Need some help looking for a graduate job

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Ok.. so one of my close friends is from China and she's here studying for a masters in Medicinal and Biological Chemistry. Her undergraduate degree in China was Pharmaceutical Engineering with modules in Business Management. Basically her visa is only for a year but she doesn't want to go back to China. I want her to stay too :( so I told her I'd help her with looking for jobs.

Given what she's studied/studying I figured Astrazeneca and Glaxosmithkline would be ideal places to look but I checked on their websites and couldn't find any suitable job vacancies. This strikes me as a bit odd... do any of you guys have suggestions of companies that would be worth looking into? Or any general advice on how to go about finding a graduate job?

She also mentioned that she would potentially be interested in teaching in either primary or secondary schools. Are there any teachers on here? Would you recommend it as a decent job, or is it a bit of a waste of a masters degree? What is the best route for becoming a teacher?

Thanks in advance for any help :)
 
I'm an EFL teacher. There are plenty of job advertisements for positions in China, and I imagine it'll be relatively easy to find one. However, China is awash with scams, unscrupulous employers and poor pay. Plus, without experience you're unlikely to get into any of the major cities. If you want to follow that root then go and do a CELTA (costs around £1100 and takes 4 weeks, full time) and get applying. I trust you have a degree? If not, then you will find it difficult to get a job.

Fifiov is in Japan teaching atm, and it took him a while to find a job. I'm teaching in Glasgow, but it's very rare for an inexperienced teacher to get work in the UK beyond summer schools.
 
I don't have a degree yet but I hopefully will in a couple of years. I probably won't go teach EFL I was just wondering about it. Has anyone got any advice about the main topic of the OP? Any companies or website to check out?

Helping her find a job won't get you out of the friend zone...

:rolleyes:
 
It'll be more difficult for her with a work permit. I think it's 2 years she can work on the work permit not entirely sure. However, if she has 6months left on her permit then it may be difficult for to secure a job as employers would like someone permanent.

That's only if she does secure a job and for some reason becomes unemployed within that time frame.
 
So you want to bone her and she wants to stay in the country.

Surely... marry her?

Ok since you guys seem so interested I'll clarify: we're just friends, only known her 4 weeks, but I can see us drifting into a relationship when we've known each other for longer. Regardless of whether that happens she's still a close friend so both her and I would obviously rather avoid being 10000 miles apart. Also she just plain prefers the UK as a place to live.

Does no-one have anything to say regarding the original topic? I'm surprised... the ocuk community has let me down - a rare occurence.
 
I can see us drifting into a relationship when we've known each other for longer.

This won't happen, don't get your hopes up.

As for graduate jobs - big companies and graduate job sites will be attracting hundreds if not thousands of applicants per position - dig out smaller (possibly more specialist) firms, they will be more likely to be taking people on and there will be much less competition for the positions. Essentially, not places that everyone knows and is top of everyone's list to apply for.
 
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I have little to offer to this thread, other than I have a mate who works for GSK and he absolutely loves it. As far as he is concerned, its his job for life and never wants to move! So a thumbs up for that company.
 
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