Farhoon Asim

What I’ve learnt about the struggles of International Students across the first world nations 🇬🇧 🇺🇲 🇨🇦 🇮🇪 ⬇️

Myself and Luca Poppi have had 100s of international students from the US, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium and Canada reach out to us after I posted about launching a 'community' for UK international students 🎓🌍

What I’ve learnt is that we have VERY similar struggles! Yes, the struggles can have slightly different nuances but the biggest pain point is the lack of support groups/networks and not knowing where to start and whose advice to listen to when job hunting 😓

We all have that one friend who got a job through their university careers centre and another friend that got a job through applying through LinkedIn. But whose advice do we follow? 🤷‍♂️

I've been personally trying my best to reply to EACH and every message and give valuable advice/feedback on each international student's job application strategy… 📧📚

I’ve also been introducing people to each other over groups on LinkedIn! 🤝

This got me thinking, why not help everyone - but at scale? As much as people can learn from me, you can learn just as much from each other.. 💡

... And since the LinkedIn algorithm is being extremely generous to me I know now’s the BEST time to create dedicated International Student WhatsApp groups for EACH country since we already have a Slack community for UK international students 🌟

To ensure we reach the SMARTEST internationals who can share the secrets of how they landed AMAZING jobs in these WhatsApp groups, please comment down below the country you’re a student in!

If you’re a UK international student, comment “UK”, and if you’re a US international student, comment “USA” and I’ll send you the link for your relevant WhatsApp group!

Let's get hired!! 🚀

UK employers think visa sponsorship costs £20k.

It actually costs less than your daily coffee.

I've heard employers tell my students:

→ “Sponsorship costs are too high“
→ “We don’t have the budget“
→ “We don't sponsor for this particular role“

And honestly — I understand the hesitation.

Visa rules seem complicated.

Costs sound high when you don't have the full picture.

Here’s what many employers believe:

↳ £20k+ in visa expenses
↳ Months buried in paperwork
↳ Unexpected fees around every corner

But here’s the real cost breakdown 👇

↳ Sponsor licence (large company): £1476 (one-time)
↳ Certificate of sponsorship: £239 (per employee)
↳ Immigration skills charge: £1000 per year

Spread over a 3-year sponsorship?

It’s works out to ~£3 per day.

Now, here’s the true cost of NOT sponsoring:

↳ Average time to fill a vacancy: 3–4 months
↳ A single unfilled role can cost £40,000+

Hiring an international graduate gives you:

↳ A loyal and committed team member
↳ Fresh energy and global insights

£3 a day isn’t just a cost.

It’s an investment that:

→ Brings you loyalty and commitment
→ Costs less than your daily coffee

If you're a UK employer reading this,
this mindset shift should help.

♻️ Repost to help UK employers understand the real cost.

I landed my KPMG London job offer 48 hours after my interview. Here's how I did it (as a Pakistani international student 🇵🇰)👇

It took me 2 YEARS of consistent effort for a UK employer to offer me the job 48 hours after the interview.

2 years is A LOT of time, so this post might stress you out.

But I'm glad it will - as it will force you to take ACTION.

Here are the 3 action steps I took to land the job offer 48 hours after my final interview:

1️⃣ I found my sweet spot

Your “sweet spot” is your ideal role in your ideal industry. For me, this was Audit roles @ Large Accounting Firms.

Study the hiring process. Each company has a unique process.

For KPMG, I would read forums on The Student Room Group and learnt that KPMG's process involved online assessments, interviews, and an assessment centre.

2️⃣ I asked for help

I cold messaged people on LinkedIn at my target companies.

This is the EXACT (imperfect) message I sent to managers at KPMG:

“Hey {Name}! hope you are doing well. I have applied for the Audit program and have an Assessment centre coming up. Can you provide me tips for the interview as I’m scared their follow-up questions might be in too much depth.“

These managers then gave me unique insights about the recruitment process that helped me ace my interview.

3️⃣ I applied advice and practices

Once I got unique insights after speaking to employees at KPMG, I took it VERY seriously and applied it to my interview prep document.

I also got my answers checked by current employees at the company. I would send KPMG managers a message asking “Would you be impressed if I answered X question this way?“.

They would give me GOLDEN insight on how to improve my answer.

The result of the action steps I took?

I got a call from the HR Business Partner 48 hours after my interview where he said:

“Congrats Farhoon, you performed in the top 1% out of 500 people at the assessment centre, we're happy to make you a job offer for our Graduate London September 2019 intake“.

-----------------------------------------------

♻️ Re-post to spread the knowledge with 1000s of international students and follow Farhoon Asim for more posts like this.

8 years ago, I moved to the UK 🇬🇧. I never imagined I’d fight for international student's rights like this 🤯

A few weeks ago, I hosted my biggest event in London.

120+ international students attended.

At the event, I met 2 inspiring Indian 🇮🇳 international students whose visas expire in the next few months.

Hearing their painful struggles broke my heart 💔

(Both are in the picture but asked not to be named)

Person 1 works 10 hours per day 6 days per week. Her employer said they would never sponsor her visa, as she is in a fixed-term contract filling in for a maternity leave.

Person 2 got rejected daily for 14 months, despite 5+ years of experience in her field. Employers said they would hire her if she had a visa. Sadly, she has to move back to India 🇮🇳

These students poured their heart and soul into work, yet still couldn't get visa sponsorship.

I hope LinkedIn's algorithm shows this to every UK employer.

These international students are worth taking a bet on.

I promise you: the £5-10k you invest will 10x your profits. All they need is a chance.

If you're an international student reading this, please comment “Sponsor us“ so this post reaches 1000s of employers who see our value and sponsor our visa ❤️

--------------------
Tired of seeing “unfortunately, we regret to...“ emails?
Want to land jobs at cool companies like KPMG UK?
Follow me (Farhoon Asim) and I'll teach you 🚀