What to do after college

A young person finishing a vocational college or technical school is in a different position from a school leaver: they already hold a diploma in a trade and have work placement experience behind them. The question is no longer “which profession should I choose?” but “what do I do with the profession I have?”. In this guide we look at the five main paths, turning a placement into a permanent job, presenting placement experience on your CV, the first interview, working as an apprentice to a master, finding work safely in another city and keeping your documents in order. At the end you will find a sample 6-month plan, two hypothetical examples, common mistakes, an exercise and a checklist. If you are still finishing Year 11 or only just choosing a profession, start with our articles on choosing a path after school and how to choose a career.

Diploma in hand: five main paths

A college graduate does not start from scratch: an electrician already knows how to run cable, an accountant how to handle documents, a seamstress how to sew. There are five main paths, and they are not mutually exclusive.

1. Start working in your field straight away. The most natural path: you get a job at a company, workshop, service centre or small business in your trade. The advantage is quick experience and independence.
2. Continue studying. Go to university in a field linked to your college speciality. For example, electrician to energy engineering, seamstress to light industry, accountant to economics; full-time, distance or evening study. Admission rules and exams change, so check them only in official sources: the university’s own website and the state admissions system.
3. Strengthen your trade with a short course. Add one modern skill to the foundation college gave you. We discuss this path in detail in the next section.
4. Start your own business. In some trades, such as tailoring, hairdressing, repairs and electrical services, you can start a small business with your own clients. But it is safer to do so after gaining some experience. We cover the steps in our article on how to start a small business.
5. Move into a different field. Sometimes after college you realise “this isn’t for me”. That is not a mistake. The discipline, practical skills, paperwork experience or technical thinking you gained at college will be useful in another field too. Just make the decision after trying the new field for a few weeks.

For many graduates the best path is to combine the first two: work in your trade and study by distance or evening learning. We have written about this separately in our article on combining study and work.

Strengthening your trade with a short course

One extra skill sets you apart from other graduates. The key is to choose not a new profession, but a skill that broadens the one you already have. Examples:

• Electrician + solar panels. Installing, connecting and maintaining solar panels and inverters is a logical next step for an electrician. A college graduate who knows the basics of electrical work has a head start here.
• Accountant + 1C and Excel. College covers the theory, but in practice many companies work in specialised accounting software and spreadsheets. Job adverts often ask for exactly these programs.
• Seamstress + design software. Knowing how to draft patterns and model garments on a computer makes a seamstress stronger both in a workshop and when working on her own orders.
• Car mechanic + diagnostics. Computer diagnostics has become a core skill for modern cars.
• Any trade + computer literacy. Writing documents and using email are needed almost everywhere.

When choosing a course, ask three questions: is this skill requested in job adverts in your city, does the course include practical sessions, and will you finish with something to show, such as a project or a certificate? Many short courses run in the evenings or at weekends, so you can take them alongside work.

Getting a job: from placement to permanent work

Where to start

Do not rely only on online job adverts when looking for your first job. For vocational graduates, these sources are often more effective:

• The place where you did your placement. Make your first call there.
• Your college. Teachers often receive requests from employers, so tell them what kind of work you are looking for.
• Former graduates. Ask acquaintances who finished a year or two ago where they work and whether they need people.
• Employment support centres and official job portals.
• Approaching employers directly. Visit workshops, factories and service centres in your district with your CV.

Turning a placement into a job

A placement is your strongest opportunity, because the people there have already seen you at work. During and after your internship, do the following:

1. Behave like an employee during the placement. Arrive on time, put your phone away, finish every task and ask when something is unclear.
2. Write down what you did. Two or three lines a day: what you did and which tools or software you used. This becomes ready-made material for your CV.
3. Ask openly at the end of the placement. “I really enjoyed working here. Will there be a vacancy after I graduate, or who could I speak to?” Employers remember young people who show interest.
4. Ask for a reference. Ask your supervisor for a short written reference or permission to give their phone number.
5. Keep in touch. Call again after a month or two and ask whether a vacancy has come up.

If there is no vacancy at your placement, ask the experienced workers there: “Do you know anywhere else that needs people?” We cover other ways of finding work without experience in our article on getting your first experience.

