‘Hire me for free’: Indian engineer in UK makes LinkedIn appeal to recruiters, her ‘final chance’ to stay

NEW DELHI: “The job market feels like there’s no value for me, my degree, or my capabilities,” wrote Swetha Kothandan on the professional networking site, LinkedIn. Kothandan earned an MSc in mechanical engineering from University of Leicester in 2022. Two years later, she’s still without a job with a sponsored visa.

“I have applied to 300+ jobs and got a handful of useful feedback,” she wrote. With her visa set to expire in just three months, Kothandan faces an uncertain future. She has taken to LinkedIn, hoping for a breakthrough that will allow her to stay in the country.

Saying that the LinkedIn post is her “final chance to secure a long-term future in the UK”, she offered her services for free for a month. “Looking for design engineer roles? Hire me for free for one month. If I don't deliver... fire me on the spot, no questions asked," she wrote.

The post was made a month ago and in it she wrote that her visa was expiring in three months; two of those are now up. She requested whoever came across her post and supported her to reply with the word “chance” to help bring her profile to the attention of potential employers.

By early evening on Wednesday, Indian time, her post had garnered over 3,100 responses – and had been reposted over 1,200 times. Not all were encouraging, with several pointing out that she should consider returning to India. However, many also felt her post showed her “courage” and “determination”.

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Masters in UK

A graduate of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Anantapur (JNTUA) College of Engineering, Pulivendula, Kothandan went to the UK in 2021 to pursue a master’s degree in advanced mechanical engineering.

She graduated in 2022 with a first class degree and is seeking graduate roles as a design engineer and has worked in Amazon UK as an operations analyst and as a credit specialist with energy company, E.ON Next.

No sponsored UK work permit

“Since graduating in 2022, I’ve been tirelessly looking for a VISA-sponsored UK job,” she wrote. “This LinkedIn post is my FINAL chance to secure a long-term future in the UK…This LinkedIn post is my FINAL chance to secure a long-term future in the UK. I’m looking for visa-sponsored Design Engineer roles.”

She went on to detail the targets she achieved at Amazon. “I’ll work 12 hours per day and 7 days a week to prove my worth,” she wrote.

“If you’re an international student reading this, I would be eternally grateful if you could repost this. Please comment “CHANCE” and repost this so 1000s of UK employers/recruiters see this and give me a chance.”

She also tagged Farhoon Asim who, according to his LinkedIn profile, helps international students find UK jobs through a company he’s founded – International Hustlers.

Also read Study Abroad: UK student visa applications dropped 14.79%, dependent visas by 80% in Q1 of 2024

‘Let us support Swetha’

Juan Jose Somoza, responding to Kothandan’s appeal, said, “This post remind me Joel Shiby Varghese, who was working for few weeks without payment and during that short time showed his 100% availability to learn and help us in all assigned task ... let us support Swetha.”

Expressing concerns about the job market Vijay Parlani, a 3d printing and rapid prototyping professional said, “One of the hardest truth of job market is that in today's era technical background people also need to learn marketing just to market themselves to stand out in this competitive job market, even after mastering technical fields people need to learn the ways to sell themselves to HR. Companies still don't know the difference between a good-sounding candidate and a good candidate.”

The offer to work for free especially struck a chord. Celeta Chauhan, another LinkedIn user said: “It’s absurd that you should need to offer yourself up to work for free or work such insane hours just to stay in the country you moved to.”

UK work visa regulations

The UK Graduate Visa allows students to stay in the UK for up to two years after completing their degree.

Many international students face difficulty transitioning from the graduate visa to a long term work visa.