What happens after graduation
Well done on graduating, but now what?
Well, you may fall into one or more of these camps: you have a job lined up, you don’t have a job lined up, you’re going to pursue PG or alternative study, or you just don’t know. Whichever camp you’re in, there are multiple different opportunities and facilities to help you reach or even find your goals.
The I don’t know camp/ I don’t have a job camp
Kings CareerConnect provides a great service available to king’s alumni for up to 2 years from when you finish your course where they can help you through the process of discovering what you want to do with your degree and what you find interesting to the point where you can focus and take action to get the career you want. They can help you discover your passion through panels and the discover page on KEATS. Moreover, they can help you narrow down your options and help develop your skills and experiences to make it easier for you to get your dream job. Finally, kings provide application advice and practice interviews via kings connect to maximize your chances.
Furthermore, if you want more general help KCL also gives you access to digital career education resources, recordings, and guidelines on Keats.
Here is the link to KCL CareerConnect.
Pursuing postgraduate or alternative study camp
Pursuing PG degrees can be a fantastic way to increase your skills and make you more specialized for the job or career path you would want in the future. However, it is important to note it does come at a price and a time/opportunity cost and so before pursuing it, it is important to know how you are going to fund the degree and you’re living whilst doing the degree. SFE gives a maximum loan of up to £11,836 which include both living and degree costs In London bundled into one. There are also funding bodies that provide grants for certain degrees and specialities, but they can be rare. Thus, it’s important to budget before starting your course.
Alternative studies such as short courses on specific things and online courses can be a great way to beef up your CV and help make it more specialised for the career path you are going down. These often come at a lower cost than postgraduate study and might be good to look at if the career you want doesn’t mind about postgraduate studies.
You have a job lined up at camp
Congrats! But you will need to bear in mind that your student loan repayments are taken out of your paycheck automatically if you are an employee and pay tax and NI (national insurance) through the pay as you earn (link payslip blog) scheme based on your earnings for that period the April after you graduate depending on how much you are earning. It is also important that you check your payslip tax code – more about that here.
Conclusion
Each of these pathways has its benefits and costs and so you must weigh the pros and cons for each one.
Yahye Mohamud
King’s Student Money Mentor
Part of Money & Housing Advice
The King’s Student Money Mentors blog shares our students’ personal experiences and thoughts on money-related topics. Any reference, opinions or recommendations on a particular company/brand are only the views of the student(s) who wrote the blog post. King’s College London, the Money & Housing Advice service and the Money Mentor project do not share the views in the blogs nor endorse any of the companies mentioned. Readers should conduct their own research before using any companies mentioned in our blog posts.