Careers, skills and experience

Your time at Oxford is about more than your studies. It is also an opportunity to explore what interests you, discover where your strengths could take you and gain experiences that will help shape what comes next. Throughout your time here, you can build your skills, broaden your experience and explore different possibilities for your future. 

Make Careers part of your Oxford experience by getting involved, trying new things and making the most of the opportunities around you. As you develop your ideas and consider your next steps, the Careers team, programmes and resources are here to support you in exploring your options and preparing for life beyond Oxford.

Explore with Careers

Careers, University of Oxford offers tailored support to help Oxford students explore their options, develop their skills, gain experience, and make informed decisions about their careers. 

Through Careers, University of Oxford, students can access one-to-one careers advice, careers fairs, careers and employability events, skills and employability programmes, application and interview support, and a wide range of careers information and resources. While at Oxford, you can also apply for exclusive UK-based and international internships to gain valuable work experience and develop professional skills. 

Engaging early gives you more time to explore, try different experiences and gradually find direction.

Develop employability skills

Your academic studies and wider Oxford experiences give you opportunities to develop skills valued in the workplace. Careers, University of Oxford can help you recognise the employability skills you already have, identify areas you want to develop and find opportunities to put them into practice.

Attend information sessions and workshops

Each term, Careers runs talks and workshops covering applications and interviews, workplace skills, career exploration and different sectors and career paths.

Events are listed in the Careers term planner, regular newsletters, and a full list is available in the Events Calendar on CareerConnect.

Skill development programmes

Careers programmes give students opportunities to develop skills, explore sectors and gain insight into different areas of work. These include Insight programmes, designed to give participants a realistic understanding of different industries and career areas, including Academia, Creative Writing, Consulting, Medicine, Pharma / Biotech, Policy, Publishing, and Go Public! (public sector). 

Programmes typically combine workshops, insights from professionals working in the sector, and practical activities.

More programmes for Oxford students

Develop entrepreneurial skills

There are also opportunities across the University to develop entrepreneurial skills and explore starting a venture.

The University's Entrepreneurship Hub, EnSpire Oxford, delivers hands-on programmes for students who are curious about developing an entrepreneurial mindset.

Oxford University Innovation runs a free Start-Up Incubator aimed at members of the University wanting to start or grow entrepreneur-driven ventures, with tailored support including advice and mentoring, workshops, Oxford-based work space and access to business and investment networks. The Incubator takes on three cohorts a year as well as StEP Ignite, a month-long student entrepreneurship programme that brings teams of students together every summer to develop innovative business ideas.

Exclusive internships and mentoring programmes

Internships are an opportunity not only to gain work experience, but to develop workplace skills, explore sectors and roles, and learn more about what interests you.

The Internship Office and Careers team runs internship programmes exclusively for Oxford students, alongside other learning and development opportunities during the vacation periods.

The Summer Internship Programme

The Summer Internship Programme provides access to hundreds of funded summer internship opportunities. These are offered by our international alumni, multi-national corporations, world-leading NGOs, cutting-edge research institutions, and many other organisations. Internships take place in the long vacation (between June and September), are 2-12 weeks in duration, and are advertised from the beginning of Hilary term each year.

The Micro-Internship Programme

The Micro-Internship Programme provides Oxford students with convenient, short-term learning and development opportunities. The programme offers a large volume of placements in a variety of employability sectors, and take place in the vacation periods. Micro-internships are voluntary, full time work experiences that last between two and five days.

The Crankstart Internship and Careers Mentoring Programmes

Crankstart Scholars are encouraged to gain work experience during their time at Oxford, and funding and support are available to help them do so. Crankstart Scholars can receive advice and guidance at any time with a view to undertaking a work placement in one of the vacations. The Crankstart Internship Programme is facilitated by the University of Oxford Careers' Internship Office. The programme provides Crankstart Scholars with advice, guidance, and support to undertake a work placement during the University vacations.

Scholars can also apply to be a part of the Crankstart Careers Mentoring Programme, which matches selected scholars with industry professionals in their area of choice.

OxAbility

OxAbility offers Oxford students with a disability, long-term health condition, or who are neurodivergent the opportunity to undertake vacation placements of up to 10 days with inclusive organisations. OxAbility is designed to help students build confidence as well as gain work experience. During your placement, you will have the opportunity to reflect on what helps you work at your best, consider any adjustments that may be useful, and practise talking about these in a professional setting.  

Make the most of CareerConnect

CareerConnect is the Careers online platform for Oxford students, research staff and alumni. Use it to search jobs and internships, discover careers events and employer activities, and book appointments with careers advisers. Complete your profile to receive information tailored to your interests.

Connect with employers

Careers brings employers and organisations to Oxford throughout the year through careers fairs, talks, workshops, and other events. You can find them on the Careers term planner and the CareerConnect ievents calendar. 

Oxford careers fairs take place throughout the academic year, with several major fairs in Michaelmas term bringing together hundreds of employers and organisations across a wide range of sectors.

More about the Oxford careers fairs

Other employment options

• Ad-hoc work can sometimes be found by advertising your skills locally as a tutor, translator or proof-reader.
• Part-time or seasonal work supporting the running of the University and colleges - for example, invigilating examinations, administrative work, or working in a library.
• Student ambassador work for the University's outreach programmes or through your college or department
• The University's student social media content creator programme
• You can often find part-time and temporary vacancies in Oxford on the Jobs and Vacancies page, the Careers online resource, CareerConnect.

Other possibilities

If you have recent work experience, it may be worth contacting one of your past or present employers to find out whether they are able to offer you some support. You could also consider approaching a potential employer of the future. Investigate companies or organisations working in your research area, particularly those with corporate social responsibility aims and target them. Think creatively and strategically about other bodies you may be able to proactively approach for funding. They might not necessarily advertise scholarships or bursaries, but could you make a convincing case for them to support you? Are there any foundations in your local or home community that would be willing to support you?

Undergraduate students

Academic work should be the priority throughout your studies, and you should refer to college rules and guidance before seeking paid work during term time, when there may be some opportunities for limited paid employment in college or for the University. Whilst you may decide to undertake paid work outside term time to supplement your income, this will need to take into consideration any academic work you are expected to complete during the vacations.

Graduate students

If you do decide to undertake a limited amount of paid work during your studies, whether as part of your academic development or to help to support yourself financially, you must observe the University's paid work guidelines and ensure that any paid work undertaken does not adversely affect your studies or ability to complete your course on time.

International students

If you are studying at Oxford under the terms of a visa, refer to working while studying page for information regarding working in the UK.

Within the University's paid work guidelines, the following may be possible:

• Teaching opportunities: departments and colleges are sometimes able to offer teaching work.
• Demonstratorships - in the experimental sciences, graduate students can sometimes work as a demonstrator in practical classes.
• Research Assistantships - these are available from some departments and faculties.
• Junior Deans – Advertised by colleges, these positions involve providing pastoral care to other students and being on-call day and night several times a week. Junior Deans normally receive free college accommodation, free meals and a modest annual stipend.