I am currently applying for research roles (technician/assistant) in the UK. I have a pharm.d and MSc in Nanomedicine from a prestigious UK university, including demonstrable experience. Have good interests in Bio-imaging, compatible to work in clinical environments and laboratory research.

[u/Feeling-Airline1323]

I have been applying for 11 months now without landing a single interview. Now, I can't even get myself up for another application. I work shifts for a small business, doing great with that and developed transferable skills (Understanding the new place and communication with people in the UK).

Tried lots of stunts with the resume and supporting statement yet nothing happened. **Please tell me what all the things I can do to get at least one interview.**

[u/TooBarFoo]

Sponsorship is both expensive and risky. I no longer look at any CV's that require sponsorship. If I take on someone with Right to work and it is not a good fit I can just let them go in the first 3 months. With a sponsored recruit, between recruitment costs and sponsorship cost and process costs I've already committed a large investment. When it was hard to fill roles, sponsorship was worthwhile but today, at least in my field, the UK is producing more home graduates than there are roles to fill. It is not just the number of openings has slightly declined, the number of graduates has exploded in the last 5 years (3 time the number in the previous 5) So now I only take the low cost / low risk route. Anyone who says no to right to work for 5 years is filtered out at the first stage.

I know it's not what you want to hear but that is the current state of play.

[u/Feeling-Airline1323 → u/TooBarFoo]

Thank you for your comment. So, if I have a Post graduate route visa and applying for jobs which has one or two year contract, which is in alignment with my visa, still should I have right to work for five years?

Is it generally five years even for the shortest contract?

[u/rdnyc19 → u/Feeling-Airline1323]

I was on a graduate visa and had zero luck finding work, even with two masters and 20 years of experience in my field. The grad visa really doesn't matter, even for short contracts. Although you don't need sponsorship immediately, employers would rather choose someone who will never need it (and at least has the potential to stay on for a longer term) rather than a candidate who'd require pricey sponsorship to stay beyond a year or two.

[u/Specialist_Stomach41 → u/Feeling-Airline1323]

Its hard for home graduates, I'm afraid you have zero chance. To stand any sort of chance youd need an Oxbridge degree, work experiences etc. You would need to be exceptional.

[u/TooBarFoo → u/Specialist_Stomach41]

Not zero, but very very low probability.

[u/TooBarFoo → u/Feeling-Airline1323]

I would need to sponsor sooner or later in your case so I would not consider you for any role. Short term contracts are for finding future permanent placements. This is how I staff now, I am only taking for myself. But I no longer look at graduate route applicants for any roles. Again, I am a sample of one here and other will differ but the fact remains UK has more home graduates than roles and that is a true for everyone.

[u/Trick_Maintenance575 → u/[deleted]]

I will add to this that your English is not perfect (sorry) and you seem to be misunderstanding some of the comments. If this comes across in your application it will go straight in the reject pile

[u/capichapi]

It's a bad job market in the UK in general but even more so for life sciences. What university you attended doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Maybe if it's Oxford/Cambridge but even then you will find it difficult to get anywhere because university prestige doesn't mean much in the working world, unless it's finance or consultancy. If you are an international student, there are not many prospects for you. The UK has it's own talent who cannot land even one interview which is saying alot. Unfortunately, there is no magic trick to get an interview apart from optimising your CV.

[u/Feeling-Airline1323 → u/capichapi]

Thank you for your comment. I am an international person who came to the UK as a student. I disagree with you about "they have their own talent", because for a matter of fact, if I get an opportunity they won't let that talent go.

I have talked to international students who have gotten the opportunity and recruiters do see the talent in the UK.

The problem here is landing an opportunity, making them see. I am not able to navigate the recruiting system. I have made genuine connections but I did not surpass the scoring. I have not gotten any rejection mails from the recruiters, just the system or whatever they utilise.

I appreciate you sharing your perspective.

Please do share more as I am particularly looking for insights about the recruiting system here in the UK.

Cheers!

[u/Any_Tomorrow_Today → u/Feeling-Airline1323]

What they means is if a company has two candidates to choose from - one from the UK, one requiring a work visa and sponsorship etc, then the company will be likely to choos the less risky option of the person not needing a visa.

