Nobody told you how UK hiring actually works.
Five stages, five different people, five different questions — and at every one of them something is being decided about you that nobody says out loud. This is the whole process written down: what each stage is really testing, who is reading, and where people quietly lose.
UK employers received an average of 140 applications per graduate vacancy last year. Nothing about that is a verdict on you. It does mean guessing is expensive.
Source: Institute of Student Employers, Student Recruitment Survey 2025
30 seconds
Which room are you in?
Two questions, and you get the part of this that applies to you right now — not the seven parts that do not.
Have you sent any applications yet?
Free · no account
Start with the two that cost you nothing
Whatever passport you hold, these are the first two things worth knowing.
- Will a machine even read my CV?Score your CV against the job description the way an applicant tracking system does, before a human ever sees it. No account — an email address and two scans a month.Check it now
- What closes, and when?The autumn deadlines in one place. Most close between late October and early January, and missing one costs a whole cycle.Check it now
The part nobody writes about
You applied. Days went by. Then more days.
No rejection. No reply at all. Every guide tells you how to apply and none of them tell you what the silence means, how long is actually normal, or what to do inside it — which is why it is the point most people quit.
The silence is not a verdict on you. It has a shape, and the playbook maps it.
The playbook
Every room you walk into, and the question being asked in it
Written by a recruiter who has sat on the other side of the table — 18,000 words of it. Each stage is one question somebody is silently asking about you.
"Which door am I walking through?"
Routes in, sponsorship checks, and how to pick the roles worth your hours, before you send anything.
"Does this match what we asked for?"
How to get past the applicant tracking system, and the six-second human skim that comes after it.
Nothing. Not even a no.
You applied. Days went by. Then more days. This is the part of the process nobody writes about, and it is the part that makes people quit. So here is what is actually happening, and what to do with it.
"Is this person real, available and affordable?"
The questions, what they are really testing, and how to answer in your own words.
"Can they actually do the work?"
Online assessments, video interviews, tasks and case studies, and how to show your reasoning in each.
"Do I want this person on my team?"
Competency questions, the hard ones, and how to answer in your own words.
"Does anything about them worry us?"
The last room, and the one people most often relax in. Handling a panel, the questions that worry them, and how to close.
Read the overview free — the whole map, end to end, no account. The individual stage guides and their printable checklists come with one.
If you need sponsorship
There is a second set of rules, and it decides who can hire you
Everything above applies to every student. This part only applies if you need a visa to work here — in which case it applies before anything else does.
- Which routes let me work?Five questions, then every route that lets you work — open, closed, and the published rule behind each answer.Check it now
- Can this employer sponsor me?Check any employer against the Home Office register before you spend an evening on their application form.Check it now
- Does this salary clear the bar?The flat threshold and the going rate for the occupation code, with the higher one binding — the part job ads never mention.Check it now
- Who is allowed to hire me?The register, filterable by city and sector. A job board tells you who is hiring; this tells you who can legally sponsor.Check it now
- 120,000+
- licensed UK sponsors in the register, refreshed daily from the official Home Office list
- £41,700
- the standard Skilled Worker threshold — though the going rate for the occupation often binds higher
The Graduate route gives 24 months to applications made on or before 31 December 2026, and 18 months after that. Doctoral graduates keep 36 months. Six months is a whole application cycle, so it is worth knowing which side of that date you fall on.
Longer reads
The bits that trip people up, in detail
Free, no account.
- What Actually Happens When You Click "Auto-Apply"? Inside the PipelineMatch score, consent, pacing, tracking: the real steps between clicking auto-apply and an application landing with an employer, explained plainly.
- Your LinkedIn Profile Is Your Second CV: The UK Graduate's ChecklistRecruiters check LinkedIn before they call you back. A section-by-section checklist for a UK graduate profile that survives that check, not just looks nice.
- Ghost Jobs: How to Spot a Fake Listing Before You Waste an ApplicationTrackers estimate close to half of live UK job ads may never lead to a hire. Six signs a posting is a ghost job, and what to do instead of applying blind.
- Will Auto-Applying Get You Restricted on LinkedIn? The 2026 RulesLinkedIn's detection now flags "human-impossible velocity." Here's what actually trips it, what doesn't, and how to use application automation without risking your profile.
Straight answers
The questions you are actually asking
Is this only for international students?
No. The playbook is about how UK hiring decides — the stages, who reads what, and what each one is testing — and that is the same whoever you are. Sponsorship is an additional set of rules that applies to some readers, so it has its own section rather than running through everything.
What is the catch? Why are the tools free?
There is no catch on the tools — no account, no email, no card. They exist because they are the fastest honest answer to questions people otherwise get wrong, and because someone who finds them useful is more likely to trust us with the rest. The full stage-by-stage playbook needs a free account; that is the whole ask.
Is this immigration advice?
No. The Advice Hub gives general information about published Immigration Rules and about job hunting in the UK. It is not advice on any individual case and creates no adviser relationship. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority.
Where do the visa figures come from?
The published Immigration Rules and the Home Office sponsor register, re-checked against gov.uk on a schedule, with the date we last verified them shown on every tool. Where a rule is genuinely uncertain — which occupation code an employer will file under, for example — we say so rather than guess.
Will this get me a job?
We will not promise that, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What this does is remove the two things that waste most of a job hunt: applying to employers who cannot sponsor you, and not knowing what each stage of a hiring process is actually testing.
from verified reviews
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Brilliant for graduate applications
I used Gorizzume while applying for graduate schemes and it was incredibly helpful. The aptitude test preparation helped me practise before assessments, while the interview coach helped me prepare for the next stage. It gave me a much better structure for my applications.
Left by people after an offer came through, shown exactly as they consented to be shown — a display name, never a surname.
Get the exact playbook to get hired — free when you sign up
An hour with a private interview coach costs about £150. The average UK graduate role pays £35,170 in year one. Every stage guide, every checklist and the tools that do the work — CV scanning against the job description, a tracker that remembers every application, interview practice out loud — cost you an email address.
No card. Takes about a minute. The tools above stay free either way.