Your time at Birmingham is what you make of it, and we encourage you to participate in the many and varied activities and opportunities available while studying, to ensure you develop personally and professionally. You can begin this preparation before you begin your studies with us.
What can you do to prepare?
Before you decide on your action plan for your time at Birmingham, reflect on your previous experiences, including as an undergraduate and any work experience you have. If you are in employment reflect on your previous work and broader experiences. Consider as well what motivates you and where your values lie.
Before you arrive...
Do a skills audit and compare your skills with those requested by employers for the jobs you consider. Make a list, including skills from your previous experiences; think about how you can evidence your skills and add examples of where you have demonstrated good use of these skills.
See what graduates in your subject have gone on to do. You can use a range of tools, from our own Careers Network information on graduates, to Prospects and other external websites to research the sectors you are interested in.
LinkedIn’s Alumni Tool allows you to find graduates in specific subjects from universities across the globe to see who they work for, the types of jobs they do and the skills they have. Providing you have ‘University of Birmingham’ listed in your Education, it will default to 135,000 results for University of Birmingham graduates.
Once you are here
Use our resources and support services to help you in your exploration and planning for your career after you graduate. There are many different opportunities for you to engage with employers while you are studying with us, and we will help you to improve your networking skills to make the most of these opportunities. At whatever stage in your search, our skills development opportunities will help you to build your knowledge and confidence in preparation for applying for jobs.
After you graduate...
Remaining in the UK after your study is complete
Are you hoping to remain in the UK and work, post-graduation? In certain circumstances some international graduates can pursue careers in the UK. The Government introduced the new Graduate Route (a post study work visa) on the 1 July 2021.
Graduate Route visa
Do you have a business idea? The Start-up Visa scheme is for early-stage and high potential graduate entrepreneurs who are starting a business in the UK for the first time. It applies to current international (non EEA) University of Birmingham students in their final year of study, and graduates of up to five years, who have an innovative, scalable and viable idea.
Start-up visa
Finding jobs in your home country
Careers Network can help you research jobs all over the world. We list international job opportunities on our Vacancy Database – and host fairs, workshops and presentations attended by with many large, global companies that offer opportunities worldwide.