Graduate jobs in the UK

If you wish to stay in the UK to work after you graduate you will need to make sure you have an appropriate work visa. The regulations concerning the 'right to work' in the UK are complex and can change frequently. It is therefore vital that you keep yourself informed and up to date.

The best place to do this is via the websites of:

• Student Union Advice Centre
• UK Border Agency
• UKCISA

It is also important that you have a clear idea of:

• what UK employers expect of graduates
• the UK graduate employment market and employers’ recruitment practices
• how you can develop and improve your employability skills so that you have plenty to offer employers

All this information is contained in the International Students download on the right of this page.

Applying for jobs

• Research the possibilities and target employers who have an interest in the particular mix of skills, experience and motivations that you can offer.
• Emphasise not only the skills gained from your academic background and work experience, but also the things that you as an international student can particularly offer such as:
  • language skills
  • cultural awareness
  • international knowledge
  • maturity/independence/adaptability
• Consider particularly focusing on employers who are active in the UK and your home country and who can see the value in having employees familiar with both countries.
• Employers expect applications to be of a very high standard so take care and time over them - particularly check spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Making Applications

This section has information on researching employers and will be able to help with CVs (examples are listed), application forms and interviews.

You can also book an appointment at the Careers Service to have your CV or application form reviewed.

myVacancies for Students and Graduates

Make use of myVacancies to search for the latest vacancies and employers.
Students should log in to MUSE and select the Careers Tab.
Graduates can register and log in via the Careers website.

What's On

Check the What's On Diary regularly for employer visits to the Campus for Fairs, Presentations, One-to One Sessions, and Skills workshops that allow you to meet and talk to employers. There are also lots of talks/workshops that will help you with career planning and making applications, including ones specifically for international students - see the Maximise leaflet on the right.

Employers accepting applications from international students

We often get asked for a 'list of employers who accept applications from international students'. This would be impossible to put together as employers policies can be different for different roles, vary for the different Tiers, be dependent on an individual´s skills, and frequently change. Therefore you are advised to check with each company (via their website, email or telephone), what their policies on the recruitment of international students are before you apply.

However:-

• We do ask employers who come to our Fairs what their policies are on recruiting international students and the ones that respond positively are listed in the download Employers from Fairs on the right hand side of this page.
• UK Border Agency - for the Tier 2 sponsored skilled worker category there is a list of sponsor companies. You can use this to check whether the employer you are interested in is licensed to issue applicants with a certificate of sponsorship for Tier 2. New employers will be added to it all the time so check it regularly for recent additions.

Prospects

The Prospects website has a lot of useful general careers information, a very good section for International students, vacancy listings, and details of all the careers fairs throughout the country.