Title: Decoding the job/internship search in another country (outside the UK) (26/02/24)
Duration: 50:44
Okay, recording has started so Dhruv over to you.
Awesome. So firstly, thank you so much, Katie, for inviting me to run this webinar for all students at the University of Birmingham. A lot of students that would be on this webinar or will see the recording might be familiar because I did come down to campus a couple of months back to run a session for you all as well. So today's session is gonna be slightly different to the session we ran previously. Today's session, as Katie mentioned, is all about helping students find jobs internationally so internationally can include back in their home countries or in a third country. And again, today's session is going to be run by myself representing Student Circus, which is you know, the UK's largest International Student Employability Service Provider. We've been working with the University of Birmingham to support the international students in finding various, different types of employment. Whether it's finding visa sponsored jobs in the UK jobs back home or in a third country.
So as we begin this webinar I'm gonna shut off my video so you can concentrate on the presentation that I have for you, and if you have any questions with regards to, you, know the presentation, or just certain queries that you want to ask us. Please feel free to put them in the chat box, and then Katie and I can take them up and answer them once the presentation gets done so again. Thank you so much. Everyone for taking time out. And I hope you learn a lot from this presentation session.
Great. So as we begin, you know, this webinar on helping international students find jobs globally, let's start off with the first piece of advice that we at Student Circus give all international candidates, or even students that want to go internationally across the world.
The first piece of advice that we tell all students is that, irrespective of who you are and where you need to be or want to go, you need to start getting proactive in your job search and let me give you some context as to why this is the first piece of advice that you need to start working on.
If you're an international student wanting to find the right jobs in the UK, you need to be proactive because you need to understand that the UK's job search market is different to your home countries.
Now, if you're an international student that's studying in the UK and wanting to go back home again, you need to be proactive because you need to start understanding about how job search takes place back home. Or if you want to go to a third country again, you need to be proactive because you need to start understanding how job search takes place in that particular country.
The bottom line that all students need to understand is irrespective of which country you want to find a job in and make your professional career in. You will find that every country has a unique job search market. Now, that includes the terminology that employers use. That includes the processes that employers employ to hire, and, you know, go through your applications. And most importantly, that also includes the uniqueness when it comes to timelines and visa rules.
Now let's get to understanding a student journey and how this plays out. If you are an international student. and you want to go back to your home countries after finishing your degree at Birmingham. you need to also keep in mind that you are currently based in the UK. You will in a couple of months finish your degree and then go back home. So, keeping that timeline in mind. You need to start understanding how your home country job market works, because a lot of you that want to go back home would not have had any sort of work experience, even in your home countries. If you have that, it’s great. But if you don't, you need to start from scratch.
If you are an international student looking to explore a career in a third country. That's not the UK. Not back home, but in a different country altogether. You start even earlier in your process, because again, you need to first start understanding the basics of how the country operates. It's not as easy as you know. The reels on Instagram or Tiktok make it sound.
Finding a job globally takes time. takes effort, and only those candidates are successful. If they put in the time effort, and are proactive in the whole process.
Now, when it comes to supporting you with this process of finding jobs back home or internationally, I’m delighted to share that Student Circus works in partnership with the University of Birmingham.
Now, how do we do so? I'm sure all of you know what we do at Student Circus. So you will know that we are a job search platform and an employability service provider specifically created for international students.
Apart from providing you visa sponsored jobs and immigration advice in the UK. We also have tools to help you navigate your job search globally. For example, we have a jobs board, a jobs board that has graduate level internships and up to 5 to 7 years of work-ex jobs in more than 32 countries globally.
Now, these countries can include the likes of countries in South Asia, such as India,
Pakistan, China, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam, etc. These countries include. you know nationalities and countries in Africa, such as Nigeria, Kenya, the Middle East, such as UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Europe, such as you know, Germany, France, Austria, etc. We also support students finding jobs in North America and South America.
So all in all, we have a jobs board that caters to students that want to return back to their home countries. Now, it's extremely important to understand that you might be a student that wants to work in a third country.
