School of English, Communication and Philosophy

Careers and employability

95% of our undergraduates and 92% of master's graduates were in employment and/or further study, due to start a new job or course, or doing other activities such as travelling 15 months after the end of their course (HESA data).

Employability is important to us and we are committed to preparing you for life outside of education and supporting you to achieve your future career ambitions in a competitive job market. Our careers and employability support is available to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Remember, it is never too early to start planning for your future employability, so grasp the opportunities available and get off to a flying start.

From the public to the private sector, we enable careers in an impressively wide range of fields. Our graduates use their newly-acquired skills in a broad spectrum of jobs, particularly in the media, education and civil service. While teaching, language-related professions, law, publishing and public relations are especially popular graduate destinations, other business and commercial sectors are also well represented.

Focused career support

We offer information, advice and guidance to our students at every stage, delivering a tailored range of careers-related events throughout the year.

Whatever your career ambitions, we can help you to start your journey with our range of focused activities.

Careers and Employability support includes:

one-to-one sessions by appointment
CV, application form and interview workshops
career planning sessions including career options for your Humanities degree
LinkedIn masterclass
professional networking events
professional guest speakers from a wide range of sectors (e.g. publishing, heritage, charity sector)
work experience placements & advice
enterprise activities
current labour market information.

Note: This support is subject to availability due to COVID-19 regulations.

Fostering employability skills

Undergraduate

We offer an employability module designed to foster employability skills that are transferable to a range of professional and graduate careers.

Co-devised and run with the Careers and Employability Service, this optional undergraduate module is tailored to the skills and opportunities your degree is designed to equip you with, and introduces the basics of career building and features a work placement.

Students have the flexibility to arrange a placement of real interest at a time that suits, subject to School approval. Placements or similar training or experiential placement are a minimum of 35 hours.

Note: This will be subject to availability due to COVID-19 regulations.

Postgraduate

All our MA programmes have employability skills training factored into the core Research modules, which allow students to practice and perfect a range of core professional research and communication skills that will assist students with their MA studies and beyond.

Our MA Creative Writing programme offers an annual one-day Creative Industries symposium, which is open to all and offers you the opportunity to meet professionals in the field.

These opportunities, along with the one-to-one sessions offered by the Careers and Employability Service, support students to ensure that they are in the best possible position when they start to apply for jobs.

Student stories

The careers service has helped me with everything from my CV and applications to interview preparation. I've now secured a position on a graduate scheme. I couldn't recommend the careers service more highly!

Emily, BA Philosophy

I have gained a greater insight into how to approach finding a graduate job, knowledge of what employers truly want and how best to present myself in an interview, landing a graduate job working as a merchandiser.

Chloe, BA Philosophy

The Careers Service provided me with invaluable support regarding my Teach First application and help in preparing for my assessment centre. I attended various workshops and events which helped me understand what would be expected of me during the assessment day, and in turn, helped me to gain a place.

Emma, BA English Language

Contact us

You can find the Careers and Employability service on Park Place.

The careers adviser for the School is Claire Hudson. Once you become a student, you can book an appointment with Claire through your Careers Account.

You can also access a range of interactive learning resources via Your Career Journey online.