Project Context
1.1 Project Introduction
The Confident Communicator is a 5-week in-person English communication program I designed and facilitated under my coaching practice, English With Mia. The program is based in Melbourne and is designed for internationally qualified migrants who have the skills and experience to contribute to the Australian workforce but face a significant barrier in professional communication, interview confidence, and resume presentation.
As the sole designer and facilitator, I developed this program in direct response to what I was seeing in my 1:1 coaching sessions. My first real participant, Vita Ika Damayanti, arrived in Perth earlier this year with years of professional experience but had received no callbacks despite applying for countless jobs. After just 2 sessions focusing on CV coaching and mock interview practice, she received a job offer from Spinal Life Australia. My second enrolled student, Nur Rofiqoh Utami, joined the program in May 2026.
The full 5-week group cohort of 6 to 10 students remains hypothetical at this stage, designed and planned based on the real evidence gathered from Vita, Nur, and 14 informal community interviews with Indonesian migrants aged 20 to 35 in Melbourne.
1.2 The Wicked Problem: Communication and Confidence Barriers for Migrant Professionals in Australia
Rittel and Webber (1973) describe wicked problems as complex, socially embedded challenges that resist straightforward solutions because they involve competing stakeholder needs, no definitive answer, and conditions that shift as you attempt to address them. The communication and confidence gap facing internationally qualified migrants in Australia fits this definition precisely.
The problem is not simply about English proficiency. Vita arrived in Perth with years of professional experience in marketing and laboratory work, strong written English, and genuine motivation. She still could not get a single callback. The barrier was not her ability. It was the hidden curriculum of Australian professional communication: the unspoken expectations around interview tone, self-advocacy, resume framing, and workplace interaction that no one teaches explicitly. Research confirms this pattern is not unique to Vita. Jentjens (2021) found that language shapes employment outcomes for skilled migrants even when professional competence is not in question, and Baker et al. (2023) demonstrate that culturally and linguistically diverse graduates in Australia face structural gaps between the capitals they hold and the capitals employers recognise.
This problem has no single solution because it sits at the intersection of language, culture, systemic hiring bias, and individual confidence. Tran et al. (2023) show that international graduates on temporary visas in Australia face compounding barriers where visa status, communication expectations, and employer assumptions interact in ways no single intervention can fully address. Employers, migrants, language institutions, and government bodies all have different definitions of what the problem even is. As I work to address it through coaching, the problem itself shifts. Once Vita could present herself confidently in interviews, a new challenge emerged around workplace integration and ongoing professional communication. Zschomler (2023) describes this cycle as the small tragedies of individuals' lives, where migrants navigate structural disadvantage one barrier at a time without the system itself changing.
What makes this truly wicked is that solving it for one person does not solve it for the next. Every student brings a different professional background, a different set of barriers, and a different definition of success as illustrated in Figure 1.
How this fits Rittel and Webber's criteria
- ✅No definitive formulation. Every student brings a different set of barriers and a different definition of success.
- ✅No stopping rule. Solving it for Vita does not mean it is solved for the next student.
- ✅Solutions are not true or false. Coaching helps but does not fix the systemic problem.
- ✅No immediate test. Success cannot be measured until the student secures employment.
- ✅Every solution is a one shot operation. Each session changes the shape of the problem.
- ✅No enumerable set of solutions. Language, culture, bias, and confidence all interact in unpredictable ways.
- ✅Every wicked problem is unique. No two migrants face exactly the same combination of barriers.
- ✅Every wicked problem is a symptom of another. Visa status, credential devaluation, and hiring bias feed each other.
"Wicked problems resist single solutions. They shift as you address them."
Rittel & Webber, 1973
Tap a node to explore
Accent bias
Employers judge before migrants can demonstrate their skills.
Why no single solution
Linguistic, cultural, psychological and systemic at once. Fixing one element does not fix the others.
How it shifts
Once interview confidence improves, workplace integration becomes the new challenge. The problem evolves with every solution.
Interactive diagram · tap any node
Accent bias
Employers judge before migrants can demonstrate their skills.
Real evidence from the program
Meet Vita Ika Damayanti
Years of professional experience in marketing and laboratory work. Strong written English. Genuine motivation. Still no callbacks. Her case lives at the centre of every element above, which is exactly why the wicked problem framing fits.
1.3 Real vs Hypothetical Declaration
The following table declares which elements of this project are based on real participants, real data, and real outcomes, and which elements are hypothetical, planned, or informed by research rather than direct experience. This declaration is required by the unit to ensure transparency in the design process.
| Element | Status | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project site (Perth Online) | Real | Real location | Vita's 1:1 sessions conducted online, April 2026 |
| Project site (Melbourne in person) | Hypothetical | Planned location | Planned group program location based on community interview data |
| Primary user Vita Ika Damayanti | Real | Real participant | Pre-session welcome form 28 Apr 2026. Job offer from Spinal Life Australia confirmed. |
| Second student Nur Rofiqoh Utami | Real | Real participant | Pre-session welcome form 7 May 2026. Currently enrolled. |
| Vita's confidence scores (2/10 writing, 4/10 interviews) | Real | Real data | Self-reported on pre-session welcome form, April 2026 |
| Vita's employment outcome (Spinal Life Australia) | Real | Real outcome | Job offer received after 2 sessions. Documented in student success materials. |
| Session 1 CV and resume coaching (Vita) | Real | Real session | Pilot prototype session conducted 1:1 with Vita, Perth 2026 |
| Session 2 Mock interview practice (Vita) | Real | Real session | Pilot prototype session. Vita's quote: giving me a clear idea for my real interview |
| TikTok as discovery channel | Real | Real channel | Vita found English With Mia on TikTok and booked the free 30-minute trial directly |
| Free 30-minute trial session | Real | Real touchpoint | Real design feature used with Vita. Kept as a permanent entry point for the program. |
| 14 community interviews | Pseudo / informal | Informal empathy research | Indonesian migrants aged 20 to 35 in Melbourne. No ethics clearance. Recruited through existing network. Sampling bias acknowledged. |
| Full 5-week group cohort (6 to 10 students) | Hypothetical | Planned cohort | Designed based on Vita, Nur and community interview data. Not yet implemented. |
| 5-week curriculum and lesson plans | Hypothetical | Planned content | Structured based on real barriers identified in the empathy stage. Awaiting group pilot. |
| Before and after confidence survey | Hypothetical | Planned instrument | Instrument drafted. Will be administered with the first group cohort. |
| Stakeholder engagement (employers, IELTS bodies) | Hypothetical | Planned engagement | No formal engagement conducted yet. Planned for the next iteration of the program. |
