#GLOCALCareers: The Ultimate GLOCAL Job-hunting Guide

The GLOCAL Experience editorial team initiated this #GLOCALCareers series to provide information about job-hunting, ease the anxiety of current GLOCAL students, and help upcoming GLOCAL applicants to imagine and plan their career paths before applying to the programme.

Each article in this series will feature a GLOCAL alumnus’s job experience. The editorial team has started to reach out to GLOCAL alumni working in different industries, asking them what they are doing after GLOCAL, how they got their job, how their job is related to their GLOCAL studies, and what job-hunting advice they might have for current and future GLOCAL students. To stay tuned, you can subscribe to our newsletter to get monthly blog highlights on the first day of every month! 

Meanwhile, in this article, we provide useful links, course information, resources provided by universities, and information about working visas in different countries. If you know of any websites and resources that may be useful, please feel free to leave a comment or reach out to the editorial team at info@theglocalexperience.com.

#GLOCALCareers Ultimate Job-hunting Guide
#GLOCALCareers design created by ChangLin Yiin

University Resources

If you are looking for assistance and advice surrounding your career path (especially in the UK) during your GLOCAL studies, the College of Social Science (COSS) Employability Programme and Career Services at the University of Glasgow are your best friends! 

The services offer various free online courses that allow you to study at your own pace, and there will also be trained tutors providing support and feedback. Courses like “Careers and Employability Induction” will provide guidance and resources to help you kickstart your career journey. The programme also offers useful courses such as “LinkedIn Profile“, “Practical Presentation Skills“, “Leadership“, and even a course on how to write a collaborative dissertation.

Apart from the courses, the Student Job Hub will advertise part-time vacancies for which students can apply. As GLOCAL V student Bridget mentioned in her internship experience, you can also subscribe to the university’s newsletter to get vacancy updates. 

The University of Barcelona also provides students with career support. Although it is not as international student-friendly (many articles and webpages are only in Catalán or Spanish) as the University of Glasgow, the faculty still posts vacancy updates on their website. In March 2022, there was also a career fair on campus, during which students got the chance to present resumes to recruiters, participate in conferences, and talk to the university’s career services team.

Compared to the University of Glasgow, Kyoto University offers fewer career services to international students who don’t speak Japanese. A certain level of Japanese proficiency is expected to get the services. However, the GLOCAL office at Kyoto University has arranged a matching scheme between students and companies through a platform called C-Engine, which is a general incorporated association that facilitates industry-academia collaboration. Through this platform, GLOCALs can find internship opportunities between the end of May when they submit their master’s thesis and the end of September when their stay in Japan is due. Students can also consult Mynavi Global Career, which accepts non-Japanese speakers to register for job-hunting in Japan. 
This information was provided by GLOCAL V student Hideki Yoshikawa.

Starting from August 2022, GLOCAL office also started partnership with Codo Advisory to develop students through internships centered around corporate sustainability.  
This information was published on the glocalerasmus Instagram on August 10, 2022.

Work-related Visas

Starting in 2021, Erasmus Mundus Master students are eligible for the Graduate Route Visa, which allows students to stay in the UK for at least 2 years after successfully completing their degree in the UK. However, it is important to keep in mind that only students with a Tier 4 or Student Route visa, which covers the whole duration of the GLOCAL programme, are eligible to apply. Students holding the Short Term Study Visa or Standard Visitor Visa will not be able to apply for the Graduate Route Visa.

After completing an Erasmus Mundus Master program, students can apply for the “Orientation visa for highly educated persons“. The visa is valid for one year and allows graduates to work in the Netherlands without any restrictions. With this orientation visa, employers will not need to apply for a separate work permit for you.
This information was provided by GLOCAL V student YanYin Chow.

As a GLOCAL graduate,  you will be able to apply for the Job Seeker Visa, which will allow you to stay in Germany for six months after graduation to look for jobs. However, holding a job seeker visa does not allow you to start working immediately in Germany. The visa only grants you permission for job-hunting. There are also some criteria that you will need to fulfill to be eligible to apply for the visa. More information can be found here.

The visa, named 特定活動ビザ or “Designated Activities Visa”, allows students to stay in Japan for 6 months to search for a job, and the visa can be renewed once. Importantly, you will need to submit proof that you have started job-hunting before graduation. And also, a reference letter from the university will be required. There are also some documents that you will need to prepare to be eligible to apply for the visa. More information can be found here.  

Besides, most Japanese students start working in April, but the graduation for GLOCALs is in September. So, you will need to switch your visa status from the Student Visa to the Designated Activities Visa if you wish to stay in Japan from September to March after completing your dissertation.
This information was provided by GLOCAL V student Hideki Yoshikawa.

Job-searching Websites

SCOTLAND

The list above was presented by the International Student Support – Careers Service at the University of Glasgow during the online session “Find out about the Careers Service at UofG” in September 2021.

JAPAN

The list above was provided by GLOCAL V student Hideki Yoshikawa.

#GLOCALCareers Articles - Alumni Experiences

As mentioned earlier, the GLOCAL Experience Editorial Team has been collecting information and will continue to update this GLOCAL career guide, so if you know any useful resources, courses, websites, or other career-related information and would like to share it with other GLOCALs, please reach out to the GLOCAL V editors, Anna Dodd, Melanie Thut, and SzuTung Chen. Thank you 🙂