So would that Jobs Board help you? Yes, in a way because you can still find out the different types of roles available in a particular country. However, because the world is so large, with more than 190 countries globally, and visa rules and regulations can be a little bit tricky, depending on your own personal nationality. We cannot take responsibility for guaranteeing that all jobs out there would be open to visas. But if you are good in terms of creating a good application process. If you create a good CV. And you convince the employer that you would be the right candidate, I am sure companies will be open to considering international talent.
So as an international student. please use Student Circus as additional resources to get a head start. If you want to find jobs back home or in a third country. Apart from that, we also have something called country guides. Now these country guides are specifically created keeping an international students persona in mind.
As I said previously, whether it's a student going back to their home country or going to a third country understanding the country's graduate job search market is the first and most fundamental thing that every student or applicant must do.
Hence our country guides are detailed to provide all of you with A to Z of any particular country's job search market. Whether that includes how a CV should be created, resources on where to apply for jobs or even information, such as what industries are hiring, and how to go through the whole process.
All of this is provided for you to give you the right information at the right time available 24/7, 365 days of the year, so that you do not waste a single moment when it comes to your global job search process.
Now, how do students at Birmingham access all of this information?
It's super simple. All that you need to do is to go to studentcircus.com, and select the University of Birmingham as your university. Or go to Birmingham.studentcircus.com and sign up using your university email ID. You will get a verification email sent to your inbox, and once you verify it, you should be good to go.
The best part is Student Circus is absolutely free for all students at the University of Birmingham. So you never will have to pay anything to access our systems. And what's even better is the access does not stop once you graduate, it also continues when you're an alumni of the University of Birmingham.
So if you're not sure about you know, applying for jobs back home or in a third country currently. You want to focus on your academics. You want to finish your degree in September, and then you want to think about what you want to do where you want to go. Don't worry. Just make an account with Student Circus. You will have continued access even after you finish, and you can continue searching for roles, getting the right information and guidance even once you become an alumni.
So let me take you through how our system works to give you a better idea on how to make the most of it.
So when you go to the jobs page on Student Circus. You will have 2 options: Option number one, applying for visa sponsored jobs in the UK. Yes. if you're not sure, and you want to hedge your bets. A lot of students on Student Circus start applying simultaneously for visa sponsored jobs in the UK. And for jobs back in their home countries.
Now, the way that helps them is, it saves them a lot of time and effort. When they do that together, they're in the flow, and they exactly know that, you know, even if they have to go back home, they're not gonna waste time finding a job because they've already done so prior to them landing in their home countries.
So when you go to the job, search page on Student Circus, you have 2 key options.
You can choose either. But because today's webinar is based on supporting students finding jobs globally. Let's focus on the jobs in home countries. Tab. when you click on that tab, you can choose your home country, or a country where you have working rights. Now, if you do not have working rights for a particular country, you want to find a job in. As I said, you can go and explore the different type of positions. You may even apply for it. But you, getting a visa is dependent on a lot of factors that are out of our control. But yet you can use it.
However, if you're a student that has working rights in a particular country, or you want to go back home. Student Circus' jobs board is perfect for you.
We not only have internships, so you can, you know, access these. If you want to try out what it is like to work in your home country, or you can find graduate roles or roles up to 5 to 7 years of work-ex as well as you can see, this is just an example of the different countries that we have jobs in. We have many more there, and I would recommend that all international students should explore this feature because this is like an ace in your back pocket. It's your backup plan, and the best part is the university and Student Circus are partnering to support you in whatever you want to do. Wherever you want to do globally.
You can even switch your home countries. I do know a lot of candidates have dual nationality. So they have multiple passports which opens them up to working in different countries. Again, if you're one of those students where you have working rights in different countries, our system allows you to switch between one country and another as well.
Apart from finding jobs globally. As I said, we have a range of different country guides. Currently, we have 20 country guides, but over the next 3 weeks you will find another 18 added on our system. This brings us to about 38 to 40 country guides that we have.
As I said, country guides are detailed guides to help you navigate a particular country's job search process. And again, the guide is created, keeping in mind your persona of an international student and keeping in mind what you need to keep in mind around Job Search. Now, why is it different to other guides available?
