Study abroad students – how the living location might affect your job prospects!

Heard that you’re heading abroad soon for your higher studies. And you’re going to put up in ****(location). Is that true?

I understand you found that location to be fitting into your budget and you also wanted to enjoy its commercial ambience and occasional quiet life in the outskirts. Nevertheless, if you think from another angle, you might want to look for other locations. The reason? Your living location abroad might affect your graduate employment prospects!

But how is that possible?

Before we answer the above question, let’s spend some time poring over the recent stats:

1. According to official data, about one in five international students is drawn towards a bright city life and the hullabaloo surrounding it – the night life, the so-called happening stuffs and so on – but very few realise that if the majority flock together in the same city, then the competition to find a job there becomes stiff.

2. Ames, Iowa had an unemployment rate of just 2.3%, as of December 2016. In El Centro, California, 20.9% of the labour force was unemployed, the highest jobless rate in the country.

3. Brownsville-Harlingen, TX; Longview, WA; Rocky Mount, NC; Salinas, CA are places which may not be worth to live and find jobs because of their slightly higher unemployment rates.  

4. Some of the places where finding a job could be easier – Paris, Barcelona, Dublin, Berlin, Vienna, Bucharest and Amsterdam.

Angela Merkel once said that the start-ups in Berlin are the 'yeast that makes the industry grow'. The city is expected to create over 100,000 new jobs by 2020 thanks to its resourceful, collaborative culture.

5. According to statisca.com, the unemployment figures, seasonally arranged, in member states of the European Union as of Feb 2017 are as follows: 23.1% in Greece, followed by 18% in Spain, 12.9% in Cyprus and so on.

Countries like Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and the Euro have relatively lower unemployment rates, ranging from 8.3% to 9.5% (approx.).

6. The lowest unemployment rate prevails in countries like – Germany (nearly 4%), Great Britain (4.6%), the Netherlands (5.3%), Poland (5.3%), Denmark (6.4%), Ireland (6.6%), Sweden (6.8%), Belgium (7%) and the EU (8%).

Popular engineering programmes in Ireland

7. In Canada, the highest unemployment rate is in Calgary, which stands at 9.3% (as of April 2017), followed by Edmonton and Saskatoon (8.1 and 7.8%, respectively). The good news is in Alberta, the unemployment rate has dipped by 7.9% since March 2017.

Countries with high-employment rates can be grouped into two categories –

1. European  countries – Based on stats sourced from IMF and CIA, Norway, Switzerland, Austria and Denmark have significantly lower unemployment rates.

• In the euro area, the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.3% in April 2017, down from 9.4% in March 2017 and down from 10.2% in April 2016. The EU-28 unemployment rate was 7.8% in April 2017, down from 7.9% in March 2017 and from 8.7% in April 2016.
• Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate in April 2017 fell in 27 member states and remained stable in Finland. The largest decreases were registered in Croatia (from 13.7 % to 11.0 %), Spain (from 20.4 % to 17.8 %) and Ireland (from 8.4 % to 6.4 %).

Related: Read about studying in Europe, the Netherlands and Germany.

2. Asian countries – Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong are some of the worth trying places for your abroad studies. With the growing Asian economies, it’s quite evident that you might find it easier to get a job post your studies in these countries.

Coming back to the question – how is it possible that your living location abroad might affect your job prospects: I guess you got the answer now!

Considering if you live in any of the high-unemployment cities (examples above), either after you graduate or while studying, but find a job at some other city or location (high-employment ones), then every day it’ll become a hassle for you to commute, and you’ll will eventually end up spending more money. Just think, you might have an education loan to repay, your house rent, your expenses and on top of that daily travelling expenses.

Chances are you might find an excellent job at an excellent location but stay at another location that fits right into your budget – that’s your call! You may decide as you deem fit.

However, if you are living in an expensive city, thinking that that city has high-employment rate, check your facts first and talk to people around. The best thing to do would be to check with the prior graduates of your university.

Please note we're not trying to mislead you or dent your confidence, neither stressing that you will face unemployment if you stay at any of the high-unemployment regions.

Some of the locations where students might benefit from their stay are as follows:

• Aberdeen, Scotland – where the oil and gas industry pays well and has interesting careers on offer.
• Birmingham – the largest market for graduate jobs outside London.
• Bath is good for architecture.
• Cambridge has a thriving jobs market for science, Peterborough for marketing and Norwich for environmental sciences.
• Derby and Warwickshire – famous for manufacturing and engineering whereas Newcastle – famous for  civil and mechanical engineering.
• Edinburgh and Glasgow have a wide range of jobs, and good opportunities in financial service and law.
• Finance, IT and manufacturing jobs are popular in Yorkshire.
• Law, financial services, pharmaceutical industry and tourism and leisure are popular in the North West, especially Manchester with strong jobs market.
• Leeds is a good city for job-seeking graduates.

In this article, we've tried to give an overview about the robust labour markets abroad and where you can possibly find it easier to hunt for employment post your studies. You may use this article as a source of information, and read up more so that you can make your own list of locations where you would like to stay and work. Once you’re done, please give us a call and speak to our study abroad counsellors. They will tell you how and which options to select (universities/colleges) that will work best for your career.

References: eurostat and statista