The sticky city: Key insight on starting your career in Glasgow (or Scotland)

By Katrina Gardner , Careers & Employability Manager

Many of you will be keen to move on to new pastures after you graduate or want to return home to start your career. Yet, plenty of you have enjoyed living and studying in Glasgow so are keen to stay on and follow a career path here. This is the case for local students as well as lots of you who moved here from further afield. In fact, Glasgow has built up a reputation over the years as a “sticky city” where students stay after graduation to a much greater degree than in many other university towns and cities in the UK.

So, let’s explore what this means for you, based on the newly published “What do graduates do? Scotland” by Charlie Ball .

The Glasgow and Scottish labour market

This publication confirms that Glasgow has retained its “sticky city” status with many graduates staying on to work.

It can also tell you more about the Glasgow and Scottish graduate labour market to help you decide on the right path. For instance, 49.2% of all current Scottish jobs are at professional level which generally bodes well for graduate job seekers. Moreover, Charlie explains that professional level jobs will continue to increase in Scotland; in 2022, they rose by 10,000.

I referred to the broader Scottish labour market, but don't feel you have to confine your job search to Glasgow City as most urban areas in the Central Belt are easily commutable by train. Also, post-pandemic, many professional jobs continue to offer hybrid or flexible working, so reflect on whether you’d be comfortable living in Glasgow with a longer commute if it wasn’t every working day.

We’ve also seen a huge rise in wholly home-based working, so you can live in Glasgow while working in jobs with workplaces in other parts of the UK. For example, ”What do graduates do? 2023/24” (UK) saw the biggest increase ever for graduates starting jobs in London (from 22.6% to 23.5%), but that’s not because more graduates moved to London but because many of them are working remotely.

So, what is happening in the Glasgow and wider Scottish Labour market? Scottish Development International has useful guides to different industries in Scotland. Skills Development Scotland also has skills assessments for various sectors with information like where jobs are located across the country. Glasgow and the Scottish Central Belt has a broad range of options including many buoyant sectors such as life sciences, engineering and construction. Glasgow is also where most Scottish companies locate their head office.

What you should do

We suggest you research thoroughly to ensure your top careers choices are well-represented. If these are competitive areas or have limited options locally, do you have viable alternative options? You can find out more by connecting on LinkedIn and chatting with local professionals. You can search for UofG alumni on LinkedIn if you want to chat to locally based graduates and can follow local companies to gain more insight into the local labour market.

You might also want to research whether your top career choices are in growth areas for the future or are in decline.

According to “What do graduates do? Scotland”, there’ll be substantial demand for graduates over the next decade. Over the next decade, STEM sectors will see the most growth with demand for 155,000 more STEM professionals, but Scotland will also need:

• 109,000 more health professionals
• 120,000 new education professionals
• 112,000 new business services professionals
• 111,000 health and social services professionals

You should also research the entry routes in Glasgow and wider area.?Are there many graduate schemes available in your preferred career(s)? Could a postgraduate course provide entry into this career and if so, are there programmes in local universities? Is there also good availability of “stepping-stone jobs” if there aren’t many local graduate schemes? These jobs can be a route into loads of other sectors and career paths. For example, “What do graduates do? Scotland” shows that administrative roles in many sectors offer quick progression into graduate level roles in many sectors.

To find local jobs, you can use Scottish recruitment websites such MyJobScotland, Goodmoves and S1jobs as well as the UK sector specific recruitment websites that are listed in each of the Prospects Job Profiles.

For international students, you also have to consider your visa routes to stay on in the UK. Do stay in touch with the International Student Support Team to ensure you’re up to date with your options and to understand how they work. This’ll give you the best possible chance of staying on and working in Glasgow.

Other resources

"What do graduates do? 2023/24": Read the full report to gain useful insight into the Scottish graduate labour market

The Great Grad Guide 2024: Get a crash course in career preparation with advice on everything from exploring career ideas to transitioning into life after university

Our graduation information webpage: Explore a range of resources to help you prepare for life after UofG

Our Masterclasses: Get expert advice on various careers guidance topics, including graduate job searching, CVs and cover letters, application forms, job interviews, assessment centres and more

Glasgow Careers: Browse a range of graduate opportunities across different industries and sectors (and be sure to check other job boards, including industry-specific ones)