Our guide is only gonna talk about graduate level job search, which is what most international students look for. We don't talk about anything else. We don't tell you how to travel to those countries. Nor we tell you. You know how to talk to people in those countries. We believe that, being an international candidate, you are quite smart enough. And you know, you have the required skills to. You know, Google, search the travel options available.
However, the biggest problem that international candidates face in finding jobs back home or globally, is finding or pinpointing access to the right employability information, which is what we're providing to you in our country guide. For example, if you look at a country guide, it covers 14 key topics right from an overview of a particular country's graduate job search market to how to create a CV. How to go through an interview, topics such as helping you find the right jobs, how to create a cover letter if you want to, you know, work in different industries, such as become a freelancer. If you want to know how to network in a particular country, how do you find the right mentors, if you wanna, for, you know, study further and go into higher education. Or if you want to find fellowships, etc. Our country guides are extremely detailed, and I would highly highly recommend that all of you go through multiple different country guides to get a good understanding of the country you want to work in.
Now, we also have another interesting feature for you on a platform which you might want to look at, which is a global CV Maker.
As I said, you know, the career services is there to support you, and they do a fantastic job in helping you find the right jobs in the UK. So when you go to the Careers team and Katie's team, they will help you in making a wonderful CV, that's accepted as per UK standards. But what happens if you want to go back home? Who do you go? For? You know many of you would have left the country by then in such a situation. If you want to create a CV.
Sometimes international students feel lost. Therefore, we've created a global CV maker, which not only helps you make CVs for your home country and the UK. But also for other countries across the world. So if you're a student coming from South Asia, but want to apply for jobs in say, Canada, for example, you can even use a Canadian CV. Maker to get a good first draft of a CV. Which you can. Then, you know, tailor, to suit the particular application you want to make. This is another fantastic feature that we've created for students that want and aspire to have a global career.
So now that I've told you how to use Student Circus and the different resources available, let's get to the crux of understanding. And, you know, understanding a particular country's job search market. And, more importantly. how do you adapt yourself to finding a global career?
Now, the first thing that I always tell all international students is when you want to understand, and when you get proactive in understanding a particular country's job, search market start with the terminology is used. And one of the easiest examples that I can get give all of you is by taking the word placements. Now, the reason why I'm using the word placement is because placement is a word which is commonly used during graduate recruitment and in a lot of countries in South Asia and Africa, and it is also used in graduate recruitment in the UK. But the context as to which this common word is used in these different regions is very, very different.
So to give you some understanding. If you're a student from South Asia or Africa wanting to find a graduate job. The term that is most commonly used in these countries or regions is a placement where a company normally comes to campus. interview students on campus and gives them a graduate job to start once they finish the degree in contrast to that. As an international student in the UK. If you're looking for roles and you again search for placements in the UK. Thinking that it would mean a graduate job, you would be mistaken to find that the term placement in the UK actually means a long term, full time internship That you do as a part of your degree it is not a graduate job.
So again, the 2 key pieces of difference are, or 3 key pieces of difference are. The terminology is the same, but one is a gra in one part of the world. It means a graduate job in the other part it means a full long term internship. In one part of the world you have companies coming on campus to recruit you in the other part of the world. Companies do come on campus for career fairs, but no one recruits you directly from campus. Everyone has to apply online in the UK.
And the third piece of differences that in one part of the world recruitment happens towards the end of one's degree, or once a person graduates, whereas in the UK, it normally happens during the start of a master's programme, or you know the start of your third year. So timelines also differ. So this is why I thought giving an example of the term placement might give all international students on this call a good understanding of how terminology is extremely important to keep in mind if you want to explore a global career.
So to help everyone, what I've also done is I've created some key steps that you need to keep in mind. If you want to have a global career. The first is target and learn about a particular country's job search market. Whether it's your home country or it's a third country. This includes employment levels, growth, lay growth rate. And most importantly, living costs.
