Master your career: How postgraduate study could boost your employability
Whether you’re looking to get qualified for a career move, or keen to dive deeper into an academic passion, studying for a masters at Surrey will help you see things differently. Here’s a quick guide to how our postgraduate courses could help you get ahead in the workplace.
Many people are now attending university, making postgraduate study an increasingly popular way to get ahead in an ever-competitive job market.
Discover what we can offer you as a Surrey student and how you can make the most of our careers support.
Be supported throughout your time at Surrey and beyond
At Surrey, we recognise that you may require tailored support to help develop your professional potential, both during and after your masters degree. Here are just some of the ways we support our postgraduate community when it comes to employability:
Events
Throughout the year, Surrey hosts a range of employability-focused events, including two large careers fairs which attract a variety of employers offering graduate roles and placements. We also hold an annual International Students Employability Week, with sessions focused on working in the UK and internationally, building your personal and professional network, interview skills, alumni networking, career planning, entrepreneurship, visas, varsity and more!
Surrey Pathfinder
As a Surrey student, you’ll have access to a range of resources to enhance your employability. Surrey Pathfinder is a digital hub where you can find everything from careers appointments and event bookings, to jobs listings, placements and interactive development tools.
Workshops
Whether you want to improve your networking skills, or need a bit of support writing your CV – our dedicated Employability and Careers team are here to help.
Employability Award
You can also choose to complete the Employability Award, which gives students recognition for activities that develop employability skills. The Award will help you to prepare for entering the graduate job market and is a valuable addition to your CV.
In-house agency
Looking for extra experience? Unitemps is the University’s in-house job agency and can help you find temporary work across campus and in local Guildford companies.
Alumni access
For up to three years after you graduate, you’ll be able to get one-to-one appointments with our Employability and Careers service, as well as have lifetime access to Surrey Pathfinder.
Discover more about employability and careers at Surrey, including where our graduates are now.
“I feel that there was always someone to help, whether it was your lecturer or a librarian.”
Alicja Furmanczyk, MA Translation Studies and Intercultural Communication
Build your network and gain practical experience
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
At Surrey, our arts and social sciences courses are research-led and many offer opportunities to boost your employability. On our MSc Criminology course, you’ll be able to take a four-week work placement to put your skills into practice, with the department also participating in the ‘Learning Together’ scheme, a project which enables Surrey students to study alongside local prisoners at HMP Send. The recent appointment of Iain Sinclair as the University’s Distinguished Writer-in-Residence means our MA Creative Writing offers the chance to hone your creative practice through workshops with the renowned writer and filmmaker. At Surrey Business School, our MSc Human Resource Management, MSc Business Analytics, MSc Digital Marketing and Channel Management, MSc Management and MSc Strategic Marketing all offer the option of completing a placement as part of your studies, with students choosing placements both in the UK and abroad.
Our music, sound, film and digital production courses also offer exceptional links to industry. Discover some of the top jobs our music and sound recording graduates have secured.
“The community, support and facilities are like no other. Whether you’re performing your song, presenting a lecture, researching for your dissertation; use every opportunity that comes your way to build your strengths and weaknesses to prepare yourself for the music industry.”
Johnny Yates, TV and Film Composer, MMus Music: Class of 2013
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Our Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences has outstanding professional partners you can network with. For example, the Pirbright Institute and Animal and Plant Health Agency are both founding partners of our School of Veterinary Medicine and maintain a strong relationship with Surrey, providing cutting-edge placement opportunities for our MSc Veterinary Microbiology students. On our specialist practice courses, students are sponsored by organisations such as Children and Families Surrey and Solent NHS Trust.
As well as practical visits, our students can enhance their employability by completing a research project with one of our partners. Our MSc Medical Microbiology (Euromasters) course, for example, offers you the chance to do extensive research alongside internationally-recognised groups.
Discover more about what you can do with a biosciences degree.
“I chose to carry out my dissertation project at the Pirbright Institute. I am so grateful for this opportunity as part of my work has now been published in a science paper, and this will no doubt help my future career prospects.”
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
As well as enabling you to contribute to globally-renowned research at the Centre for Vision Speech and Signal Processing, Surrey Space Centre, or our Advanced Technology Institute, some of our engineering and physical sciences masters courses also include the option of a year-long placement to help you hone the skills you need to excel. On our MSc Electronic Engineering (Euromasters), you could work with one of our European partner universities, and our brand-new MSc Data Science course offers an optional year-long placement in industry, where you’ll get the chance to solve issues affecting the world today.
Some courses also enable you to complete your masters dissertation project in an industrial, research or a hospital-based environment – students on our MSc Medical Physics have previously been hosted by Royal Surrey County Hospital, Cancer Centre London and the National Physical Laboratory.
Discover where some of our electrical and electronic engineering graduates are now.
“Thanks to excellent support from the University, I managed to find a placement at Cobham Antenna System. During my six month placement, I worked as a software development engineer and, at the request of the company, I’ve continued to work there while completing my studies at Surrey.”
Irene Pastor Gutierrez, MSc Electronic Engineering (Euromasters)