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3 ways UAL supports your career prospects

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  • Written byInternal Communications
  • Published date 19 February 2024
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Nadia Speranza studying during her Career Mentorship, 2022 MA Graphic Media Design, London College of Communication, UAL

Whether you’re looking for work while you’re studying with us, want advice on how to start your business or explore opportunities to get discovered – we’ve got you covered.

Ahead of National Student Money Week, we’re sharing 3 ways in which UAL supports your career prospects during your studies and beyond:

1. Arts Temps: Helping you make a living doing what you love

Arts Temps is UAL’s in-house creative recruitment agency. They are part of a growing movement of employers across the UK who are committed to improving working conditions for their candidates and staff by paying a real Living Wage. 54% of Arts Temps placements from 2023 were paid above London Living Wage. With costs continuing to rise, this has never been more important.

“I started working with the university at the age of 18 and haven’t stopped since, we’re now 5/6 years on! Arts Temps laid the foundations, shaping my career from start to present,” Arts Temps candidate Lilo Amaral says.

“I’ve enjoyed making it work my own way. There’s always a way to contribute your skills to make money. I like that I can make work, work around me. This makes it possible for me to think about furthering my education like completing a PhD at CSM. My experience up to now has set the precedence for supporting my career and personal life.”

An illustration fair
2023 BA Illustration, Camberwell College of Arts, UAL | Photograph: Kristy Noble

2. Careers & Employability: Enhancing your employability up to 5 years after graduation

UAL’s Careers & Employability team offers resources, toolkits and advice to help you make a living doing what you love. Support is free and accessible to all UAL students and graduates up to 5 years after graduation, and includes:

A group of people in full-body suits in a field
Human Safari, Xin Feng, 2023 MA Commercial Photography, UAL

3. UAL Showcase: Connecting you with industry and employers

UAL Showcase is a brilliant opportunity to make connections with future employers and share your work with the world.

Creative industry professionals use Showcase to source and hire UAL graduates. By uploading their work, previous students have:

  • landed jobs
  • received freelance commissions
  • been discovered by galleries
  • secured solo shows
  • sold their work

All final year students can submit a project to Showcase by signing up with Portfolio to upload their work. If you’re a first- or second-year student, you can already register with Portfolio to share your work with your peers, get inspired and find collaborators.

We promote Showcase projects up to 12 months after your course ends, through

  • paid advertising and organic content sharing
  • marketing and social media campaigns
  • industry curated collections (previous curators include Stonewall, Google, Shape Arts and more…)

UAL Showcase attracts over 1 million page views each year and is viewed in nearly every country of the world. The platform also ranks highly for search engines. Linking to your professional website from your Showcase profile will increase its discoverability online.