A lot of students, and being a former international student myself, I can tell you this through experience. A lot of students are relying on unreliable sources, such as Youtube, Instagram, and Tik tok to plan their global or future careers, which is the most craziest thing that I've heard a lot of the times they see influencers telling students how easy it is to find jobs in a particular country, or you know how what they need to do. The problem is, it normally does not work in that particular way. It's important to do your own research and not rely on anyone else's research because you don't know what you know industry, they're doing, how they got the job, whether they knew someone, etc. Hence, please look at the research and do primary research yourself.
A lot of the times student get confused around living costs. For example, a lot of students that come from South Asian countries or African countries into the UK get lured by the aspect of earning anywhere from 25 to 35,000 pounds. Now, when they convert that into their home currency, the you know, they're very pleasantly shocked that they will be making so much of money.
But what a lot of international students don't keep in mind is that the cost of living in Western countries and Europe is extremely high, so you might be earning an astronomical amount. But when you compare that to the savings that you have at the end of the day after your costs it you wouldn't have anything left. Keeping, you know, certain key costs in mind. Hence, if you want to explore a role in a third country.
And this is where a lot of international students make mistakes. Don't just go by the headline figures. Look at what the cost of living would be what the taxation would be, and how much would you actually save at the end of the day rather than just looking at? Oh, the salaries are high. And you know that is a driving point for you to apply for a particular role. The second step that I suggest everyone to do is explore sectors and employers based on what you want to do. So again, a lot of students make a mistake that they adapt themselves to where the jobs are in today's day and age.
Everyone's crazy behind AI and ML, these are key phrases that people use. AI is gonna take over jobs, you know, go into quantum machine learning, and you'll get a job. Don't do that. If you are an accountant and you go into AI. It's going to be a little bit difficult without having the correct knowledge or expertise. So if you're an accountant, you want to go into accounting. Make sure that you know you're good at what you do. You find the right companies. You find the right jobs and put in an application. Just don't go with the crowd for the heck of going with the crowd. Make sure you do your research, whether it's in a particular country whether that sector is doing well if it's not doing well in that particular country change the country that you want to go to or look at other countries, because obviously there are many roles available. Globally different countries need different expertise. And that's how you can succeed.
Point number 3: Reach out to people to learn more. So peer-to-peer learning is extremely important.
LinkedIn is one of the best ways to connect with people working in different countries. In fact, University of Birmingham has a very diverse alumni base as well. Many of them must be working in different countries and different companies, etc. You can use your personal connective coming from the similar university to reach out to these people. Now don't ask them for a job straight up, but what you can do is you can connect with them. You can try and make them your mentors. You can take their advice, etc. Again, when it comes to research.
Learning from someone is always better. So make sure you learn from your peers. Don't just rely on Google searches. Or, you know, social media.
Step number 4: Create a CV that would be accepted. That's the bottom line. A lot of international students that I meet daily when I do events and webinars like these at different universities, you know a lot of them that come from different countries to the UK wanting to find a job in the UK.
Don't even have a UK CV. And then complain about not being successful. The same applies, for you know, roles that you want to apply globally. So if you want to apply for a job in Germany, for example, if you apply with a UK CV, you might not be selected, but you have to tailor it to the German market. Look at what they look for, you know. Make sure you have the right format and then put it in.
The same applies. If you want to apply for a job in the Middle East, because there are different types of rules and regulations. So again, create a CV that would be tailored and accepted in the particular target country.
Step number 5: Understand visa rules. If you are applying for a country where you require a work permit.
Again, if you're going to a country where you already have residency or nationality, you might not require a work permit. But if you're applying for a job in a third country where you don't have any nationality or visa or a visa, you might require a work permit in keeping that in mind. It's very, very important for the applicant to be on top of the visa system a lot of the times we've noticed that employers do not know visa rules and regulations themselves. So only if you have a good understanding of it, it will help you help the company navigate the system and hire you. So it is your job to keep the visa rules and regulations in mind.
