Job Search and Recruitment in U.K

I Waited 4 Months, I Persevered for 6
A real story of patience — from an internship to a job offer

Hello BizBize,

I want to share my story of landing a job in the UK as an international student on a 2-year
Graduate Visa. The reason I’m writing this piece is not only to share the process, but also to
hopefully give hope to everyone who has been in my shoes. All of us made the decision to
move abroad, leave our culture, friends, family, and nearly 20 years of experience behind to
find better opportunities, improve ourselves, and create a better future.

I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but all our dreams and experience often end up
turning into months of unemployment, countless job applications, rejection after rejection,
and sleepless nights filled with anxiety about the future. Through my experience, I hope I
can be of help to students who are currently on the same path I was on nearly a year ago.

I’m not going to bore you with every single step or all of my work experiences, and I’ll try to
keep this as brief and to the point as possible. I want to start by sharing roughly how many
applications it took to get one single offer back.

100? 150? 200?
Going once, going twice — congratulations to the lady in the back who said 200+
applications.

To be honest, I can’t even remember the exact number, as I was overwhelmed by my inbox
flooding with the infamous “we regret to inform you…” emails.

Anyway, I think I spent around five months searching for a job. But the moment I decided to
change my strategy and approach this process as if I were a project leader managing a
project, everything changed.

I attended countless networking events, cold-called over 50 people on LinkedIn, and tried to
get referrals from all my friends. None of it worked. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try these
methods, but it’s very easy to lose track of what you actually want and waste time and
energy along the way while losing your patience.

Obviously, the first step is to determine what you actually want because — cliché alert —
quality over quantity.

After changing my strategy and really focusing on what I wanted, I also lowered my
standards slightly. I started applying for part-time and internship roles because all I wanted
was exposure to the field I was interested in — sustainability and ESG.

Thirty minutes after the interview, I received an email saying I had been offered the role
and would be starting the following week.

After four months of putting all my energy into the role, I received a permanent job offer.

And just like that, I was out of the unemployment cycle and into the corporate world.

See you in the next post