• Apply immediately after the publication of the annual “Decreto flussi” which determines the numbers work permits reserved to a certain category of applicants (“quotas” are normally released every year between December and February. Quotas are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis); or
   
• Students already holding a BSc, MSc, PhD or post-graduate certificate issued by an Italian University are not subject to “Decreto Flussi” quotas. Therefore, if you hold an accredited Italian degree (a degree recognised by the Ministry of University - you can inquire at your University/Academy Student Office), you can apply at any time regardless of the quota limitation. 

• Step 1: Request your SPID code
   
• Step 2: Access with your spid , fill in and submit an online application through the Ministry of the Interior website application platform  and follow the instructions. The application platform gathers in one, digital place all the forms you need to fill in in order to apply. You can also save the work on the platform and resume it in a later moment, e.g. to retrieve a document.

• Holding a valid residence permit for study. The residence permit must be valid and not expired at the moment of the application.
• Being regularly enrolled at the City Registry as resident (certificate of residence or receipt of application with protocol number in a Municipality in the provinces of Milano or Monza and Brianza).
• Holding a proof of job proposal OR the proof of enrollment at professional registries/nulla osta for self-employment issued by the Chamber of Commerce; OR a not-subordinate contract of collaboration. 
• Proving your economic coverage (bank account deposit > 8,500.00 euro).

If you hold an accredited undergraduate/graduate degree, Ph.D., university “master”, first/second level academic degree, Higher Technical Institute diploma:

Register as unemployed (see below the DID paragraph) 

Apply for a permit for the purpose of job searching or entrepreneurship (Permesso di soggiorno per ricerca lavoro o imprenditorialita‘ degli studenti) using the usual "yellow" residence permit application kit available at post offices.

The process is similar to applying for renewal of the Residence Permit for study reasons, with some variants.

This kind of permit allows students to legally live in Italy after their graduation while searching for a job/start a business for max 1 year. You must get a job by that time, and apply for nulla osta (see above) before the permit expires. It is not possible to extend this kind of permit.

DID Dichiarazione di immediata disponibilità al lavoro is the declaration of immediate availability to find a job, made by an unemployed person or by a worker at risk of unemployment (fired person who is in the notice period) through the ANPAL portal (SPID or CIE required) or through the regional portals, where present, or in alternative to an employment center (CPI) or a patronage.

With this declaration the unemployment status of a person formally begins.

As for the DID 

If you are domiciled in Milano, you can write a request for an operator-assisted DID application directly to: centroimpiego.milano@afolmet.it

Fill in and sign this application form: Attach a scan of: ID / Passport (both sizes or the personal date and signature page of your passport), a scan of both sides of the residence permit (if applicable) and a scan of tax code card or tax code certificate,

An operator of the CPI (centro per l'impiego) of Milano will support you in the procedure online. 

Please note that requests are processed by the Milan CPI in 7/10 days.

In addition to the employment center, for submitting the personalized service agreement, it is possible to contact the network of accredited operators. Consult the list on the Lombardy Region website.

Patronato is a service, usually managed by the workers' unions and big workers' associations that help citizens with work and immigration paperwork and processes. 

They are state-funded, trained, and authorized to help citizens with the public administration procedures.

They are mainly free of charge, but they may charge a contribution for some services not included in their agreement with the Ministry of Work.