And sixth and final point is: Work your way through the process patiently. If you think that you know it takes 45 days to find a job in your home country on that note it takes about 6 to 8 months to find a job in the UK. It might take another 4 months to find a job in North America. So again. Every country has a different timeline. Be patient and work your way throughout it. So make sure that you don't push the employer. Make sure that you don't have unrealistic timelines. If you feel that you'll get a job in about 30 days in the UK. It's unrealistic because most employers, special, specifically, the larger ones have to advertise a role for a minimum of 30 days. So again, make sure you have certain rules and regulations clearly set out, and you go through the process patiently.
Now, when it comes to applying for roles in certain parts of the world. I have some key tips that I would like to share. So if you're a student applying for jobs back home or in a third country, and this part of the world that we're talking about is Asia or Southeast Asia key things to keep in mind personal connections, work wonders. These are countries where, you know, there's a huge emphasis giving on personal connection. If you know, someone who knows someone who knows someone. You'll have a better chance of getting a job. That's just the way it works in Asia. The whole job search process is super-duper quick. It's way faster than it is in Europe.
So if you think that you know you're gonna take 4 months to find a job in Asia. It's a good amount of time to get somewhere and be successful. If you think that you're gonna find a job in the equal amount of time in the UK. That might be okay, but not the best. So again, it's super duper, quick. You have a better chance of getting a job in Asia. If you spend more time. negotiate. there's a lot of negotiation that takes place, whether it's about your work life balance, whether it's about your salary, etc. That's because that's the mentality that a lot of people employ, whether it's companies that are multinational or whether it's SMEs, etc. Negotiation can be done in the UK. Can you negotiate? Yes, you can, to a certain extent. But if there's something which is set in stone, they're not gonna deviate from it much, whereas in Asian countries they will be able to make exceptions. But again, I'm not telling you to negotiate all the time. Make sure. Whatever you ask is realistic in nature.
The next one is work-life balance. the work-life balance in Europe and specifically in the UK - is fantastic. Do you expect the same in Asian countries, mostly not now depending on the country the sector and the company are working at? We have seen there's a variety of ways in which students like the work-life balance or hate the work-life balance.But the bottom line is that Asian countries are ones where employees normally work longer hours. Work from home privileges are not very open or highlighted. In fact, a lot of multinational companies in Asian countries are going back to in office. And when it comes to work-life balance there's a less important on such a factor in this region of the world.
Now let's talk about the Middle East. I do know a lot of international students want to look for jobs in the Middle East as a third country. Now, obviously, they want to look for a job as a third country because of the tax benefits that everyone gets.
So let's start with the first key tip tax free. Most countries in the Middle East have fantastic tax rules for employees and expats. Most of them are tax-free, or have a minimum amount of taxthat gives employees and expats a huge savings boost. However, there are certain things that you need to keep in mind.
If you're applying for jobs in the Middle East, the first is safeguarding yourself during the job search process. There are a lot of cases by even larger companies in certain countries where they bind people with contracts. You know, it's not very easy to leave. There's certain rules and regulations you need to keep in mind, etc. Hence safeguard yourself during job job search. We've heard stories of companies taking, you know, attaching themselves to the employees visas, taking away their passports while they're working, etc. So even though it's borderline, not legal in certain countries. we do know it's a common prevalent practice. Hence, if you're an international candidate looking for a job in the Middle East. please safeguard yourself and learn of safeguarding techniques in your job search process.
Finally, the last tip, if you're applying for roles in the Middle East is cultural understanding. it's very, very important to have a good cultural understanding of the country you get a job in. For example, if you get a job in certain countries where alcohol is illegal. You need to keep that in mind. If you get a job in certain countries where you know you cannot behave in a certain way you have to keep certain things in mind, because they're extremely strict. And you wouldn't want to, you know, do something where you get on the wrong side of the law.
So for all international candidates that are looking for jobs in Middle East, these are the key 3 tips that we would like to share.
And finally, when it comes to Europe, I want to include UK in Europe as well, just for simpler understanding purposes.
If you're an international student wanting to find a job in Europe. The first key tip you should keep in mind is the process is extremely formal in nature. Unlike other countries where personal connections work. They do work, but only to a limited extent. You can't just call someone who can call someone and get your job the best that some people might be doing for you is getting you to the next step, but not a job. So you will have to go through the formal process. It's very equitable. There is no nepotism, and there is no way or no favouritism that can be considered.