Apprenticeship with a master

In electrical work, welding, tailoring, furniture making and car repair, the fastest growth often comes from working alongside an experienced master. College gave you the theory and the basic skills; a master will teach you how to talk to clients, handle complex orders and find faults quickly. As an apprentice, pay attention to three things: agree working hours, duties and the length of the arrangement clearly from the start; insist that safety rules are followed; and write down what you learn and photograph samples of your work (with the client’s permission).

Your CV and first interview

Presenting placement experience on your CV

Many college graduates write “Experience: none” on their CV. That is a mistake. A placement, a coursework project, a final qualification project and even a job done in a neighbour’s home all count as experience; you just need to describe them properly. We cover the overall structure of a CV in our article on writing a CV; here we focus only on the placement section.

The rules are simple: the organisation’s name, the dates, “trainee” as your job title and three or four specific tasks, each starting with an action verb. Instead of “helped”, write “installed”, “tested”, “sewed” or “entered”. The example below is hypothetical and the company name is made up:

Electrician trainee — Nur Energiya Servis LLC, Jizzakh, February–May 2026
— assisted a senior electrician in installing lighting circuits in residential buildings
— connected circuit breakers and sockets, carried out insulation checks
— completed a safety briefing before each job and used protective equipment
— kept a log of completed work

If an employer asks for a CV in Uzbek, the same experience can be written like this (you will find the Russian version on the Russian-language version of this page):

Elektromontyor-amaliyotchi — “Nur Energiya Servis” MChJ, Jizzax, 2026-yil fevral–may
— turar-joy binolarida yoritish tarmog’ini o’rnatishda usta bilan ishladim
— avtomat o’chirgichlar va rozetkalarni ulash, izolyatsiyani tekshirishda qatnashdim
— har bir ishdan oldin xavfsizlik yo’riqnomasidan o’tdim, himoya vositalaridan foydalandim
— bajarilgan ishlar jurnalini yuritdim

The same logic works for a seamstress: “sewed women’s dresses and school uniforms”, “learned to cut fabric from patterns”, “completed daily workshop targets on time”. If you have a final project or coursework project, list it on a separate line. Collect photos of your work in one album on your phone.

Your first interview

Interviews for skilled trades often ask you to demonstrate something in practice: an electrician may be asked to read a wiring diagram, a seamstress to sew a sample seam, an accountant to fill in a document. To prepare:

1. Revise the basics of your trade. Look through your college notes: key terms, safety rules, names of tools.
2. Prepare three stories. About how you handled a difficult task during your placement, how you made a mistake and corrected it, and how you worked in a team.
3. Bring samples of your work. The album on your phone, your diploma and your placement report.
4. Prepare your own questions. “Who will I work with in the first few months?”, “What equipment do you use here?”, “Are there opportunities to learn?”

We cover the stages of an interview and common questions in detail in our article on preparing for a job interview.

Staying in your region or moving to another city

In a small town or district there may be few vacancies in your trade. Before moving, check neighbouring districts, construction sites and industrial zones: sometimes commuting every day is an easier option than relocating.

If you do decide to move to another city:

• Find the job first. Job first, then the move, not the other way round.
• Sort out accommodation in advance. Relatives, trusted acquaintances or a hostel offered by the employer. Get the terms in writing.
• Leave your address and contacts with your family. Write down the employer’s name, address and your manager’s phone number for your relatives.
• Keep your documents with you. Never hand over your original passport or diploma to anyone “for safekeeping”.

Watch out for fake vacancies

Young graduates are an easy target for scammers because they want to start work quickly. If you notice any of these signs, stop and check:

• they ask for payment in advance for job placement, “paperwork” or training;
• they promise very easy work with very good conditions but do not clearly name the company or its address;
• all communication happens in a messaging app and you are pushed to decide quickly;
• they ask you to leave your passport with them or to send a photo of it along with your bank card details;
• they offer to take you abroad or to another city for work “quickly, without documents”.

Search for the company’s name online, visit its address, and if possible talk to someone who has worked there. If you are thinking about working abroad, use only official channels approved by the state.

