How to get a job in UK with Visa Sponsorship under New Regulations ? Digital Marketing

We all know that getting a sponsored job in the UK is not easy. However, few students are still landing a sponsored job even after the new changes which were introduced last year 4th of April. So today I'm going to introduce you guys to one of the students Simran who landed her sponsored job recently where she's going to talk about how she landed the job with the right planning strategy, what were the mistakes she made and what you can learn from her journey. If you're interested in this topic make sure you stick with me till the end of this video. But before we dive in let me introduce myself to those who are new here. My name is Sarika and I have been living in the UK for the past 14 years. Currently I work as a lead business analyst for one of the world's largest tour operators. In my spare time I create YouTube videos to help you navigate the global job market and find the perfect study abroad destination. I offer two valuable services that I encourage you to take advantage of. The first is free study abroad assistant service. If you're interested in studying abroad in any of these listed countries please fill out the form provided in the video description and pinned comment. My team will reach out to you to assist you with your study abroad plans. And the second service is paid job assistant service. This is a three-month coaching and mentoring program designed to make you job ready. It's perfect for those struggling to find a job or secure a visa sponsorship in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. If you're serious about your career and want to land your dream job enroll in this service. Remember it requires a three-month commitment and hard work where both you and I will be working together to make you job ready. I've also hired mentors who have successfully landed visa sponsorship jobs with the right strategy and they're planning to help you guys as well. It's also for people who want to start their career in IT and also start their career as a business analyst where I will be your mentor. If you need our help, fill out the form in the description and my pinned comment or simply email me at yourknowledgebuddy at gmail.com. Let's make you job ready soon. So without any further delay, let me introduce you guys to Simran. Hi Simran, welcome to your knowledge buddy. And if you don't mind, can you please introduce yourself to my audience, please? Hi, my name is Simran. And first of all, thank you so much Sarika for giving me an amazing opportunity on your platform to introduce myself. I am originally from Ludhiana and I moved to UK in 2021 and now I'm working as an email marketing specialist and I've obtained a skilled worker visa in the UK. And what did you study here? So I did my master's in digital marketing and social media marketing from University of Plymouth. And why did you choose this course? So I think the only reason I chose my career in digital marketing is because I already have an experience in sales for five years. And I think in 2018 or 19, I just realized the importance of, you know, digital marketing and how like the marketing trend is shifting from the traditional marketing to online marketing. And I've already have a master's degree in international business in India. So I just wanted to do something that's quite useful for me. So I did my research, like, you know, what would be the best course for me. And that's how I came across with an opportunity in UK. And I thought of like doing my master's in digital marketing and social media marketing. So do you think your previous work experience helped you land a job in the UK? I would say no, because since I had an experience into sales, so I've been working into international sales and sales in educational sector recruitment industry as well. And to be honest, I personally feel that when it comes to sales and marketing, both are poles apart, I would not say it's really similar. And especially like online marketing, because it has like website optimization, or SEO, social media, email marketing, that's absolutely different from what I used to do in my, you know, previous job. So I think to attain a job in digital marketing, I really thought of, you know, having a suitable degree that would really help me to open the gates, you know, for my career in digital marketing. And while I was pursuing my education in digital marketing, I thought that it is really imperative for me to like have a job like internships, like, you know, part time job, or maybe like internships in digital marketing, which could really land me with the well job after I finished my master degree, like a full time job in digital marketing. So I would say my previous experience was not necessarily as helpful. But I think while I was pursuing my master degrees, definitely my internships were extremely helpful. And also your rapport building with your professors as well is so helpful to land you a good job in digital marketing in UK. Okay, thanks, Simran. So let's talk about your internship experience. For example, when students land in the UK, you are allowed to work 20 hours during your part time, right? So did you do your internship during your study period? Or did you do your internship after your student visa was over? Yeah, so this is this is really interesting question. So when I started my degree, within three months, I got a part time job in DFS. And that was a 20 hours job. And I was not allowed to do any sort of like paid internships, you know, while I was doing my part time job. And I know how much important for us is to gather an experience, especially from coming from a sales background, have absolute no knowledge about marketing. So that's how I thought of having a good rapport building with my professors. And I came across with multiple opportunities via universities. The only challenge I was facing is because it was a paid internship, and I could not do it because I was already earning money as a part time job. And I requested the