What to do after graduation: a checklist for MMU graduates

Manchester Met phases things out gradually. The university's guidance for recent graduates says you keep your emails and OneDrive for nine months from the date you graduate, while the Microsoft 365 apps (Word, Excel and the rest, apart from OneDrive) stop working four months after you graduate. That sounds generous until you realise the apps go first: if your dissertation, portfolio or CV only opens in them, save copies in formats you can use elsewhere.

The library runs on your course end date rather than your graduation. Borrowing carries on for 90 days from your course end date, a date printed on your ID card; the library's digital resources stay open to you for three months. After that, Manchester Met offers an alumni library card, so you don't lose the building altogether.

The first months after a degree have no deadlines, and that's exactly why they drift. You don't need the perfect job by your ceremony. You need to be doing something you can talk about: applications going out, a short placement, a project of your own. An interviewer will ask about the gap, so make it a story.

The careers team is still yours

Manchester Met's careers support doesn't end with your course. The university says you can keep using its Careers space after you finish, as a drop-in on weekdays with no appointment needed, and graduates keep lifetime access to its online careers support. Use both while you job-hunt.

"You can continue to use the Careers space even after your course has finished."

— Manchester Metropolitan University

Schemes, and everything else

Structured graduate schemes have fixed application windows, so note the closing dates of any you want. Plenty of other hiring happens all year, in smaller firms and in roles that are never called a scheme. Put your final classification on your CV the day your results are published, and tailor it for each application rather than sending one version everywhere.

Use the people around you

Right now your course mates, tutors and placement contacts are easy to reach. In a year they'll be scattered across cities and jobs. Connect with them while it's natural, ask your tutors whether they'd act as referees, and thank the people who helped you properly. Those names are your industry in a few years' time.

Planning to work here once you've finished? Your visa shapes almost everything else, so start with it.

The Graduate visa

It's permission to remain in the UK and work once your course is over, in most jobs, with no job offer needed to apply. How long it lasts depends on your qualification and on when you apply; after a PhD or other doctorate it's three years. GOV.UK gives the current length for other degrees, so check it when you're ready to apply.

Once Manchester Met has confirmed your completion to the Home Office, the application can go in. There's no need to hold on for the ceremony, or for the certificate to arrive. Decisions usually come within about eight weeks, and you can carry on living here while you wait.

If you're heading home

Leaving the UK? Tie things off before your flight: end your tenancy in writing, decide whether to keep your British bank account, and check the contact address the university holds for you, because that's where your certificate will be sent.

Find the end date on your contract before you plan anything else. Most Manchester Met hall contracts run for 44 weeks, so yours can end before your graduation day. If yours runs out first, you may have to book a bed for your own ceremony, and so will any family travelling to Manchester for it.

Staying in Manchester?

Council tax catches new graduates out. A household where everyone is a full-time student doesn't pay it, but a household with someone who isn't a full-time student gets a bill, and that can include you once your course is over. Let Manchester City Council know as soon as your situation changes, rather than waiting for one to arrive.

Your bank account

Many banks turn a student account into a graduate account after you finish, and the overdraft terms can change along the way, sometimes in steps. Ask your bank what changes on yours, and when.

Your student loan

Repayments start no earlier than the April after you leave your course, and only once you earn over your plan's threshold. On the undergraduate plans you pay 9% of your earnings over the threshold (6% on a Postgraduate Loan), deducted from your pay; in a pay period where you earn less than the threshold, nothing is taken. Your student loan account tells you which plan you're on.

Health, and the accounts tied to your student email

Moving away from Manchester? Sign up with a GP practice near your new address. Then work through the services you signed up for with your student email (software licences, subscriptions, student discounts) and move or cancel each one before your access ends.

Manchester Met doesn't hand certificates out at ceremonies. They're posted to your contact preference address, and the university warns that there may be a delay of several months. Keep that address current in the student portal, under Update My Details, and if you owe tuition fees, settle them: a certificate isn't sent until they're paid.

When it arrives, look after it. You'll be asked to prove your degree more often than you'd think, by employers, immigration caseworkers and professional bodies, and usually at short notice. And don't forget the other record of the day: Manchester Met films its ceremonies and lets you watch and download yours from its video archive.

Once you've finished, you're part of Manchester Met's alumni community, which the university puts at more than 360,000 people around the world. Membership brings discounts, careers support, volunteering and invitations to events, and if you come back for a master's, eligible graduates can get up to a 20% alumni discount.

A handful of these steps come with dates attached: the apps, the email, the library loans, the hall contract and, if it applies, the visa. Clear those first. Everything on the career list is open-ended, which is exactly why it gets pushed back. Book a regular hour for it each week, and the time after your course turns into a launch rather than a lull.