Migration, milestones and motherhood: Shafica’s story

Meeting Shafica Berjaoui, you wouldn’t think that she is one of the newer members of Spectrum’s Migration Team. Arriving early each morning, Shafica greets each person by name and embodies our Spectrum ethos of ‘feel at home’, bearing homemade goodies for the team to share, from pumpkin soup to Sfouf, a delicious cake made with turmeric. (P.S. – Check out the recipe, here!)

But only a few weeks ago, Shafica celebrated a huge career milestone – successfully completing her Capstone Assessment, an essential and very important requirement to being a registered Migration Agent in Australia. We sat down with Shafica to chat about working in migration, balancing a career and motherhood, and what she’s learned along the way from clients and family alike.

Tell us about a big moment in your career journey:

Definitely when I finished my Graduate Diploma in Migration Law. It was like a gift that I could give my Mum, because it was something she knew that I could do, for so long. But life doesn’t always work that way, so it had taken me longer to get there. And I remember when I was getting my Degree and I walked out, just how happy she was. It was also something that I could show my daughter. It was a gift I gave myself, my Mum and my daughter at the same time… that was the biggest milestone for me.

What helpful skills have you picked up from your previous roles?

Compassion is a big one. I’ve been in the space of advocacy prior to migration, and I have also been in beauty therapy as well. So there [has always been] a lot of interaction with people… always listening to people’s really deep, deep stories and their struggles and their life experiences, it just gives you a different lens. You’re not so judgemental anymore, you understand that everybody is the way that they are because there’s something behind that. The way that people are with you is a mirror – all their own experiences coming through. And so you have to respect each person’s journey, and not just take it personally.

The Capstone assessment to become a registered Migration Agent is known to be a long, challenging process. It says a lot about the dedication you need to have to become a Migration Agent. What was it like?

Without the Capstone, your degree is worth nothing…so there’s so much pressure to pass it, built around the whole exam itself. And it’s also costly. I remember the amount of study that went into it, and that pressure that ripples through the whole family. For the three months prior to the exam, I’d finish work, go home, cook, pack up and then just pick up my laptop [and study]. And that would go on until ten or eleven o’clock every day. I remember when I passed [the Capstone], my six year old said to me ‘you can put me to sleep without the laptop in your arms!’ and he was happy.

The exam is set up in a way where the person needs experience in the industry, and it’s very difficult to get industry experience – you need someone checking up on your work, and most people don’t have time for that. At one stage, I was basically going door to door like ‘I’ll work for free, I’m a good worker – I just need experience, please’. I was turned down so many times. So I thought, I’ll put one million percent into the Capstone so that I can get the registration. I wanted to challenge myself. Also, my Mum had big dreams for me – she always used to say, ‘you’re capable… I know how big your capacity is’. And then a few months before the assessment, I landed at Spectrum. It was a tailor-made moment – it’s honestly funny how things come together.

Who inspires you?

My Mum is very strong. She built her own business, in the textiles industry, and she had some of the biggest sports contracts about 20-25 years ago… my Mum was the main breadwinner, built an extension on our house, and she had sixty employees. Most of them were single mothers. Many were, you know, women in toxic relationships, but here they had work. And the school holidays were like a childcare centre at our house because everyone could bring their kids. I remember my Mum would wake up really, really early and go to the gym and look after her health and then she would run the business, and she’d cook, and she’d do everything. My mum was my biggest inspiration.

And my husband has been very encouraging. So it was good to have that support all around, and encouragement [during my study of Migration Law]. I also have a younger sister who was the first one of us to go to university, and I would watch her dedication to her studies. We’re very similar in the way that we think and the way that we are, so when I started seeing her go through that study journey, I started to feel a bit of regret. Then after the regret came inspiration. And she would always, always encourage me, on top of what my Mum would do too. So family’s really big.

What’s your personal approach to dealing with migration clients?

I think you need to be compassionate. You have to understand where they are coming from. I think you need to be very transparent and truthful. It’s important not to build too many high, unrealistic expectations. And I like to follow through. So if I’ve said to a client that I need until Friday, can you bear with me until then? Then I make it my mission to deliver by Friday. Because there’s nothing worse than broken promises. There’s always exceptional circumstances of course, you know, we’re all human, but I think you owe it to any person that you’re dealing with to be honest. I think it keeps your own integrity too. So when clients see that pattern of you respecting their time, they also respect your time. In every industry I’ve been in, communication is so important. And giving the person you’re dealing with dignity, and respecting their privacy.

If you had to give any advice about the migration process, what would it be?

My advice would be to not go through shortcuts. There’s so much fake information out there and it’s believed, and [in many cases] people don’t know any better, and that’s the sad part. An application passes through something like ten people’s hands before a decision is made. Nobody has secret connections, so don’t go by blind trust in what a friend says or who an auntie knows: it’s important to get the right advice from the right people…who have the proper qualifications and that are in the industry correctly, doing the right thing.

Finally, can you tell us what’s it like working in Spectrum’s Migration team?

I love it. I love the environment. I love the team I work with, I love how inclusive it is, how thoughtful everyone is. I love how they respect family as well, that’s so big for me. So having management that understand that I’m a mum, it’s big. Mums always sacrifice so much, especially in their careers. It’s very hard. But Spectrum have made it a lot easier, and those sacrifices fair. Those small considerations make a big difference.

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For more information about Spectrum’s Migration services, click here