Second, because it's a formal process. It's a time-consuming process. Do not rush the employer. If they're gonna take certain amount of time, that's the amount of time they're gonna take, you cannot push them. And if you want to find a job here, give yourselves a minimum of 6 months to go through the whole process specifically, if it's in a country where you need to go through your visas as well.
Point number 3 visas. If you have residency rights in the EU which allows you free movement great. If you don't, you will need to go through the visa process again. Every country has a different visa process. even internally, in the EU. When it comes to work visas. and even in the UK. So keep in mind. You understand the visa rules and regulations clearly yourself, because that will really help you in going through the whole process smoothly. You can then guide the company as well, or reach out to an immigration professional.
Please take the visa process seriously, because that at the end will determine whether you get the job or not.
And finally to end it on a positive note: Work-life balance. Europe generally is known for a positive work-life balance. And we can see that in the UK as well, which is a huge advantage for any employee. So if you are exploring or want to explore roles in Europe. Having good work-life balance can be a huge determining factor for that as well.
So, keeping that in mind. I think we're coming towards the end of the presentation, where the last slide is a couple of key pointers to having a global career dedicate enough of time. It's not as easy as shown on social media. So if you're looking at influencers and thinking that if they've done it you can do it yourself. Yes, you can do it. But please put in more thought, and please do primary research. Don't rely on them. Put in the effort. Nothing comes easy. It's not as easy as Instagram shows it.
Use resources, and don't think, you know at all. This is one of the key points I'd like to mention, because we talked to tens of thousands of students and a lot of students we come across think that you know they know at all. No one knows at all, not even Bill Gates, not even Elon Musk. Everyone has experts.
The career services at Birmingham are those experts that can help you with job search. They have a lot of resources that can help you, so make sure you go and take their support. In fact, this support is one which they're openly giving to you for free. So why not take it? Talk to people? Nothing beats personal connections and peer to peer. So again, don't be shy.
Research, research, research and primary research is the key. Get all the documents and information ready, and then start your applications. Don't start it without having all those documentation, etc. So that brings us to the end of the presentation. I hope that was helpful, and, as I said, sign up to studentcircus.com make use of all the resources we have. Make sure you go to the career services and go to all the sessions that they hold because they are super duper important for all of you, whether you're looking for a job in the UK. Or in your home country, or in a third country.
Again, I'd like to thank everyone for taking time out to come to this session and thank you, Katie, for helping us organize it. Thank you.
Thanks very much, Dhruv. There was some really good tips in there. We have had a question come through. So if anyone else has any questions, please do pop those in now. And we will, we will get to those.
So Dhruv the question that's come through. It is from a student who is a US Citizen but is looking for work over either in the UK, France, or Italy, and you talked about making sure your CV. Is tailored to the specific country and using the right terminology. But do you also mean for them to translate their CV. Into the native language of that country, if they're not from that country?
So only if they know the native language. Because, say, for example, France, if the candidate that's applying to France knows French. Then they can tailor the CV. In French, because a lot of the employers in France need French, as you know, the native language of the applicant. So, if you tailor it in French, there is a emphasis, or there is an understanding that you might know French really well. But if you tailor it in French and don't know French, it might give out the wrong notion. So that is something you need to keep in mind.
Yeah. And it's things like not knowing the right terminology for certain aspects that might be an issue here.
And don't rely on Google, translate because it can say the wrong things at the wrong time.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
So I have a had a question about emailing. So a student says thank you for clear briefs. Could you please mail the PPT?
So we won't mail the PPT. We have the recording, which you can go and check out again, which will be sent.
So yes, I will. It might take a few days because I need to sort out captions and get it all loaded up. But yes, I will send an email out to everybody. To let you know where the recording is. It will be in our past events section of the site. But I will let you know.
We've had another question come through. Are there any additional aspects that one should be cautious about when it comes to the healthcare sector.
