A rare male in classes of mostly female students, Joe Garcia has heard his gender could be an advantage when it comes to getting a job as a freshly minted primary school teacher.
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But so far his efforts to find coveted full-time work - even in far-flung locales like Goodooga, Bidwell and Walgett - have come to nought.
In education courses at UOW, women continue to outnumber men by about 2.5 to one.
But with more than 25,000 teachers waiting for a full-time job in NSW primary schools, even the advantage of gender may be hard to leverage.
"I guess I'm going to find out," said Mr Garcia, who graduated from the University of Wollongong on Wednesday with a Bachelor of Primary Education.
"But in the end [gender] doesn't matter - if I'm not good at my job I'm not going to keep it."
Despite the challenges facing the education job market, Mr Garcia and graduating mates Phoebe Bell and Liga Walters were upbeat at Wednesday's ceremony.
The trio all moved out of home to attend university and became one another's support networks in and out of the lecture halls.
"It's been fantastic to have that support from each other. I'm very proud of my friends," Mr Garcia said.
