At BCU, you’ll find loads of opportunities to find part time work, placements or internships, or get help with planning for a career, writing your CV or practising for interviews.
We’ll help you to build, refine and develop your skills, find part-time work or gain experience that will contribute towards your CV and make you more attractive to future employers.
Working for the University – student jobs on campus
We have lots of student roles available on campus that allow you to earn some extra income whilst prioritising your studies and working hours that suit you.
Types of student roles:
- Student Ambassador - working open days, and events and providing campus tours or talking to visitors.
- Student Content Creator - creating engaging content for BCU's social media channels.
- Photographer - capturing events, student life and Birmingham for the University.
- Widening Participation Ambassador - facilitating activities, mentoring and tutoring with schools in the local area.
- Mentor - mentoring young people to help them progress to university.
- Admin Assistant - assisting teams across the university such as Admissions and Accommodation teams.
- Students' Union staff - working in one of BCU's campus shops or catering outlets.
Plus many other roles across the University!
The key benefits of working for BCU are:
- You develop employability skills and learn how to articulate them to future employers
- You get to work on campus
- You work hours that fit around your studies
- You gain experience of recruitment and selection processes and receive feedback at every stage of the process to help you improve in areas you may need additional support (e.g. CV writing, interview techniques and so on)
- You can make connections and meet other students across the university
How to find a job on campus
Once you're a BCU student, you'll be able to register with Manpower where jobs are advertised, you can also look out for roles in your student emails and on iCity. Birmingham City University Students' Union also regularly employs students.
Working in Birmingham or surrounding areas
With so many shops and the Bullring shopping centre drawing in more than 40 million customers a year, retail work is always flying around the Birmingham job market. Plus, Birmingham is a hub for events, nightlife and culture meaning you might be able to secure roles in one of the many restaurants, bars or venues in the city.
The key benefits of working in Birmingham are:
- You may be able to pick up more hours working in shops, restaurants and bars and increase your hours during holidays and the summertime
- You can meet people from outside of BCU
- You'll get to know Birmingham and it's people
- You will develop employability skills and learn how to articulate them to future employers
- You'll still be close to campus so you can get to work easily and spend little to no money on public transport
How to find a job in Birmingham:
You can see student jobs available right now in Birmingham on Save the Student and Indeed.
If you have a specific business you think you'd like to work for, take a look on their website. Some places you can look include:
- The Bullring and The Mailbox for hospitality and retail roles a short walk from campus
- The NEC Group to work in one of Birmingham's event venues
- Supermarket websites, there are lots of express stores close to campus or bigger supermarkets you can reach using public transport
- Bars or restaurants in Digbeth, the Jewellery Quarter and Broad Street as they're some of Birmingham's most bustling areas.
Careers+
Careers+ is our dedicated Careers consultancy. They’re the experts on everything to do with Careers, and can provide essential support with CV and application writing, finding placements and part-time jobs, and getting on grad schemes. They’ll also help you out for three years after you graduate.
What can Careers+ support with?
- Career options and planning
- Job search
- Work experience, placements and internships
- CVs, cover letters and applications
- Interviews and assessment centres
- Networking
- Self-employment and entrepreneurship
- Professional mentoring
- Master’s and further study
How do I get support?
You can pop into the Careers+ offices in each faculty building, or book an appointment online. It’s all student-centred and will focus on what’s important for you.