So that's actually a very good question, because when it comes to the healthcare sector, every country has its own set of regulations which are quite critical. So, for example, if you have a international degree. some countries, regulations would be accepted some countries that regulations and degrees would not be accepted. So you need to make sure that if you're applying for a role in the healthcare sector, especially as a doctor, psychiatrist, nurse, etc., your previous employment or your previous degrees can be converted to something that's acceptable in the UK or your previous degrees, that directly acceptable in the UK or in other countries, you want to apply to. That's one of the biggest safeguards that all countries have for theircitizens, because if you're dealing with a patient they need to know that you have the right understanding. You know how to do it, and your previous work, experience and education can be accepted according to their parameters. So when it comes to the healthcare sector, yes, there are additional requirements when it comes to. You know the technicalities of the degrees, etc.
Yep brilliant. We've still got another few minutes. If anyone has any other questions.
Hi. Hi, yeah. Hi, Katie. Hi Dhruv, I'm actually student of immunology and immunotherapy. I'm doing my masters, and it's been almost 6 months now like since Feb. Is also at an end now, and I've been trying to look out for opportunities like not only internships, but even part time jobs that can be relevant. And as for the research, and once I've made of some contacts on LinkedIn as well. I kind of got to this conclusion that the best part, or like the best exposure that I can get in my field is NHS. And any place related to, and just like Queen Elizabeth Hospital and all that. So I've been applying for certain part time jobs because I'm an international student, and my visa doesn't really allow me to work more than 20 h. So I was just hoping to know, since there's no such luck to the date. But if I wish to go for a better approach, I am not really understanding. What am I still lacking? I've made a tailored CV as per the jobs. I've tried to make it single pages. I've tried to reach out to places. I've tried to even have a one on one session like door to door dropping of CVs. But nothing seems to work till date. So I was just hoping to know, what can you still suggest on this?
Okay, so, Katie, do you wanna go first?
Yeah. Well, so firstly, I was, gonna say, have you requested to meet with anyone in your careers team because there is a specific team for your college. So there is a team that specializes in supporting students to get jobs within the NHS.
I did not know about this. Actually, I did try to take an appointment, but usually the so slots are full. So…
yeah, they do get snapped up quite quick, but I think they get released a couple of weeks in advance. But it would be worth. You can send an email. I'll put the email in the in the chat, so the and you can actually send your CV in to have it looked at by them as well rather than like in their own time, rather than at an appointment. But then you can also request to have an appointment to discuss it with them. Another thing I would say is, have you requested any feedback from where you've applied for a role and been unsuccessful.
So usually they send me the mail, like basically the fields relevant to like, the jobs which are relevant to my background. They send mails like they are already dealing with a lot of applications, and unfortunately, the position is now gone, and, like someone else, has taken and all that, but not really. I didn't get the feedback from any of such places
Right, I mean, if you've gone through the application process and been invited to interview, and then you don't get the job. It's definitely a good idea to request feedback at that stage. If you haven't gone to the interview stage, then they're sometimes unwilling to give feedback because it would be feedback based on your CV. And they haven't really got time to do that. If they've had a lot of applications in. I'll just get that email address for you, Dhruv. Do you want to jump in as well?
And also there's another question that's come in. Can we discuss internships specifically as well. I know a lot of the information that you gave in your presentation is relevant for both internships and for jobs. But is there anything kind of specifically around internships? Maybe stuff on Student Circus, but also any specific differences that you would say, around internships?
Absolutely. So I'll answer both the the students. So the first student that has asked us the question regarding the master, you know, part time, jobs, etc. So if I'm not wrong. When it comes to part time jobs that are, you know, the part time jobs in the UK mainly are in in our casual part time jobs. There are very few part time jobs in the UK that are related to your degree set and it's not just specifically for your degree set, but it's across the board most part time. Jobs are casual in nature hospitality, you know, retail, etc. That's just the way the market is when it comes to your particular job. Search process you might want to look at applying for pharmaceutical companies as well. You have large game, pharmaceutical companies, such as Astrazeneka, GSK, Costello, medical Oxford, Nanopore, etc., that you know kind of look for the right candidates as well sponsor visas as well for certain of their roles. So you might want to explore Pharma companies. You might want to explore biotech companies, and then you might want to obviously explore the NHS. When it comes to the NHS. Every trust has their own kind of process, except it's except for the graduate program at the NHS.
