Careers and alumni

Comprehensive careers advice and support for all our graduate students is available from our expert Careers Service, and not just while you’re here: our careers support is for life.

The careers services available to Oxford students include:

As a graduate student, you’ll be able to use the University’s Careers Service throughout your studies, and for the rest of your life.

The University’s Careers Service is here to help you prepare for your future, whether you have a clear idea of what you’d like to do next, or no idea at all.

Every year, the Careers Service holds over 5,500 appointments with students and alumni. You’ll be able to book 1:1 careers consultations with experienced careers advisers to get impartial, confidential careers advice based on your needs. Specialist advisers can provide advice tailored for students with different requirements, including students with disabilities. 

Alumni can book 30-minute consultations over Skype or meet in person with a Careers Service adviser to help with job-seeking or a change of career.

As one of our graduate students, you’ll be able to take advantage of services available only to Oxford students. This includes talks from industry experts, skills workshops, updates from the Careers Service and access to CareerConnect.

CareerConnect is the University’s careers hub, available only for Oxford students and alumni. About 12,000 vacancies are advertised every year on CareerConnect.

Many top employers visit the University as part of one of our many careers events held throughout the year. 

Our most popular fair, the Oxford University Careers Fair is held in Michaelmas term (October) and welcomes employers coving a wide range of sectors. There are also careers fairs for specific careers or sectors, such as the Law Fair, Finance Fair, Careers in Computing Fair, Science, Technology and Engineering Fair and Jobs for Mathematicians Fair.

Many of our departments have close links with industry and host visits from industry employers, allowing students to find out more about potential career options.

The University aims to provide you with the best possible opportunities for personal and career development. You’ll receive tailored support through your division’s graduate school, including a broad range of training courses and workshops for developing both academic and professional skills. You may also benefit from skills training from the Bodleian Libraries, IT Services, the Language Centre, and researcher development across other divisions.

Your supervisor will help you to identify courses that will be most useful to you and build a bespoke programme of training and development based on your individual needs.

Teaching and demonstrating are a great way to develop a range of personal skills, and reinforce your knowledge of your subject. You may take up teaching opportunities within your faculty or department, particularly if you intend to pursue an academic career path.

Whether you plan to stay in academic research, or are exploring other options, the Careers Service offers dedicated services for researchers, including advice and resources on:

This includes Career Management workshops to help you consider possible career paths, identify what you have to offer and focus on boosting your core skills.

At the annual Careers Conference for Researchers, you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about career paths that may be open to you and meet potential employers. At many fairs, the Careers Service runs Researchers@, a pre-fair hour hosted by a specialist careers adviser to help you get the most from the fair.

The Research Careers website is edited by DPhil students and researchers, working in partnership with the Careers Service. Here, you can find career profiles across a range of fascinating sectors written by researchers now working outside academic research.