professors or maybe you know, the intern like the companies that were giving us an internship. And I requested them that since I'm already doing one job, and according to the government regulations, I cannot have another job, I am more interested to gather an experience. And if you could please give me an opportunity, and I just, you know, gave them a presentation, they gave me one or two tasks for my internship, and which I prepared it quite well. And I was absolutely fine with my own unpaid internship, because I've reached a point where I feel like experience matters a lot. And it was way more important for me rather than having a paid internship. And fortunately, some of the companies were absolutely fine of giving me an internship, which was unpaid. And it was really an amazing experience. For example, I worked with Climate Action Plymouth. And I think which this internship, I got it with a good reputation with my professor, which was Hannah Knight. And I requested her that I really need a practical experience. And she had a good rapport building with Ricky Lewis. And with the help of this rapport building, I got one unpaid internship. After I finished my one unpaid internship, I got another opportunities from other companies as well. And we had this kind of discussions via mail, we went back and forth. And I feel like the companies, they are more interested into, you know, how much interested you are to do the internship, like, you know, how much focused and dedicated you are to do your internships or job. And they were very interested with finding those kind of focus dedicated candidates. And that's the reason I got unpaid internship, which really helped me to land a good job in digital marketing. So you did your unpaid internship during your study visa, you also did your part time job, you also did your assignments, and you continued with your studies. And this all your student visa, right? Yes, absolutely. And it might surprise you because I think during the master degree, it is such an important time for you to gather as much skills as you can. So along with my internships, which I had like two internship at one time as well, along with my job, my assignments, and my dissertation as well, I did an extra course into digital marketing from actually from India only, so that it could give me more practical exposure, because I was so focused and all I wanted one good opportunity, one good job once I finished my master degree. And considering the job market is so challenging, you need to have more and more practical experience, you need to have your own portfolio, because I have my own website, which I could show it to the companies while I was looking out for the job opportunities. And that has been so helpful. So along with all the other things that I was doing, I was doing an additional course as well into digital marketing, which basically helped me to create my website, do my SEO as well, and a bit of like social media and email marketing as well. So I think that was quite helpful. Why did you think you had to do another course when you had already taken a course on social media marketing? Were they not teaching you everything that you needed to know to do the job? So yes, I personally feel that the education that I was getting from university was really good and really useful. But it focused more on the theoretical part, I personally felt that because when you think about digital marketing, you think about how to promote your product online via Google Ads or social media or via email channels or having a website and through that website, you promote your products. I felt like my study was more inclined towards theoretical part, but there was something that was missing. And I did a bit of like research, I saw a couple of YouTube videos of what skills that is necessary in digital marketing. I also looked out on LinkedIn, what are the skills that is required to get a job in digital marketing. And I really felt like these are the skills that I might not get it enough from the university itself. And I realized that it's really important, like from my personal experience, you've got to have your own website to show what you are capable of. So I had a blog website after doing like the research. And I think one thing that you can always take into consideration is like, especially the skills that you should always look out when you're searching for jobs, like what are the skills that's required, you know, for your specific role, like what are the platforms that you should be experienced in digital marketing. After doing my research on skills, then I was like, definitely there's a need of doing an additional certification course. And I did it from WS Cube Tech, I would say has been extremely helpful and helped me to gain all those experience, enhance my skills as well, which I required it in digital marketing. And that's how I landed up with a good job at the end of day in digital marketing. Thanks, Imran. So what I have learned so far from you during your student visa, you may have to do multiple things you have to study, you have to do your assignments, dissertation, part-time job, and maybe also internship, like you mentioned. And in parallel, like you said, you have also started learning new skills through YouTube or through the course you mentioned so that you can create your own portfolio. So student life is not easy in the UK, right? You've got to do so many things. And then settling down in a new country is another big challenge. It is, oh my god, I, it is very challenging, but I don't want to demotivate anyone, you know, who want to pursue their career in digital marketing. I think one thing the person should always focus on is internships, micro-internships. If you're doing your master degree, please have a good reputation with your teachers or professors because they help you really, you know, to give you references or provide references for micro-internships. They play such an important role to land you with a full-time job in your, you know, area that you would like