So, as Katie said, I think. and even what I said throughout the presentation, one of the first slide that actually mentioned was being proactive. You are being proactive. But you're not using all the resources available to you. So lot of the times in the UK,when you put in an application, you're not successful. A lot of companies will kind of pause any future applications for 6 to 12 months. That's how the process works. So in such a situation, you need to make sure that you put in the right application the first time, because a lot of the times you won't get another chance keeping that in mind. Make sure you take an appointment off the dedicated careers team. Make sure you have the right information, guidance all that ready, and then only start applying for jobs, so I would highly recommend. I think Katie's already sent everything in the chat box, so I would highly recommend reaching out to them and getting an appointment as soon as possible, turning up, talking to them, and then, you know, going through the whole process. But yes, explore your bandwidth. Don't just stick to the NHS or a particular trust. Explore it in biotech companies, pharmaceutical companies, etc., as well.
Okay, yeah. So thank you for this. I was just hoping to do just last little thing. So usually when I was trying to applying for jobs that are relevant to and it just even some of the openings which are like just part time, but are there in Queen Elizabeth Hospital as well, that are basically relevant to my field as well. And since my background is also biotechnology, so I can apply for certain clinical labs and testing departments as well. But did they do happen to ask me for certain references as per my previous work. So what if like I'm still a kind of fresher for the same.
So you don't. You can give references of your previous professors, etc. So that's fine.
It's not like it has to be mandatory of employer, right?
No, but if you don't have an employer reference, who else will give you a reference? It'll be your professors.
Thank you.
Just answering the question when it comes to internships. Yes, a lot of the information that I gave in the presentation is relevant to internships as well. When it comes to internships. If you're applying in your home country, I think that would be the best, because a lot of the times when it comes to internships and applying for a third country, where you require a work permit or a visa. It gets very tricky because a lot of countries in the world do not have an intern specific visa, even if they have it. It's, you know, open for very short durations. More importantly, employers are unwilling to, you know, do the whole effort and spend money just to get someone for couple of months. So that's why, you know, when it comes to applying for internships, choose the country where you're starting, which is the UK, or your home country. I would suggest do not look at it from a visa perspective. The best way to work in a third country is to get a graduate role or just to get a job.
Yup, And we've had another question come in about looking for internships specifically in Dubai, but obviously for the for the student that's interested in the UK and France and Italy as well. So Student Circus does have internships as well as jobs on the jobs board. So where Dhruv was showing that you can filter by country you can then also filter by internships, so you can. Oh, you can look specifically just for internships. And not and not kind of all the graduate jobs that come up as well. So there are various kind of check boxes down the side of the screen. That will help you to kind of filter down by that. And there's check boxes for sectors as well. So you can. You can filter it kind of right down.
Absolutely. So I'll just take this as a last question, Katie, if it's okay, there's a student who's asked us a question from the Dubai campus, because then I have to pop on to another webinar with another university.
So the student has asked that, you know they're a student from the Dubai campus. How can Student Circus help me find some internships in this case?
You can. If you are a student at the Dubai campus. I don't know what are the working rights in the UAE. Based on your, you know, student visa in the UAE. That's something you need to ask your Dubai campus visa team or your careers team and keeping that in mind you can. If you're eligible to an internship in Dubai, we do have, you know, internships in the UAE. On the Student Circus platform, and it would be. You are a resident of that country, so you can do it. If not, then you might want to explore internships in your home country, keeping that in mind.
Yeah. And just on that, we do have a careers team based on the Dubai campus as well. And they do have some internships specifically for University of Birmingham Dubai students. So it'd be worthwhile having a chat with them. And seeing what they've got advertised as well.
Absolutely. Super. So I think that brings us to the end of it. Katie. Thank you so much for helping us organize this. I think this was super, super helpful for your students. Thank you so much, Lorna, for the kind words, and thank you everyone that came along, ask their questions, and I hope this was super helpful for you.
Great thanks so much.
Thank you. See you all soon. Bye, bye.