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:-

• The Student Union Advice Centre
• The UK Border Agency
• UKISA

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 including myVacancies

• 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 and 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/Application Form reviewed.

myVacancies for Students and Graduates

Make use of myVacancies to search for the latest vacancies and employers advertsied by the Careers Service.

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 main International Students page.

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, 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), their policies on recruitment of international students, before you apply, however, the UK Border Agency has a list of companies who are Tier 2 sponsors, please see link below for details.

UK Border Agency

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.  When we hold Employer Careers Fairs we check whether participating companies are Tier 2 sponsors and publish this information in the Guide to the Fair

Prospects

The Prospects website has a lot of useful general careers information, vacancy listings, and details of all the careers fairs throughout the country.