Keeping your diploma and documents in order

Your diploma and other documents will be needed many times: when applying for jobs, continuing your studies and enrolling on courses. Keep them in one place:

1. A folder of originals. Your diploma and its supplement, placement report, certificates and a copy of your passport. Keep them together in a dry, safe place.
2. Scans. Scan each document to PDF with a scanner app on your phone. Give files clear names, such as “Diplom_Doniyor_Ergashev.pdf” or “Placement_report_2026.pdf”.
3. A cloud backup. Upload the scans, photos of your work and references to a separate folder in a cloud storage service, and protect the account with a strong password and two-step verification. Even if you lose your phone, your documents will be safe.
4. Precautions. Do not send scans of your passport or diploma to strangers or post them in open groups. Give them to an employer only when officially requested and after you have checked the company.

A sample 6-month plan and two examples

Sample plan

The table below is a hypothetical example. Adapt it to your situation: some people find a job in the first month, others in the fourth.

Doniyor, Jizzakh (hypothetical example)

Doniyor graduated from a college in Jizzakh as an electrician. At the end of his placement he asked the head of the company about a vacancy. There was none at the time, but the manager promised to call him later. Doniyor did not sit and wait: he prepared his CV, scanned his documents and uploaded them to the cloud, and visited two construction firms in his district. In the second month his placement company called and he started work. In the fourth month he began a short course in installing solar panels, because the company was getting more of those orders. By the end of the sixth month he had decided to apply for distance study in energy engineering the following year and had started reading the admission rules on the university’s official website.

Shahnoza, Andijan (hypothetical example)

Shahnoza graduated from a technical school in Andijan as a seamstress. She wants to open her own workshop one day, but first took a job in a sewing workshop to gain experience. In the evenings she completed an online course in computer-aided garment design. She collected photos of her work, the dresses and school uniforms she had sewn, in one album. After five or six months she began taking small orders from acquaintances and neighbours, but she did not leave her workshop job: her goal was first to build regular clients and then to write a business plan. Meanwhile, she turned down suspicious offers from strangers such as “buy the materials with an advance payment and sew at home”.

Common mistakes

• A long “break” after graduating. If several months pass doing nothing, skills fade and contacts are lost.
• Not going back to your placement. Skipping the easiest door and only answering online adverts.
• Writing “no experience” on your CV. Placements, coursework projects and final projects are experience.
• Giving up on your trade too soon. Saying “this isn’t for me” at the first difficulty. Work in it for at least a few months first.
• Choosing a university field at random. Your college knowledge goes unused; and learn the admission rules from official sources, not from rumours.
• Keeping only one copy of your documents. Replacing a lost diploma takes a long time, so you need a scan and a cloud copy.
• Ignoring safety. Breaking the rules “to save time” in electrical, welding or work at height puts lives at risk.

Exercise and checklist

Exercise: “My next steps”

Take a sheet of paper or open a note on your phone and write down:

1. The speciality you gained at college and five things you do best.
2. Three or four specific tasks you did during your placement, with action verbs, ready for your CV.
3. The two paths out of five that suit you best, and why.
4. The extra skill that appears most often in job adverts in your city, and an idea for a short course in it.
5. Ten places you could approach: your placement, your college, acquaintances, employers.
6. Your own 6-month plan based on the table above.

Discuss what you have written with your parents or a mentor you trust.

Checklist

• Originals of your diploma, supplement and references are in one folder.
• All documents are scanned and uploaded to the cloud, and the account is protected.
• Your CV describes your placement with specific tasks.
• You have contacted your placement and your college about work.
• Photos of your work are in one album.
• Three stories and your questions are ready for interviews.
• An extra course is chosen, or your criteria for choosing one are clear.
• If you plan to go to university, the admission rules have been checked in an official source.
• Every vacancy and employer has been checked, and nothing has been paid in advance.
• Your 6-month plan is written down and reviewed every month.

A college diploma is not the end of the road but a good start. You will find more about opportunities for young people on our page for young people. Graduates in electrical trades will also find our article on the electrician’s profession useful.

If you would like to strengthen your trade with a new skill, take a look at our association’s free training programmes. When you are ready, submit an application and our specialists will get in touch.