combs founds CareerTrackers on 29 October, on a $200,000 grant from Social Ventures Australia and the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation.
2015–2018
The model travels
CareerSeekers opens the model to refugees and people seeking asylum in 2015. TupuToa takes it to Māori and Pasifika students in New Zealand in 2016. A Papua New Guinea program follows in 2018.
2019
Ten years
5,397 internships completed, 1,043 degrees earned and $72.7 million in wages paid to interns. One in three students had a family member who had already come through the program.
2024
Fifteen years
The 15 Years Report records 8,659 internship placements and $85.7 million earned in real wages by students while they studied.
Today
Where it stands
9,589 internships completed, 1,671 alumni and 114 employer partners.
Three pillars carry the program.
University, internship and community run at the same time, for the length of a degree. CareerTrackers holds all three: with universities and their Indigenous centres, with over 100 leading employers and with an alumni community that keeps coming back.
University
Academic success is the core of the program. A team of dedicated Advisors sits alongside each student for the whole degree — regular check-ins, an early read on the hurdles ahead and a plan for clearing them.
With universitiesWe work with universities and their Indigenous centres to help students stay engaged, complete their studies and transition confidently into meaningful careers.
Internship
A paid 12-week block over summer, or four weeks in winter, with a partner organisation matched to the student’s degree. Behind every placement sits a rigorous competency framework, leadership development and a dedicated advisor.
With employersWe work with over 100 leading employers, Qantas, Lendlease, CBA, Telstra, SJB Architects and Dentons Lawyers among them. For those employers we are a trusted partner and a pipeline for high-potential Indigenous talent.
Community
Success is a shared experience. Mentorship, leadership development and cultural connection run the length of the program, carried by a national network of peers and alumni who supply support and cultural safety.
With alumniFor alumni, CareerTrackers is a lifelong community of professional peers, mentors and advocates. Many come back to mentor the students following them.
We partner with employers, universities and other organisations to build a future where Indigenous professionals are visible, valued and leading across every industry.
What a placement alone can’t do.
The internship is the visible part. Around it sits a curriculum, a coaching relationship and a national leadership program that run for the whole degree.
A graduate capabilities curriculum
Students choose the skills they want to sharpen within a framework built around six attributes: personal leadership, culture and community, relationships and teamwork, communication, delivering results and self-actualisation.
Coaching that runs all year
Monthly coaching with an Advisor between internships, weekly updates during them and a Learning Contract co-written with the student’s manager. Concerns get caught early; wins get recorded.
A national leadership development institute
A multi-day leadership experience at the end of summer that brings the whole national community together. It culminates in the National Gala Awards and the Intern of the Year.
- 9,589 — Internships completed since 2009
- 1,671 — Alumni who have come through the program
- 90% — Graduate from university, against 47% of First Nations students nationally
- 95% — In work within three months of graduating
- 15% — Higher graduate salaries than the national average
- 114 — Employer partners, up from 9 in our first year
Board of Directors
Michael McDaniel AO
Emeritus Professor, Special Advisor
What changes for a student
Coming from a rural and remote town, I was able to build my connections and gain the experience that I thought I wasn’t able to achieve.
Ta’Kura Madsen
Proud Kuku Yalanji Woman
Bachelor of Business (Marketing and HR)
Queensland University of Technology, 2022 Graduate
From every corner of the country.
Students come from all over the country — capital cities, regional towns and remote communities. Every state and territory sits inside a service region with its own program manager.
- NSW & ACTSydney
- QLD, WA & NTBrisbane
- VIC, SA & TASMelbourne