Work or volunteer outside the UK
Once you have finished studying you may want to explore and work or volunteer outside the UK. If you are an international student you may wish to seek work in your home country.
You may want to do this as part of your career plans, or just to take a gap year experience different things. The first thing you need to decide is whether you would like to work or volunteer. This will depend on your finances, the skills you want to gain and your personal values.
Why work or volunteer outside the UK?
Working or volunteering abroad will give you the chance to live in a different country while gaining valuable work experience. Some graduates choose to work in their chosen field or do casual work as a means to fund their travels. Others choose to work outside their chosen profession, as English language teachers for example. There are many options and it is important to explore them carefully.
- Ethical Volunteering
Advice and information for people who are interested in international volunteering and want to make sure that what they do is of value to themselves and the people they work with.
Where can I work or volunteer?
As a British graduate you can work almost anywhere in the world. It is often easier to organise working in other countries in the EU, but the world is open to you.
You will need to discover whether the country you choose to work or volunteer in requires visas or other immigration information. Check these websites for information:
- Embassy World
A searchable list of the world’s embassies, most of which have details about working in their countries. - Expertise in Labour Mobility (ELM)
Information on international work issues. - Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Comprehensive advice on travelling abroad. - Workpermit.com
Information on immigration, work visas and work permits. - World Service Enquiry
Information and advice about working or volunteering overseas in the developing world.
Country profiles
- AGCAS Country Profiles
Country profiles are being removed from the Prospects site (link above) on an ongoing basis. If you can't find the country you are looking for please refer to the expandable list below.
Country profiles for international students
- NASES - Country profiles for international students
A series of downloadable profiles (pdf format) which look at returning to a country to find work after studying in the UK.
Taking a gap year
Once you have graduated, you might not want to start work or study immediately, but rather take a year to travel and experience different cultures and countries. This is commonly referred to as a gap year. There are many types of gap years you can organise, including exchanges, volunteer programmes, or simply finding temporary work in your chosen destinations.
These websites have useful information on gap years, as well as services to help you plan a gap year and decide whether to work or volunteer:
- Anywork Anywhere
- BUNAC
- Camp America
- Cross Cultural Solutions
- Gap Guru.com
- Gap-year.com
- Global Volunteer Network (GVN)
- Mind the Gap Year
- Natives.co.uk
- Plan My Gap Year
- Projects Abroad
- Prospects: Gap year
- Sabre Charitable Trust
- Seasonal-Jobs.com
- STA Travel
- StandOut Internships
- Target Jobs: Taking a gap year
- Year Out Group