to. Having an additional skills is up to you because it really depends on person to person because I feel like any person who's already coming from a marketing background might not need to do additional course whereas me coming from a sales background and marketing is my, you know, a dream career that I wanted to be in and this was my chance like, you know, in UK to pursue my career. So I did whatever I could to get a perfect job for me. So I feel like that's the reason I had to do an additional course but the primary focus should be on your dissertation. Make sure you clear your dissertation, your, you know, the subjects, you know, in your course and micro-internship definitely because when you do your micro-internships in UK, they actually consider it as a good proper experience like it's not like an internship for the companies. It's like a one experience that you gathered from one of the company while you were pursuing your degree. So I would say internships are really important. Okay, so Simran, what is micro-internship? What is the timeline? So it really depends. So my micro-internship was for two weeks and so there were like two to three internships that I did in university. Each internship either was for two weeks or three weeks. It's never more than three weeks I would say but just like, you know, always be 100% sure if you could actually do it along with your studies because sometimes people are so focused on doing a job like even the part-time job, you know, just to maintain their financial stability. They end up like not focusing on their studies or dissertation. So dissertation play a very very crucial role as well while doing your master degree because it also helps you to get a good job if you have a good score in your dissertation because they always ask you questions about your dissertation as well. So yeah, the timeline for micro-internships are for like two to three weeks. Okay, Simran, can you just name a few websites where students can go and find internships? I know you mentioned that your professors helped you. Say if students, yes, students have understood that they should have a good relation with their professors so that they can refer them to internships. What if students also want to find something online, digital? What are the websites will you suggest them to look for internship? When it comes to internship, it was our own university's website where like the job site where I got to know about the internship. I think the first useful source would be your own university's website where they always post about the multiple internships related to n number of fields. But if by any chance you're not able to secure that internship, you always have an opportunity to look into Indeed or LinkedIn as well where they come across with multiple jobs like a short-term contract related to the respective field and you can apply for it if you're not doing your part-time job. So I think Indeed and LinkedIn are quite at least a useful source for me to find even the part-time job or micro-internships or a full-time job. But definitely I would recommend the company's website, university website, career site. Thanks Simran. So my students already know now how to get internship. So let's talk about your journey from a student visa to a skilled visa. Firstly, did you take a PSW or not? Yes, I did. I did take PSW after finishing my master degree. Okay, so how did you convert from PSW to skilled visa? So talk about your journey finding the right company, facing rejection, CV improvements, your strategy, what did you exactly do to land that visa sponsorship job? So my journey, there has been so many ups and downs especially from a background from like you know coming from a background with zero experience in digital marketing. I knew that micro-internships are so powerful and after I my master degree, I rigorously started applying for jobs as a full-time job because the part-time job that I was doing was again at DFS which was into sales like a retail sales advisor. Because of my past experiences in India, that's how I landed my part-time job. But that is something I never wanted to continue throughout my life and I wanted to give, I wanted to like you know justify my degree and I was like after I finished my degree, I started rigorously applying for jobs. My sources were like LinkedIn and Indeed for now and that's how I got to know from lots of people as well that these are the two major sources from you know from where you could land your job. And then what personally I used to do is that I used to contact recruitment agencies like on LinkedIn, you know while you are directly applying for the jobs, I also come across with couple of agencies you know and when you keep on applying via agencies as well and they try to get in touch with you and they try to understand your profile, your interest and you know what kind of companies you would like to tap and I think that is something that was really helpful for me. And you know I just got in touch with couple of agencies and after they got to know about my interest and the sector that I would like to work in, they started giving me an options for the companies and that's how I landed my first job and I worked as a CRM executive at the Range and Wilco which was a proper like email marketing job you know where you do your automations and your you know email campaigns as well which is a part of digital marketing. And I remember that while giving my interview that was my you know first proper interview with the Range and it is such a renowned company you know. The only challenge that I faced was I had absolute no experience like a practical full-time experience in digital marketing but I think one thing that really helped me to secure a job in as a CRM executive was my internships again and my you know the extra skills that I was trying to enhance via the course that I was doing in India. So I showed my website to them and they were very much with the dedication you know you had. I feel like more than a skill, the skill is important for an