Department of English - Careers and Professional Development

English graduates can go into a huge variety of jobs, as you have a range of skills developed through your degree such as persuasive communications skills, creativity, presentation skills & critical analysis.  According to the Institute of Student Employers, more than 80% of the big graduate recruiters don't really mind what subjects applicants have taken - so there may be more career routes open to you, than you might have thought.

According to LinkedIn, here are some jobs that QM English & Drama alumni were doing in 2019:

For more options with your subject and to find out more about jobs that you might like, visit these websites:
Creative Choices
Prospects
The Guardian
Career Player   

• Follow your interests: become an active member of a QMUL society. Look for a position on the committee in your 2nd/3rd year.
• Get skills on-campus building experience through QProjects or QMSU volunteering.
• Familiarise with our services. You can get your CV checked and ready for applying to internships, volunteering and work experience.
• Take a look at our Qprogrammes. Our Qprogrammes give students the opportunity to gain invaluable skills that will be appealing for employers

• Be curious – look around & ask lots of questions about jobs you see around you or read about.
• Become more self-aware… What interests you? What do you enjoy; What are you good at? What do you not enjoy?
• Continue to build work experience whether on campus or off… even if not directly relevant to a future career, it will definitely give you transferrable skills
• Explore job options by attending career events and workshops
• Take on extra roles- sit on a committee, be a course rep or QMUL student ambassador. 
• Use the long summer break to get an advertised internship, or write to companies and try to set up your own.  www.studentladder.co.uk has a useful list of companies offering internships in diverse sectors from publishing to banking - remember to start looking in the early autumn of your 2nd year.  
• The QMUL jobsboard  advertises individual internships with a wide variety of organisations, keep an eye on this from January onwards
  

Often English students are looking for jobs in Media/Communications/Publishing roles where graduate schemes are limited.  Look for individual entry-level opportunities too and think about approaching a company with a speculative application if they have no positions advertised.

Good websites as follows:

• QMUL jobsboard  (some larger schemes, but lots of individual jobs sourced for University of London students.  Use the criteria on the left of the screen to refine your search)

• CREATIVE ACCESS (BAME students only)

• Media Beans

• Guardian Jobs

• Graduate Talent Pool
  

• ArtsJobs

• www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk

• BBC careers
  
• If you think Business, the Civil Service, Financial Services, Marketing, Human Resources etc., is for you... identify graduate scheme vacancies and apply as early as possible. Many open in the August/September BEFORE your 3rd year!  Make sure you check out Student Ladder and Target Jobs for masses of graduate scheme info.

• Not sure what to do?  Take a look at Prospects.uk to browse different industries and roles
  

• Visit the Careers and Enterprise Centre for one to one advice & guidance, CV/application form checks and mock interviews
• Visit Careers and Enterprise for resources re interviews, practice psychometric tests, mock interview simulator and assessment centre workshops and information.
• Apply for postgraduate courses if you are interested in an academic career or your career of choice requires further study.  Book a Careers and Enterprise appointment to get feedback on your application before you submit
  

If you want to get a graduate job at the end of your Masters (as opposed to continuing in academia), your campaign should start at the beginning of your MA programme. N.B. Do read the section for 3rd year undergraduates and follow any relevant links.

Graduate Schemes - Large Organisations

• A good place to start your research is with a hard copy of The Guardian UK300 (does not exist online – collect from Careers & Enterprise in Queens Building WG3), which highlights the top 300 UK employers, their different schemes & the all important deadlines - many of which will be before Christmas.
• Remember big corporates need people in all disciplines – so a tech company still needs great staff to work in HR, Marketing, Business Management etc.  Explore beyond the obvious…
• Read these top careers tips for Masters students

Law & Teaching

• Look out for events early in the autumn term to help start your campaign, such as ‘Law Careers for Non-Law Students’ and activities run by Teach First, Ark & other teaching organisations.

 Interesting areas, often without formal graduate schemes…

• Read our Getting Into… guides. Careers covered include Publishing & Journalism; Marketing, Advertising, PR & Events; Charities, Development & Human Rights; and Politics, Think Tanks & Government.

• Fine tune your CV and draft an outline cover letter
• Build a long TARGET LIST of organisations that work in the area you are interested in, prioritise the list and 1) check website regularly for opportunities and 2) approach them directly even if no roles advertised.
  • Earlier in the academic year, look to still build experience/contacts: use the fact that you are still a student - it is a fantastic opportunity to write & ask for work experience, work shadowing, even the chance to come in & discuss what their job involves
  • Later in the academic year, approach them for a graduate role: always do your research, find something that the organisation is doing & show how that relates to your interests; don’t forget to describe your motivation for getting in touch.
  • Use an organisation’s website and/or LinkedIn, to always find a named person to write to.
  • Don’t be surprised if you have to write 50-100 letters to get a useful response!
  • Be persistent, follow up an approach with an email after 2 weeks.

 Still not sure what to do?

• Think as widely as possible – research job areas you know about, but also research companies/organisations that attract/inspire you and look at what roles for graduates exist in those organisations… there will be many jobs out there that you probably don’t know exist.
• Book a 1:1 guidance appointment with a Careers Consultant to kickstart your thinking, book an appointment by calling us on 020 7882 8533 or drop into WG3, Queens’ Building.

Know what you want to do, but concerned your CV experience is weak?

• Even in your MA year, it is not too late to build your CV if you are prepared to work hard, whether through regular part-time work, work-shadowing, an internship, or volunteering.   
• Book a 1:1 guidance appointment with a Careers Consultant to help identify gaps & craft a plan of action…

Finally, the Basics:

• Always personalise your CV & Cover letter to maximise relevance to each organisation. Consider mailing old-fashioned paper copies, more unusual and harder to ignore than an email!
• Get CVs, Cover letters & Applications checked with an Applications Advisor in the Careers & Enterprise team, call us on 020 7882 8533 or drop in to WG3, Queen’s Building to book an appointment.
• INTERVIEWS… visit QMUL Careers for more resources AND book a Mock Interview with a Careers Consultant by calling us on 020 7882 8533 or drop into WG3, Queens’ Building.