Careers services for Postgraduate Taught students

You can enrol on the Postgraduate Professional Development Canvas course to work towards the PGT Professional Development Award, receive our regular Careers Digest for PGT students, and to find out more about the opportunities we offer for PGT students.

• Postgraduate Professional Development

If you are thinking of going on to study for your PhD, here are a number of key points to consider when contemplating the move into further postgraduate study.

• Masters to PhD

Student stories, tips and advice from recent graduates who have completed Masters courses at the University of Birmingham.

• PGT student stories

Careers Network run careers events which are specifically for postgraduate students.

We also run careers events for international students as well as graduate recruiter events and sector events. You may also want to look at the University Graduate School events page.

• Postgraduate events

Our PG Skills Series gives you the opportunity to develop crucial personal and digital skills to help you stand out, manage your professional profile and get through the recruitment process.

The programme is designed to include skills that employers are looking for when they recruit postgraduates. Topics are constantly reviewed ensuring the training you receive is up to date.

This academic year we will be looking to run sessions on:

• Understanding the job market
• How to get hired
• Adapting to change
• Leadership
• Creative problem solving
• Critical thinking
• Commercial awareness

Don't forget you can also gain access to useful resources, materials and content related to the sessions mentioned above, through our self-enrol PG Skills canvas course.

Sessions typically take place once a month during semester one and two. For more information on how to sign up to events, please enrol on to the PG Skills canvas course.

Internships and work experience are a great way to find out more about specific jobs and sectors and also enhance your CV. 

Please see the following schemes which are available to University of Birmingham students. 

• B-Experienced Internship Programme - Bespoke internship opportunities exclusively for UoB students and graduates
• Part-time work opportunities on campus for UoB students

We create opportunities for you to work for employers on campus and compete in real-world business challenges. 

One such opportunity is the Masters Consultancy Challenge.

As a postgraduate taught student you already have a degree under your belt, which places you in an excellent position when talking to employers. You should make the most of this and use it to your advantage.

In addition to this, you are undertaking further study, which demonstrates your commitment to learning and provides a future employer with additional skills.

Save the dates of our popular employer fairs that take place throughout the year - a great opportunity to talk with employers.

You can book an appointment to speak to an adviser for one-to-one careers advice.

It is also a good idea to talk to your tutors or other academics if you are considering a PhD.

• Book an appointment

Internships

Getting work experience in a relevant field will enhance your prospects of getting a job. Look at the Careers Network Internships website. Don’t forget that you can talk to your college internships officer about opportunities.

Graduate schemes

If you came straight from undergraduate to postgraduate taught course, or don't have any specific career plans in mind, you may be interested in applying for more general graduate schemes. Many of these schemes welcome applications from students on postgraduate taught courses. Most of the large organisations open applications to their graduate schemes in September/October, up to twelve months in advance of when new graduates will begin their jobs.

• Start by searching Careers Connect, the University's own online job database. You can search according to your sector(s) of interest, location, subject of study and more. Includes vacancies where employers are asking for a postgraduate taught course! When you log in, complete your profile and fill in your interests for email alerts about jobs that may interest you.
• Target jobs is a useful website for graduate schemes, graduate jobs and internships in a range of sectors.
• Jobted aggregates job vacancies from career sites, job boards and recruitment agencies.  
• Some job boards allow you to create an account and sign up for email alerts when jobs are advertised that may be of interest to you. Sign up a few months before you formally start your job search if you can: not only will you get job opportunities straight to your inbox, but you'll also gain a good insight into what roles are available, where the jobs are and the types of skills/experience that employers are seeking.
• Let others know that you're looking! The more people know that you're looking for work, the more likely it is that someone will send details of opportunities your way...
• Work on your online presence, especially via LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a great way of researching people who currently work in areas that interest you, and seeing how they got to where they are now. To get started on your LinkedIn profile, or check it's up-to-scratch, take a look at our LinkedIn Canvas course.

• Enrol on to our Postgraduate Professional Development canvas course for updates on relevant careers events, job vacancies and further insight into our very own Postgraduate Professional Development Award

• Careers Network has a range of CV services and resources