individual but they also see your zeal, your dedication and you know your passion to do a job which creates such a positive impression in their mind and I think that's what they saw in me and they were like so much impressed that I think I just gave my first interview and within like two to three hours I got a call from my agency that they absolutely loved my interview and they just gave me a job. At this point because I already secured my post-skilled worker visa, I think at the initial phase I was not much concerned about the sponsorship because it was really hard to get you know because they were majorly like you know you would get a sponsorship visa if you have a good quality experience and my only focus was just to have a good experience even the salary was something that I was not taking into consideration. I was like I just need a good quality experience and then I worked in this company for approximately one and a half year and I was very close to getting my visa expired and I got to know that the company does not sponsor. I just had a word with the HR and I think that was the point I was like I learned something that I wish I would have also targeted the companies which have the license. So this company did not have the license and I think that was somewhere I kind of like lost the hopes because you have invested so much in your education and you know you've worked so hard so you just like want to like pursue your you know career or like you know like I personally wanted to pursue my career in UK and I think once I got to know a final update from the HR that the company do not sponsor, I did not waste my time. I obviously did not quit that was not an option for me. I keep on focusing on you know continuing with my job and keep on learning as well you know while working in this company but I rigorously started applying for jobs. I think the major challenge that I faced was when there was a change in government regulation which was exactly on 4th April 2024 and there was a massive increase in the salary benchmark and I think that was the point when most of the people like my friends and everybody was struggling to get a job even if they are so close to get a job. When it comes to salary and the sponsorship, most of the company take a back step because company do not want to you know some companies do not want to invest on sponsorship they have a misconception that you know it's a lot of money to you know sponsor someone when they can get a localite you know and especially in my field in marketing you will find so many localites who are absolutely amazing in their job so it's really hard for us to get a job in digital marketing. So I thought you know according to me I think this was something I was kind of doing wrong as well which I wanted to tell that I started tapping only one industry you know one focus which was university I thought you know universities would definitely help you with sponsorship which they do but I neglected every other sector and I think that is something that I you know I learned from my experience is that just don't focus on one sector what important is your role you want to pursue your dream job in digital marketing and if you have a specialized sector good for you but for me sector was not important my role my job was important at that time so I think I wasted maybe one or two months to you know find proper relevant job in universities thinking of maybe you know you'll get an easy sponsorship and I have landed like you know couple of interviews as well but even it might surprise you believe me or not sometimes universities also take a back step when it comes to sponsorship and I was like this is something there is something that I'm doing wrong as well and then I started tapping like a broader sector and one thing that I really worked was on resume I used to look out for every job description and what skill that they majorly focus on or they want it and I used to customize my resume and especially in marketing numbers play a very imperative role and what company really want is that how much result have you given like how much you know revenue have you generated for a company you know so me as an email marketing specialist the companies were majorly interested to see in my resume is my achievement and my outcome of what I did for the company not the skills that I know they they absolutely know anyone in digital marketing would know website or SEO or social media but what result that you have given to the company is something that they are interested and I must say that you know I used to like uh look at LinkedIn maybe like I don't know it shouldn't not be right to say but like six to seven hours and I used to see you know different kind of like CVs because now LinkedIn is such a powerful source that they help you you know with some resumes examples as well and I came across with one of the resume which um I think Hayes recruitment it's a recruitment agency in UK and they have shown the resume of one of the candidate and I saw how impressive that resume was and it was only focused on the result that I you know that I have generated maybe six million pounds annually or maybe 25 percent of increase in CTR and open retimers people who are in digital marketing would know these terms and that's how I got to know that you know my resume should majorly be focusing on result and achievement rather than skills yes skills are important but I think it's very important at this stage if you want to secure a sponsor job you should know what you are capable of and you should know what you're giving to the company and that's how I customized my resume and again I was just not focusing on universities I did I started from the basic I did again the same thing I was sending out the resume to the agencies I was sending out the resume to different sector whether it's a retail sector medical tech sector even at NHS as well and once I customized my resume I was getting n number of interviews I had never ever faced any challenges when it comes to interviews I have got so many