Sussex postgraduates benefit from a wide range of student services – from PostgradPlus, our bespoke Masters employability programme, professional development for researchers, and work experience opportunities to health services – to help everyone get the most from their time at Sussex.
- professional development for researchers offers research and career management skills for PhD researchers
- career consultations, events and workshops can help you build towards success
- our online database of work experience opportunities, internships, part-time and post-graduation jobs will help you to earn and to build your skills and experience during your studies, as well as to achieve your goals after graduation
Careers and Employability Centre
The Careers and Employability Centre is an indispensable, free campus resource available to you during your studies and for three years after graduation. Our team of career professionals complement the academic experience at Sussex and help you with highly focused information, advice and guidance to identify specific career aims and develop the career strategies you will need to achieve your ambitions. Our large open-access resource centre includes a variety of type-of-work information, reference books and take-away publications.
Our skill development and career transition workshops will help you to plan your local or global job-search strategy, make effective applications and deal successfully with employer or academic selection processes. If academic research is your goal, Sussex aims to give you a head start in this competitive world, by providing a range of professional skill development activities.
Employer and careers events
We invite around 300 employers on to campus each year, giving you a chance to meet employers with graduate and postgraduate vacancies and to explore your future at a range of flagship events such as our Gradfairs. Employers visiting campus include Accenture, American Express, KPMG, Procter & Gamble, Thales and Teach First. Career exploration events cover topics as diverse as careers in the media, careers in development, charities and not-for-profit organisations, careers in science, careers in Government and the Civil Service, global job search, and careers in business and professional services.
Creating your future
Your postgraduate degree at Sussex may be the first step to a career in academia or you may go on to work in the private, public or voluntary sectors. As a result of our support, Sussex students achieve a high level of academic and professional expertise during their time here, and this is evident in the positions recent postgraduates have obtained:
Application Architect, Tata Consultancy Services
Assistant Archaeologist, Archaeology South East
Assistant Curator of Fine Art, National Museums Liverpool
Assistant Intelligence Officer, National Anti Fraud Network
Cultural Services Team Leader, Havant Borough Council
Drama Consultant, Talkback Productions
Editor/Writer, Thomson Reuters
Educational Inspector, General Social Care Council
Embryologist, NHS
Fundraising Officer, National Deaf Children's Society
Head of Strategy and External Relations, Geological Society
Hospital Social Worker, St Richards Hospital
Firmware Engineer, VCA Technology
Lecturer in Midwifery, Brighton and Sussex University Hospital Trust
Parliamentary Assistant, European Union
Preservation Co-ordinator, British Library
Project Assistant, Runneymede Trust
Research Consultant, Tearfund
Senior Researcher, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei – Sustainable Development
Senior Scientist, Oxford Nanopore Technologies
Substance Misuse Support Worker, Turning Point
Teacher of German, New International School, Madrid
Technology Assistant, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew
Tennis Co-ordinator, Wimbledon All England Tennis Club
Think Tank Research Assistant, One World Trust
Trainee Patent Intern, Procter & Gamble
United Nations Fellow, United Nations
Welfare Officer, Royal Navy.
Finding work
All types of vacancies are advertised on our website including graduate opportunities, work experience, vacation placements and internships. We also offer guidance and support with employment issues.
Learning to live on what is often a tight budget, while making the most of university life, is one of the challenges of postgraduate study. We advertise a broad range of part-time work opportunities to help you make ends meet while you study at Sussex and we have a special scheme to employ students on campus, where possible. Over 3,000 vacancies a year are advertised and around half of these are for part-time work opportunities. Visit Careers and Employability Centre.
Ashwin's perspective
‘As an international student, I came to the UK with high hopes of learning new things and establishing my career. Right from the first day Sussex has guided me thoroughly in how to make the most of my time here to enhance my job prospects.
‘The Careers and Employability Centre has played a pivotal role, helping me to make the best of my skills and experiences to succeed in the job market. The support they offer through career development initiatives like PostgradPlus is invaluable. The various job fairs they held also allowed me to meet a wide range of employers and to understand what they expect from graduates and how to reach those goals. Given that my MSc is in Information Technology with Business and Management, I was very grateful to have the chance to meet several software giants such as Accenture and Eriksson, and learn more about their recruitment process.
‘With all I've learnt, I'm now ready to get into the corporate world with an experience at Sussex that I will cherish all my life.’
Ashwin Rao Prasanna Venkateshver
MSc in Information Technology with Business and Management
Daisy's perspective
‘I did my BA in Anthropology at Sussex but always wanted to get into the media industry and make documentaries. The Careers and Employability Centre helped me to identify what I needed to do to achieve my career goals, which is why I decided to stay on to do an MA in Digital Documentary. They also helped me find a work placement at a documentary distribution company in Brighton. I learnt so much about documentaries, and I now know what to expect from such a competitive industry and how to navigate it. In Brighton there are loads of small media companies emerging that are great to get work experience with, and the Careers and Employability Centre can help you find them.
‘The Careers and Employability Centre also run lots of industry-specific events and workshops, so if you are interested but not 100 per cent sure, you can go along and ask questions. Lots of the guest speakers are alumni, and it's great to know such successful people started out in the same place you're in now!’
Daisy Whicheloe
MA in Digital Documentary
