In the education and training of STEM graduates, one broadly recognised shortfall is the development of professional or 'soft' skills competencies, often blamed on a relatively content-heavy curriculum. Indeed, while the mathematical, analytical, computational, and technological abilities of our STEM graduates are generally commended, they often tend to demonstrate deficiencies in other areas key to employability. Employers now are looking for professional skills as well as technical skills ... In FSET, we have been developing an approach that encompasses all these skill sets under one banner: a contextual international immersion program. The core of the program is to bring together a group of students from various disciplines to engage in an international education trip that will require them to tackle critical issues in a completely different socio-economical context. The Australian students are paired with overseas peers and work as teams for two weeks to generate genuine project proposals with measurable outcomes. These authentic experiences help to motivate and develop crucial employability skills in our STEM graduates.