sometimes two to three interviews in a day and I was like I just wanted to do it I think one thing that one should take into consideration is that when you are giving an interview I think during the first round just take an idea of the company sponsor because you might find a list you know where you would be like oh yes this company do sponsor it is in the list it is in the immigration or the government list right but sometimes the company sponsor for specific roles for example they might sponsor a digital marketing you know specialist but they would not sponsor maybe like you know someone who is in a CRM assistant or a digital marketing assistant so I think during your first round once you tell them what you are capable of and once you are done with your general introduction just have a very casual conversation and ask them about the sponsorship because you do not want to waste since I had a very um less time so I was I was making sure of you know keeping my all my terms and conditions straight after giving like multiple interviews in n number of companies asking them about the sponsorship and everything I finally came across with one of the company which was again via agency and it was for an email marketing role and we had a good conversation and yes that company within the first round they told me that they do provide sponsorship and I was like yes this is because even if you get 150 interviews there would be maybe like you know 50 companies that would help you with the sponsorship once you get that opportunity I make sure I'm not going to take that lightly so I think the first round was very casual uh just to know a bit about me about the company and I think one thing that really uh make company interested in you is when you ask question about the company about their growth and you know what kind of like you know uh growth that you might find in that company when the company get to know that you know that the candidate is interested in the company in the company's growth I think that is really helpful to secure your first round as well and that's how I got my first round and then my second round was with the manager itself where they gave me a task so again you know you give 150 interviews 50 companies you get to know they might provide you with sponsorship but when you come across with those 50 companies or one company just make sure you give 100 they will definitely give you a task so they gave me like two or three tasks and I think I made sure that I would do more extra compared to what they are asking for so even if they've given me two or three tasks I did an extra research I took my printouts with me I even do an in-depth research of the company and you know what improvement as an overall company can do I even you know provided that kind of in-depth research which the company haven't even asked for it but I was like yes I have to do whatever it takes and I think that really impressed the company the manager the CEO you know that the candidate has done so much good research even if when they have not even asked for it and I think that's how they got impressed with my uh you know my skills my dedications and you know my passion to get a job in marketing and that's how I landed my sponsored job and I think again I gave my second round it was for two hours um and within after I finished my interview I left the room within an hour I got a call from my agency that I got the job and um they're gonna help me with the sponsorship as well awesome amazing journey Simran I think you learned so much through your own journey and I think all the students who are watching this podcast as well they are going to learn and they are going to avoid the mistakes which you have already highlighted you shouldn't just be open they're looking for that skill uh while you were talking I wanted to ask you something like you said you know you were left with only six months you know to get that sponsored job because your PSW was about to expire in that span of six months how many interviews did you do and before you landed your sponsored job I think off the top of my head um maybe around believe me or not 50 interviews wow 15 before you landed your job yes I think I got 50 interview invites and I used to give like three to four interview in a week you know because knowing my industry is so challenging and like I said why would a company sponsor you when they can easily get a local like you know without any investment in an employee I think it was such a challenging journey you know every time you are so close to the final round and the final response that I used to get from the companies was you were this close you were so great but they found another person and when I used I always used to check which person got a job and it was always some localite who got a job I think it's a mental game if you give up you're gone if you continue even after getting rejection you do succeed even at the end and so thanks Simran for talking through in detail your journey from your failure to success how you landed your internship your sponsored job any final tips for future students before we wrap today's video yeah I mean I would definitely say that it's one of the best journey that you'll come across I don't want to absolutely not want to demotivate anyone it's a beautiful journey and every step you know of your life you will learn something new just always have a very positive mindset and just keep on doing whatever you're doing just don't say I quit absolutely never just remove that from your dictionary and whatever that you want in your life you would absolutely get it hundred percent awesome thank you very much Simran thank you for coming and encouraging my students and also sharing your knowledge and all the best to you thank you and I really want to thank you for giving me such an amazing opportunity I can't be you know grateful enough and I think that it is really really helpful as well and thank you so much for giving your valuable time really means a lot really appreciate it thank you Simran yeah thank you