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Career Focus

The University of Bath recognises the importance of career enhancement for international students and provides a wide range of opportunities and resources to help you to take full advantage of your potential. We actively encourage the continuous development of existing skills and also offer a variety of support services to help you explore new opportunities available here at Bath and in the UK.

Our Career Focus page provides an overview of essential career enhancement facilities here at Bath which are of particular relevance and interest for international students.

Further details are available on individual websites, which we have linked to on this page.

Immigration - what are my options?

Full details on your entitlements to work whilst studying and after your studies have finished are available from the Handbook.

Career planning

The Careers Advisory Service is available to all international students at all stages of your career planning, with the exception of MBA students, who have their own dedicated Careers Adviser within the School of Management.

The Careers library provides information on a wide range of occupations, employers, further study and vocational training. Materials are also available to help you with your job seeking skills, applications and interview technique. In addition, our Development programme offers many opportunities to develop your job-seeking skills and occupational awareness, through sessions on topics such as; applying for jobs in the UK, CVs, interviews and careers in specific fields, for example management consultancy. Have a look at the development programme website.

You may wish to discuss your career choices and planning with a Careers Adviser. Careers Advisers won’t tell you what you should do but they can help you to assess yourself and possible career opportunities. They can support you in making decisions and help you to put plans into action. They will also help you to think through your options if you are considering changing or leaving your course.

The information and guidance offered is delivered by professional impartial staff and guidance interviews are completely confidential.

The Careers Service is located on the parade, next to security.

Read more about career guidance.

Careers Fairs

The Careers Advisory Service runs three Careers Fairs per year and organises a large number of presentations by employers, including multinationals. The vocational focus of many of the courses at Bath helps to develop the maturity and skills that employers are looking for. The Careers Advisory Service advertises many graduate jobs and can help with your job seeking strategy.

However, if your course doesn't include a period of work experience, or you wish to work in an area unrelated to your course, you should start to plan much earlier. You would greatly increase your employability by supplementing your studies with paid holiday work, voluntary work or competitions and insight days offered by graduate employers. Opportunities for good experience with graduate recruiters before graduating are advertised on the Careers Advisory Service bulletin.

Work experience before graduating

It is important to build up essential skills which will give you an advantage over other applicants. Why not try work experience? 'Earlybird', run by the Careers Advisory Service, has a full database of part-time work experience opportunities. There are also many part-time jobs available through 'Joblink', an employment agency run by the Students' Union.

Volunteering / Community work is also a great way to gain experience whilst meeting new people in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere and being involved with something rewarding. Have a look at the Volunteer Centre website for more information or drop-in to see them in the Students' Union.

Thinking of going into business? Want to get some experience first? The Enterprise Department is a Student Union run initiative, which aims to provide business skills and support to students at key stages of business development. The student-led entrepreneurs club, BANTER, runs in conjunction with the department. Read more...»

Personal Development Planning and Career Enhancement

Do you know what skills you have? Can you satisfy an employer that you have the skills they are looking for?

International students often have a wide range of skills which would give them an advantage over other applicants in the employment market. These skills are sometimes missed by employers as students haven't identified them in the right way or recognised their importance.

The University of Bath is able to offer you a new and exciting opportunity to reflect on the variety of experiences your time in the UK and at university offers. The process provides essential preparation for job applications, writing your CV and difficult interviews by helping you to identify the skills which you have developed and showing you how to present them to employers.

The web-based Personal Development Planning system (PDP*) has been specifically developed and designed to make it easy to log details of anything from interests and hobbies such as societies and sports clubs through to academic information or employment experience gained whilst at university.

You can then look at the skills underpinning these activities and experiences, reflect on their progress and develop action plans. To support this, the system incorporates guidance and a range of resources, links and opportunities offered by the University and Students’ Union.

The system is student-directed, confidential and could enhance your career or placement prospects.

PDP is accessed through SAMIS. For further information and a preview of the system and how it works, look at the PDP website or please contact: pdp@bath.ac.uk.

NOTE: *PDP is defined as "a structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development".

Graduate jobs

The 'Springboard' website has a full database of graduate job vacancies.

Do you need help targeting your CV to a job and deciding on the content and structure?

Help is provided by the Careers Advisory Service. They run regular workshops and drop-in sessions, when you can take in your CV and receive personal help and advice on how to improve it. If your CV is for a placement, placement staff in your department might also help you.

Do you need help expressing your CV in English?

The English Language Centre (ELC) runs workshops on CV writing for international students. You can find out the times and how to book by going to their website.