As an international student, navigating the UK job market can be challenging. The internet is filled with all sorts of advice, making it even more overwhelming. However, the University of Westminster provides incredible support by organizing events where we can hear directly from industry professionals who have successfully gone through this process. The university hosts numerous career-related events throughout the year, and I highly recommend keeping an eye on Engage to stay updated on these opportunities.

Last year, I secured the role of International Careers Project Assistant at the University of Westminster by applying through Talent Bank, which offers students various part-time opportunities. I strongly recommend exploring these roles, as they provide valuable work experience alongside studies.

Career Progression Forum for International Students

On top of securing a job in this competitive environment, international students must also navigate the visa process, which can be overwhelming due to the vast amount of information available online. At the forum, we had the visa team simplify this process, providing the latest updates and guidance. The session also had a panel discussion where professionals shared their experiences with the graduate visa route and how they successfully navigated the process.

Networking at these events is just as important. I strongly recommend adding these professionals to your LinkedIn and staying in touch. Additionally, don’t hesitate to ask if they’d be open to a coffee chat, where they could offer advice and insights. Before the meeting, prepare a set of questions to make the most of your time.

Student Circus Event

We had the incredible opportunity to hear from Dhruv Krishnaraj, the founder of Student Circus—a job portal designed to simplify the job search process for international students by filtering out visa-sponsored roles. It also offers internships, placements and graduate scheme opportunities.

At the event, Dhruv shared key insights on Proactive Job Search, emphasizing that students shouldn’t just wait for openings but should actively reach out to companies and leverage career services for personalized guidance. He also highlighted the importance of Transferable Skills and Shadowing Opportunities—encouraging students to shadow professionals in their field to gain firsthand insight.

Career Masterclass with Steven Coopsake

Attending Steve Copestake’s masterclass was an insightful experience, especially in understanding fear and confidence in public speaking. He emphasised on glossophobia (stage fright) which I found to be very interesting as I struggled with stage fright in my childhood.

Steve mentioned, the 6 most powerful words in a presentation are: “Let me tell you a story.” A well-told story can deliver your message in a way that data alone cannot, making it one of the most useful skills.

Steve also shared practical tips on structuring presentations, using visuals over text, and the power of pausing for impact and using less filler words. He introduced Cognitive Load Theory, highlighting how breaking information into small chunks enhances audience retention.

Chinese Lunar New Year events

Westminster also organizes career events tailored to specific job markets. For instance, the Career Masterclass delivered in Mandarin covered essential topics such as optimising your CV and crafting a compelling cover letter for the Chinese job market.

Westminster also organized a Lunar New Year event featuring a vibrant lion dance and various activities such as calligraphy, a photo booth, and traditional Chinese snacks. I personally taught attendees how to make origami snakes, and there was also a wishing wall where everyone could hang their wishes. The event was warm and welcoming, making the attendees feel closer to their home and culture.

South Asia Careers event

The South Asia Careers event was specially designed to cover the challenges faced by South Asian students while entering the UK job market. The event kickstarted by Rajat Shah delivering a workshop, where he spoke about his experience and gave tips to students that could make their chances higher to enter the market. He emphasised the importance of dressing appropriately for interviews and always arriving early to create a strong first impression on interviewers. He also shared various other tips on improving CVs and presenting oneself effectively in the job market.

After that, we had a panel discussion, which I had the opportunity to lead. The panel members provided valuable advice to students on fi xing the most common mistakes in their applications and highlighted the top qualities recruiters look for during the interview process. One of the panel members also spoke about the importance of networking and how tapping into the right connections can be one of the best ways to secure a job.

International Career forum

The Career forum started out with discussing Graduate and Skilled Visa. The visa team gave specific updates about visa timelines and costs of getting this visa. These sort of events are very helpful and I would strongly recommend international students to attend because it can be quite hard to navigate the visa process with the information available online. This was followed by a panel discussion and networking, where students got one-to-one advice as well.

In conclusion, I can confidently say that these career events have played a crucial role in helping students develop skills suited for the UK job market. I strongly encourage students to book an appointment on Engage with a career counsellor, who can assist them in refining their CV and cover letter to meet UK market standards.

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Big thanks to Samaksh, one of our BSc Computer Science students, for this insightful blog!

About Samaksh: “I am Samaksh Chhibber. A second year undergraduate student at the University of Westminster studying Computer science. My passion is innovation and hence my aim is to create technologies that can pave the way for future. I am keen on pursuing entrepreneurship and building something of my own. I take keen interest in studying astronomy in my free time. A fun fact about me is that I wrote a book at 17, combining my interest of astronomy with philosophy.“

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