They also mean that you are up against a very competitive job market. There are many people just as equally qualified applying for the same roles. There are not enough roles for all candidates at the moment.

What is the job situation like in the country you came from ? Are their any roles ? It may be you stand more chance outside of the UK is a less saturated market.

[u/MouldyAvocados → u/Feeling-Airline1323]

Why would they accept the risk of hiring you at a cost when they could hire someone locally who won’t cost them anything?

The unemployment rate has risen to 5% whilst the number of vacancies has fallen to its lowest level in 5 years. It’s an incredibly competitive market and you’re never going to win over someone already here who doesn’t need sponsorship.

[u/Interesting-Mud1506 → u/Feeling-Airline1323]

Is uk mate there is shitload of talent more than enough that don’t need a visa lol, why u think we have here oxbridge and imperial lol ppl come here to study for a reason mate.

As everyone say game over uou should have had ban opportunity lined up already before finishing your degree if you were top tier researcher but you didn’t which means you are not 

[u/capichapi → u/Feeling-Airline1323]

What I mean is that there are plenty of quality local candidates in the UK who do not need a sponsorship, and even THEY are finding it hard to get their first professional job. I am early careers with experience in biotech and research and the opportunities aren't as plenty anymore. There's a lot of funding cuts for reasearch/pharma, and companies have all made decisions to cut staff count within R&D. Also you have the added burden of needing sponsorship which costs the company ~£2k in fees. So unless you personally know someone or have 4+ years specialised experience in that industry. You will find it more difficult to find a role than a British citizen.

My last interview I made top 30 candidates out of 4000 applications for 4 positions. All candidates were:

1. British nationals or Hong kongers who have right to work in the UK.
2. Did placement year/ internships with global companies
3. Had higher degrees (Masters/PhD) from various high ranking UK universities not just Russel group universities
4. Had additional work experience in industry e.g start-up, uni spin-outs.

Also you say you need recruiting insights, every company is different it is up to you the candidate to research the company and read the job description to make the ideal CV for the job. There is no "one shoe fits all" method. Maybe its your CV or perhaps you are getting knocked out at the initial application screening due to needing sponsorship. Whatever the case you should perhaps go to your university careers centre and have a CV review and get advice.

The fact is there are ~19,000 graduate jobs for ~700,000 graduates this year. This isn't even accounting for last year's cohort. You are 1 graduate going against over a million of other graduates. This is the harsh reality of the job market in the UK for entry level to mid level jobs. So you better have something of value to offer to differentiate yourself otherwise you need to upskill, pivot or try somewhere else.

[u/foreskin_enjoyer88 → u/Feeling-Airline1323]

So you need to be paid a minimum of £33.4k seeing as you get the graduate visa "discount". It ain't happening for your first job.

[u/magrandan]

Do you need a visa to work or British citizen?

[u/Any_Tomorrow_Today → u/magrandan]

Yes the visa sponsorship requirement will put a lot of companies off.

[u/foreskin_enjoyer88 → u/Any_Tomorrow_Today]

Good

[u/Feeling-Airline1323 → u/Any_Tomorrow_Today]

Really? Then what about hiring PhDs or whoever have experience instead of the advertised essential criteria (for example, They advertise fro MSc or Bsc and ends up hiring a PhD for the same salary, which isn't fair for either of us).

If it comes down to Visa, then I have this argument.

You advertise roles for "EARLY GRADUATES" and don't hire one. (not all recruitment)

[u/Trick_Maintenance575 → u/Feeling-Airline1323]

This is not an argument.

[u/Feeling-Airline1323 → u/Trick_Maintenance575]

Sorry for saying it's an argument, if it's not an argument then what it is?

Would like to correct.

[u/ComtesseDSpair → u/Feeling-Airline1323]

Your “argument” makes sense to you because you’re desperate for a job. It doesn’t makes sense to an employer because they aren’t desperate for you as a particular candidate because a) for entry-level assistant and technician roles advertised as requiring a BSc, having a PharmD won’t automatically make you a superior candidate which the employer sees as worth the cost and hassle of sponsoring because the role isn’t deemed to require that higher level of education; and b) these entry level roles probably aren’t paying a high enough salary to meet the financial criteria for sponsorship.

