Jaykumar Vora - Graduate Scheme Case Study

Jaykumar Vora completed an MSc in Electrical Power and Control Engineering in 2025 and has secured a place on the graduate scheme at Siemens Energy as a Graduate Electrical and Electronics Engineer. 

Tell us a bit about your experience of applying for graduate jobs as an international student in the UK.

At the beginning, I was applying quite randomly to lots of different companies, often sending out 50 or more CVs per day. I focused only on quantity and didn’t spend any time on amending my CV for individual applications, so I only got rejections or no response at all. After completing my MSc, I had applied for a post-study graduate visa, which meant that I could work in the UK for two years. While that initially felt like a long time, after a few months of unsuccessfully applying for jobs, I started to worry that I wasn’t making any progress and realised that I needed to change my approach in order to secure a job. I thought more about which employers I was really interested in working for and invested more time in my applications for my ‘dream companies’. For example, I researched the company in detail, including their values and culture, looked at profiles from employees on LinkedIn and tried to incorporate lots of keywords from both the job advert and those employee profiles into my application to make it much more tailored. I remember that I spent two days on my application for the Siemens graduate scheme, and it definitely paid off, as I was invited to their assessment centre in Manchester.

What was the assessment centre like?

The assessment centre included an individual interview, a group exercise, and a presentation about Siemens and the graduate programme. My interview was with the head of Engineering and the head of HR and lasted between 45 and 60 minutes, but the time really flew by. There were eight of us for the group exercise, and we were observed by the assessors while working through a consultancy task, which involved elements like devising safety advice for a client within a set time frame.

What advice would you give students and graduates to prepare effectively for assessment centres?

You need to be well-rested and energetic to do well in assessment centres. I travelled to Manchester the night before and stayed with a friend, which took the stress out of the journey the next morning. My assessment centre started at 9am, and some of the other candidates had travelled there from Newcastle, Leeds and London on the day, so were quite tired before we had even got started. I got there nearly an hour early, and as I was the first to arrive, I introduced myself to everyone as they joined me in the waiting area and chatted before we were called through for the presentation. Because of this, I had spoken to all of the assessors and other candidates informally; this really helped me to build a rapport with everyone and to feel both comfortable and confident for the different activities. During the group exercise, the other candidates referred to me by name and looked to me for guidance on the task, which really helped to show my leadership potential and interpersonal skills.

It's important to remember that you are being assessed for the whole time you’re there, not just formally but also informally, for example during break times. Many of the other candidates looked at their phones or went out to smoke during breaks – while this may have been to help calm their nerves, it could be viewed as a lack of engagement or interest, so I made sure to show that I was keen to network and get to know people both in the formal and informal parts of the day.

Another tip is to prepare thoroughly and invest time both in your research into the company and your reflection on why you would be a good fit. I was able to link some of my advice for the consultancy exercise to Siemens’s sustainability policies, which impressed the assessors. When I received my job offer, I was also told that the interviewers were particularly impressed with my ability to show how my own values aligned with those of Siemens and their organisation’s culture.

Finally, I would recommend that you are mindful not to be over-confident, as this is unlikely to impress the assessors. In a group exercise, working towards a solution agreed on by everyone in the group shows stronger communication and teamwork skills than trying to push through your own ideas no matter what.

Support from the Student Futures team 

If you want to talk about potential careers options with your degree, need help finding opportunities or want support with your CV, application forms or preparing for an interview, you can get advice and guidance by booking a 30-minute 1-2-1 careers meeting with a Careers and Employability Adviser from the LJMU Student Futures Team.  You can also come along to a Careers drop-in or CV Café which take place weekly at the Careers Zones for quick careers queries.

If you are thinking about starting a business, freelancing, pursuing a side-hustle or have an idea that you want to explore further, email the Start-up Hub and a member of the team will be back in touch, or visit the Start-up Hub website.

For help finding part-time, temporary or casual you can fit around your studies, email the Unitemps team or visit their website.