Is finding a company that will sponsor you impossible

My friend finished her master's degree recently at UCL and her student visa is coming to an end. She wants to work for a UK tech startup (her degree is not tech, but she does have some user experience skills). She is finding it impossible to find a company that will be interested in her because she needs sponsorship (Tier 2).

Is this just the case or are there known companies that are looking for smart, educated people and will take a chance on the visa? Are there just too many people looking who don't require visas / covid / brexit /

It’s expensive to sponsor a visa.  Plus covid. 

She will need a combination of unique skill set, education, work experience, and a shortage of people in her position.

Did she do an internship to get a foot in the door?

My friend finished her master's degree recently at UCL and her student visa is coming to an end. She wants to work for a UK tech startup (her degree is not tech, but she does have some user experience skills). She is finding it impossible to find a company that will be interested in her because she needs sponsorship (Tier 2).

Is this just the case or are there known companies that are looking for smart, educated people and will take a chance on the visa? Are there just too many people looking who don't require visas / covid / brexit /

It's going to be a big ask, especially after COVID.  People who do have skills and experience are having trouble finding jobs at the moment. 

My friend finished her master's degree recently at UCL and her student visa is coming to an end. She wants to work for a UK tech startup (her degree is not tech, but she does have some user experience skills). She is finding it impossible to find a company that will be interested in her because she needs sponsorship (Tier 2).

Is this just the case or are there known companies that are looking for smart, educated people and will take a chance on the visa? Are there just too many people looking who don't require visas / covid / brexit /

I'm looking right now too. I'm an artist, any ideas?
There aren't actually Tier 2 visas anymore, it's now called "Skilled Worker" Visa, and the list of shortage occupations has changed. I'd recommend checking out the government website because it keeps being updated regularly... I think the last time was March 4? However I'm still trying to figure out how to translate being a worker of a a shortage occupation into an interview/job... but at least she'll know if she's on the list and getting those visa points. There's also a list of businesses that have the ability to sponsor visas, if she searches through that she could specifically reach out to ones that she's interested in. (Just hit command F to search through the really long spreadsheet by keyword or location.)

It's not impossible as I have worked for companies that hire, and still hire, sponsored employees. You do need to be very dillegent when looking to ensure the company is on the list of registered sponsors and also understands the process of hiring graduates on visas - which is simpler than those coming directly from overseas. That said working in any startup is going to be more challenging in many ways as they many not be setup to sponsor employees in the earlier days of the business.