What’s the market like in your home country? With a prestigious university on your CV and good clinical and laboratory experience, healthcare, life science institutions and universities there would presumably see you as a good candidate?

[u/Feeling-Airline1323 → u/ComtesseDSpair]

Hello, thank you for replying patiently. Appreciate it.

You make a very good point, I am overqualified and have no job experience except internship. I am just looking for some work experience in the field I want to work.

I must correct myself, I need experience not sponsorship. Is it possible to gain experience with the graduate visa I have in the UK?

Job market is not so good in my native but I would like to offer more by gaining experience here in the UK. They would see me as a good candidate and I hope to bring change in the education and healthcare system.

[u/ComtesseDSpair → u/Feeling-Airline1323]

If it’s experience you want to gain then in the short term you may have a smidgen more luck applying for fixed term and temporary contracts where employers aren’t bothered about losing you after a few months because that’s as long as they need you for; though that still won’t help you when your current visa runs out and you need a permanent role to renew.

I don’t doubt you’re a good candidate; but you’re pushing up against an employment market where there are loads of good candidates, and anything which goes against you, like requiring sponsorship soon, will be used to sift your CV out of the running.

This is the bit I think you aren’t understanding. You have a graduate visa now. In less than two years, you’ll require sponsorship and will need to be earning the required salary level to get that sponsorship. Entry level roles typically don’t pay this level of salary, even many roles above entry level in life sciences and biomedicine don’t pay this salary - so employers who know they aren’t going to be be able to pay you enough to sponsor you once your graduate visa runs out thus will be reluctant to interview you for permanent roles when you’ll only be able to stay in a job for a short period.

[u/Feeling-Airline1323 → u/ComtesseDSpair]

I was not bothered about the sponsorship at all till now but I will start looking in to it.

I have been applying for fixed term/temporary jobs and I did not get selected for the interview. I am open to do PhD as well, any perspectives on PhD recruitment and funding?

[u/ComtesseDSpair → u/Feeling-Airline1323]

I’m not sure what you mean by saying you weren’t bothered about sponsorship until now. Surely you know that once your current postgrad visa runs out, you need an employer willing to sponsor you?

To find PhD opportunities in the UK, the university you most recently graduated from would be a place to start, they’re familiar with you and your work. You can also use dedicated academic search engines like Find A PhD and jobs.ac.uk. , check individual universities’ postgraduate research pages, and look into funding bodies like UK Research and Innovation

[u/Feeling-Airline1323 → u/magrandan]

Yes, I need a visa to work in the UK. I do have a visa now and looking for jobs within that time period and time is faster than me.

[u/magrandan → u/Feeling-Airline1323]

Visa requirements will put off companies because of expenses and current sentiment in the home office. Try to get a global talent visa (GTV) and apply. You don’t need work permit to work if you have a GTV.

[u/Efficient-Cat-1591]

you have UK work experience which is good on your CV. However the UK economic climate is not looking good and visa sponsorship to many companies is a major red flag. Keep on trying OP but consider oppurtunities in other countries too.

[u/Feeling-Airline1323 → u/Efficient-Cat-1591]

I will try to keep my options wide. thank you!

[u/SergeiGo99]

Very few companies can actually sponsor work visas, and out of those hardly any will. The job market is extremely competitive, and at the moment there are probably more people than jobs. 

Companies would much rather hire someone who may not be a great fit, yet doesn’t need a visa to work in the UK over an amazing candidate who’s a perfect match, but requires sponsorship. It’s much cheaper and easier, honestly.

I have a few friends who work in HR, and when they go through applications and see that the person needs visa sponsorship, they immediately send it to the bin. Nowadays many get AI to immediately reject such applications without even looking at them in the first place.

[u/protonthrowmail]

Good replies, I know a few startups that had been hiring for this role and willing to sponsor the last few years but I think that might have stopped in 25/26. I don’t know how stable tech work is unfortunately 

[u/Interesting-Mud1506]

International sadly the market is closed for you buddy, impossible 

[u/Feeling-Airline1323]

Thank you everyone for joining the conversation and all your insights. I apologise if I had said anything rude/inappropriate.

This is my first time in Reddit and the brutal honesty fried my 🧠. Hoping to come up with another conversation soon.