Degree Not Enough For Job? Why Indian Students Aren't Getting Work In UK

"Shockingly, my master's and bachelor's degree, both aren't enough to get a job in the UK!"

The above post by a LinkedIn user, Sreepranavi Samudrala, from June 2023, dwells on the difficulties faced by Indian students in getting a job in the UK.

She added, "Looking for a job as an international student (graduate) has been extremely heartbreaking. There has been no value for me, my degree or capabilities. I have applied for more than 300+ jobs and got a handful of useful feedbacks."

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The United Kingdom (UK) has always been a popular study destination for Indian students, when it comes to studying abroad. Apart from housing top-ranking Universities, the United Kingdom is home to many student-friendly cities that offer a diverse educational experience for international students, including those from India.

But for lakhs of Indian students who move to the UK for studies, life has not been as expected in the country - they are finding it extremely difficult to land themselves even an internship, let alone a job.

But why has it become difficult to get a job in the UK? The factors are many, such as:

Sustained economic slowdown in UK has affected the job market

Photo by Chris Boland (www.chrisboland.com)/ Unsplash

A Reuters report from September 2023 notes that Britain's labour market has slowed down in recent months, as it has been struck with rising unemployment, less hiring and fewer job vacancies.

The latest KPMG & REC UK Report on Jobs from December 2023 showed that the UK labour market remained tight as it was a difficult year for the UK economy.

KPMG commented, "Employers are reining in hiring and continuing with redundancies in response to the sustained economic slowdown. Businesses want to plan for the year ahead, but the prospect of faltering UK economic growth means the certainty they need isn't there."

Britain's labour market in 2023 lost more than 200,000 jobs in the three months to July. Job vacancies hit a record 1.3 million in early 2022, and have been declining steadily since. As the year progressed, employers' concerns about rising costs, supply chain disruptions, and possible interest rate hikes led them to adopt a more conservative approach towards expansion and hiring.

Employer unwillingness to sponsor visas

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For a student to get work in the UK, their employer must sponsor their visa.

Thus, sponsoring requirements for international students and visa complexities result in employers preferring to hire local candidates.

"My course was 18 months long, and I had a six months extended visa. I applied to over 200 jobs but didn't get anything more than the standard automated reply. It really affected me as I was wondering what was I doing wrong but then a friend who was an HR told me that the companies weren't hiring people for whom they have to sponsor visas," said Siddhi Dolas, a student in the UK, as quoted by Deccan Herald.

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