Make yourself employable

Make most of your opportunities at Bath to develop the key skills and experience you need to find and start your future career.

Coming to Bath is not just about studying and doing research. By making the most of the opportunities available here, you’ll gain experience and skills which will help you plan your career path and increase your employability.

We can help you make the important decisions about the type of career you want. By the time you graduate, you should have an idea of what you want to do and know the steps you need to take.

Highly ranked for graduate prospects

Bath graduates are highly valued and sought after by leading graduate employers.

We’re ranked 13th for the universities most often targeted by Britain’s top graduate employers¹

Ranked 5th for graduate prospects by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020

89% of our employed UK full-time first-degree graduates are in the top three occupational groups²

The majority of our undergraduates choose a placement or to study abroad³

We are ranked 4th for employment within six months of graduation

Gain work experience through a placement

Doing a placement during your course can give you the experience and skills that set you apart from other graduates.

Take advantage of our strong links with industry and take a placement as part of your studies. You have the option to do one or more professional or industrial placements on all of our undergraduate course areas ^4/5/6 .

On a placement, you can get practical experience and gain transferable skills at the same time as learning about working in the private or public sector. This can help you make more informed choices about your future career and you can include it on your CV as work experience.

As a Bath student, you can receive tailored support from our Placements team who have worked with many of the world’s biggest organisations to offer placement opportunities to our students.

Improve your employability with a placement

A student in a high-vis jacket on a work placement talking to an employer.

Sam Brill at Microsoft. — — Sam Brill Management with Marketing (2019)

Develop skills to prepare you for work

Choose from a wide range of free courses, workshops and resources which you can take in your free time and use throughout your career.

You can improve your language and communication skills, get help with maths, statistics and numeracy concepts, or learn something new, including practical skills like interview techniques and CV writing

Study abroad

In addition to learning a new language in the place where it's spoken, studying abroad as part of your undergraduate degree gives you a new set of challenges. It can help you to develop your communication, problem-solving and analytical skills.

Studying abroad demonstrates ambition, confidence and a willingness to embrace new ideas, all of which are of great value to employer.

Find out how you can benefit from studying abroad

Four students walking through a European city

Get careers advice

You can receive careers information, advice and guidance throughout your time at Bath.

Our dedicated Careers Services can offer advice on your career plan and help you get in contact with employers.

They provide:

information on employment and further study
individual guidance and assistance with career choices
workshops to develop your employability skills, including CV writing, interviews, applications and aptitude testing
information on job vacancies and a full programme of careers fairs on campus

We hold employer events every year, providing you with opportunities to meet, understand and network with recruiters from a variety of industries.

Our support doesn’t stop once you graduate either. As a Bath graduate, you will be able to seek advice from our Careers Service team for the entirely of your working life.

Build a professional network before you graduate

Bath Connection helps alumni and students share their professional experiences and offer advice on placements, CVs and careers.

As a student, you will be able to search for a contact in a particular industry or graduation year and send a request to connect.

Find out more about Bath Connection

The Graduate Market in 2019
Compared to 74% of employed graduates nationally – data from HESA Destinations of Leavers from higher education 2016/17
Over two-thirds of Bath-based students graduated from a course with a placement or study abroad option in the 2017/18 academic year
Based on undergraduate courses starting in the 2019/20 academic year
Social Work, Pharmacy and FdSc Addictions Counselling have mandatory work-based learning as part of the degree, not year placements
FdSc Sport (Sports Performance) has a placement when taken with a Bachelors top-up