Important Things To Be Taken Care Of, Aware Of While Applying For Study, Jobs In UK (image: Unspalsh @Aleks Marinkovic)

Indian students leave home dreaming for bigger future and better living conditions. But recently, most of those who leave home with sky high dreams come back dejected. Most of the Indian students travelling to UK for their masters are often lured by the inflated and sugar-coated realities they hear from the agencies. Most of the time, reality is thousand miles away from what they have heard.

There are certain things to keep in mind before deciding to go to UK for your studies or jobs. Nothing is as you heard it to be. While is some cases students can be deceived by agencies for the universities they apply for, some might get tricked for the living conditions in UK.

The agencies might claim it would be easy to pay off the huge student loans by doing part time jobs along with taking class. And if you managed to find a good sponsor with two years of your PSW visa (Post Study Work), it will be a cakewalk to find a permanent job in UK. This might not be the case. While it was true in earlier days, the situation is not same today.

In this context, Timeline talked to Mirsad Rahim who is working as an accounts auditor after completing masters from Nottingham Trent University.

Here is a list of things Mr Mirsad said to look out for while moving to UK for studies or jobs:

1. Agencies are hyping up non-existent living conditions. Number of Indians in UK are comparatively higher in last few years.
2. While most universities are good, the fees structure can go up to 15 to 24 lakh per year. Finding a part job is a hassle, because there aren’t enough jobs in UK for the rapidly increasing number of Indian students.
3. Some businesses and firms do not hire Indians. How unfair it may sound, it is reality. For instance, McDonald’s franchise in Nottingham and other small towns will not keep Indians for delivering burgers from their front desk. That job is given to the native teenagers.
4. While it might be somewhat easy to find part time jobs in huge cities like London, students have to work multiple jobs to meet their part time schedule and earn money. One has to work four or five jobs a month to keep up.
5. In small cities like Plymouth, Leicester, and Nottingham, businesses are low, and therefore demand for part timers are also extremely low. Finding a job sometimes appear to be a lost cause.
6. While there might be some demand for workers up to December, the months following will be hollow. Chances of finding a part time is zero to none for most students.
7. People tend to lay low after their over spending in December, and it will be extremely cold.
8. Most students who are currently in UK are forced to take money from their family to meet living expenses in UK, which will be a minimum of 80,000 to 1 lakh per month for a person.
9. Most of the good universities are not located in big cities like London. They are in small cities. It you are going to such universities, finding a part time job will be extremely difficult, like mentioned earlier, there aren’t enough jobs, and demands are huge.
10. Finding a job or internship during PSW is harder. Even finding internship without stipend is hard. Major reason for this is firms and businesses prefer natives over foreigners.
11. While some company claim that they are diverse and have workers from every country, they still prefer people who are born and brought up in UK, and are familiar with the language and culture, and not someone who made a sudden cultural jump.
12. Another issue is lack of experience. Most of the student directly go to UK after completing their graduation, and some may not even have experience in applying for job, let alone a proper job. Lack of experience can be the biggest roadblock in bagging safe jobs.
13. The course one chooses also matters. Students with masters in management course often find it hard to land a job, as such job requires management skills, and firms prefer natives for such works.
14. Usually after the expiration of their PSW visas, students opt for care home visas which is for five years. They are forced to choose stay in order to pay back their debts.

Mirsad Rahim

Huge number of Indian students from UK are returning with a never-ending debts. While this may not be the situation for everyone, it is believed that a huge number of Indian students are struggling in due to the above mentioned reasons. Make sure that you have it all planned and have necessary preparations before touching down in UK.