Career focus at Kingston University

Kingston University will give you a sound preparation for working life.
Graduates from the University have an excellent record for getting good, fulfilling jobs.

A top university for graduate jobs

Kingston has some of the best graduate employment figures in the UK. In 2008, The Sunday Times placed Kingston 50th out of 120 UK universities for highest starting salaries for graduates (average of £19,327 per year). Other universities with starting salaries at this level included Oxford Brookes, Manchester, Goldsmiths, Sheffield and Glasgow.

How can Kingston help your career?

When you look for your first graduate job, you will need to ensure you have the skills that employers want.

Here’s how a Kingston degree can help:

• Kingston degrees prepare you for working life – by building workbased skills into the curriculum, especially on vocational courses.
• In-demand skills – the academic curriculum places emphasis on transferable skills such as communication, computing, problem solving and teamwork. Employers in all professions value these skills when recruiting graduates.
• Up-to-date and relevant courses – Kingston’s close links with employers and professional organisations, plus research and consultancy activities, ensure our courses are relevant to today’s working environment.

Experience working life

Many of our courses give you the opportunity to spend time working in industry or commerce. Students on four-year sandwich degrees, for instance, usually spend the whole of the third year in paid employment.
Kingston has specialist staff who establish strong links with local and regional employers to help you find placements suited to your subject areas.
Gaining experience in the workplace can greatly enhance your future career prospects. It enables you to link the knowledge you’ve
acquired on your course with real-life situations at work and it also develops transferable skills, such as team working. Sometimes these
placements can lead to job offers with the same employers after graduation.

Careers and Employability Service

You can use the Careers and Employability Service for practical career support, careers workshops and expert advice, from your first year at Kingston until three years after graduation. Kingston's Careers and Employability Service can help with CV and interview techniques and has internet resources to help international students look for employment opportunities in their own countries.

www.kingston.ac.uk/careers

In 2008 The Sunday Times stated, "The vocational nature of most [of Kingston’s] courses stands students in good stead [puts them in a good position] when it comes to getting jobs." We are keen to maintain that reputation.

Graduate destinations

The Careers and Employability Service surveys our graduates each year to find out what they are doing six months after leaving us. In 2007, a survey of 3,536 graduates produced the following results:
Employed 65%
Working and studying 14%
In further study or training 10%
Other (eg travelling) 5%
Unemployed 5%