The career opportunities open to humanities students are broad and varied exactly because there are few careers that specify a degree in English, History, Theology or Media Studies as an absolute requirement. Instead the transferable skills developed from studying these subjects are the main selling points for graduates.

• Skills and Knowledge • Don't know what you want to do? • Work Experience • Careers and Sectors • Useful Links • Further Study • Other Options / General Careers Information

Skills and Knowledge

Being able to articulate your skills to employers or colleagues is hugely important in securing future opportunities for all graduates but it becomes a crucial ability for humanities students and graduates.

Some examples of skills are listed below. Your personal skill set may include some or all of these as well as others. Tools and tips for personal reflection are available from the PDP pages and the Decision Making page.

• Subject knowledge - the conceptual, theoretical, ethical and methodological elements of the subject, as well as the cultural and political contexts
• Critical thinking: judgement, reasoned arguments, problem solving and analysis
• Using and managing large quantities of information including IT skills
• Communication - written and verbal (including presentation) as well as listening
• Personal management - self motivation, time management and planning, ability to study and learn independently, set goals, manage workload and deadlines, and self appraisal.
• Team working / social interaction – using a variety of skills in this context as well as appraisal of others
• Awareness and appreciation of alternative views
• Creativity and independent thought

More information about how your degree translates to attributes and capabilities is available via the QAA Subject Benchmark Statements. These highlight what can be expected from graduates of various subjects. They can be fairly long; have a look at the sections indicated for the particularly relevant bits:

English, History, Media, Theology visit www.qaa.ac.uk

Don’t know what you want to do?

It’s common! We’ve put together some suggestions addressing exactly this on Don’t Know What You Want to Do? A key aspect is looking at decision making. Other useful pages are PDP for self reflection and Work Experience for actually getting out and finding out about a job or sector. The Which Career? page also has linked resources.

The important thing is that deciding what to do needs working on – inspiration is unlikely just to hit. If it feels overwhelming try the approach that deciding what to do is often about matching your qualities, skills, experience, likes and ambitions with a realistic view of the opportunities that are out there and deciding on the practical steps to get started in that area

Work experience

Whether you have clear career ideas or are unsure of your ambitions, work experience is of key importance. It can:

• Provide evidence to future employers of your motivation and commitment to a career or sector (giving you credibility when targeting an area)
• Confirm or create interest in a sector or job
• Lead you to reassess your career ideas – finding out a job or sector is not what you thought it would be or not something you enjoy is easier when you’ve committed for a few days or a week rather than when you’ve signed a longer term contract.

For more information about finding and making the most of work experience see the Work Experience and Creative Job Hunting (for finding contacts) pages.

Careers and Sectors

Professions and areas that are particularly popular with humanities graduates are listed below. Click on the job titles for a profile via Prospects.ac.uk. Some occupations will require further training or significant experience:

• Administration (including for churches, charities, public bodies, education, the arts)
• Advertising, Marketing and PR
• Broadcasting Production (Film, TV and Radio) including Broadcast / Production Assistant, Researcher, Producer)
• Education:
  • Further Education Lecturer
  • Higher Education Lecturer
  • Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)
  • Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
  • Preschool Teacher
  • Primary School Teacher
  • Secondary School Teacher
  • Have a look at our Applying for Teacher Training page for more information.
• Event Organiser
• Information Services including:
  • Archivist
  • Heritage Manager
  • Museum Curator / Museum Officer
• Journalism
• Library and Information Management
• Personnel Officer
• Publishing / printing
• Retail
• Writer

As mentioned previously, humanities graduates have many opportunities open to them. Have a look at the Any Degree...Any Career? page to explore more careers open to graduates of any subject. Sources of general advertised vacancies are available on the Jobs After Graduating page.

Not all job roles can be listed in a directory - some are just not that specific and others may be relevant to particular employers or organisations. Understanding the sector you are aiming to work in is consequently useful and examples are listed below. The Creative Job Hunting page provides tips and resources for innovative job searching.

• Advertising and PR
• Broadcast, Film and Interactive Media
• Creative and Cultural Arts
• Education
• Government
• Publishing
• Retail
• Small and Medium Sized Employers (SMEs)
• Voluntary

Useful Links

Advertising Association: www.adassoc.org.uk/aa/index.cfm

Association for Information Management (Aslib): www.aslib.com/training

Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals: www.cilip.org.uk/jobscareers

Chartered Institute of Marketing: www.cim.co.uk/ece/cfml/uemHomepage.cfm

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD): www.cipd.co.uk/mandq/careers

Museums Association: www.museumsassociation.org/ma/10557

The Publishers Association: www.publishers.org.uk/en/home

The Society of Authors: www.societyofauthors.org

Writers' and Artists' Yearbook: www.writersandartists.co.uk

Media

FREE TV training initiative The Network is the charitable arm of the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. Open to those aged 18 and over, it provides the opportunity to attend four days of FREE training in Edinburgh preparing delegates for a career in television.  Supported by the TV industry, The Network helps those that want to take their first step in TV.

The BBC runs volunteer work experience placements throughout the year. There are deadlines set for applications and they are competitive: https://jobs.bbc.co.uk

www.broadcastgraduate.com an online resource for broadcast and media graduates who want to work in the sector. You need to register to access the information and apply for vacancies.

Broadcast Journalism Training Council - advice and guidance about careers in broadcast journalism: www.bjtc.org.uk

National Council for the Training of Journalists: www.nctj.com

RadioCentre's pages include advice and information on how to get into radio, relevant courses and getting a work placement : www.radiocentre.org/rc2008/showContent.aspx?pubid=128

Skill Set - the Sector Skills Council for the Audio Visual Industries (broadcast, film, video, interactive media and photo imaging) funded by industry and the government. Includes media careers advice: www.skillset.org/careers/jobs

Start in TV - job opportunities and information about the industry: www.startintv.com

Television and Young People - run competitive training events for those interested in a career in television: www.mgeitf.co.uk/tvyp

Further study

If you are thinking about further study there are several key areas to research. These include assessing the value of further study for your future plans, finding and applying to the most appropriate courses and funding your study. More information and course search facilities are available from the Postgraduate and Further Study page.

It can be necessary to be quite persistent in your course search as there is not a central admissions service for postgrad courses (except for some vocational subjects). UCAS's search facility can be particularly useful in identifying universities that have relevant departments and then the universities themselves are then the best source of information www.ucas.ac.uk.

Other options

Have a look at our sections: Which Career?, How do I get a Job?, Work Experience, Postgrad and Further Study, Work and Study Abroad / Time Out and Special Interest Groups for resources aimed at all students regardless of course. Subjects covered include CVs, applications, interviews, decision making, career planning through your course, work experience, postgrad and further study, gap year / time out, diversity, international students and ethical careers.

Generally we encourage you to start thinking about what you want to do after university as early as possible in the course (don't worry - we know it doesn't always work like that!). For some tips on this see the Career Planning Through Your Course page.