The University of Sheffield
Careers Service

Philosophy - Introduction

Arts and Humanities

Potential careers

Graduates from these courses enter a range of occupations across many sectors of the economy. Recent destination data shows graduates working in educational settings, with job titles such as Teaching Assistant, Teacher of English as a Foreign Language, Education Support Officer, and Assistant Director of a Learning Centre. Philosophy graduates are also represented outside of education in public relations work, retail management, and youth work. A number of graduates are working in non-graduate positions six months after graduation, mainly in administrative and sales roles, developing further skills and experience in preparation for their graduate career.

The proportion of graduates undertaking further study after graduation is slightly higher than the average for the University as a whole, with the majority undertaking Masters degrees, often in Philosophy-related areas.

  • What graduates do
  • Understanding yourself
  • Your options
  • Vacancies

Short term and longer term career paths

Understanding what recent graduates from your subject have gone on to do can be a valuable source of information to help in career planning, but bear in mind that what you choose to do will be a personal decision based on many other factors, such as what you are good at, what you enjoy, and what you want from work.

Philosophy - what University of Sheffield graduates do six months after graduation

This data was collected six months after graduation, so although useful, it doesn't provide a reliable indicator of longer term career paths. Some graduates are still in transition and may be in short term jobs, mainly in administrative, retail and customer service roles, developing further skills and experience while at the same time job hunting, travelling or taking time out.

Graduate case studies

Read about the longer term career paths of University of Sheffield Philosophy graduates.

What do graduates do? - the national picture

The national Prospects website provides an overview of the graduate jobs market.

Our approach to employability

The University of Sheffield is committed to developing your employability.

Understanding your skills, interests and motivation

Studying for a degree means you will be developing a range of valuable skills and competencies in addition to those you may have gained outside of your degree, through activities in both your leisure time and work. You need to be aware of these competencies, and be able to provide evidence of them to convince employers that you would be an asset to their organisation.

Skills acquired by Philosophy graduates

Find out more about the extensive range of skills and personal qualities that you will have developed as part of your degree. These skills explain why many employers have a positive view of Philosophy graduates.

Gaining skills outside of your degree

Skills developed outside of study are just as important, so don't overlook paid or voluntary work and other interests when thinking about what you have to offer. The develop skills section on our website can tell you more.

What jobs would suit me?

Match your skills and interests to potential occupations (part of the Prospects website).

See the bigger picture

A simple step by step outline to help you progress your career ideas plus a selection of resources to assist you in this process.

Profiling for success

This online assessment package provided by the Careers Service for University of Sheffield students and graduates, includes two personality type indicators to help you understand yourself.

Options with your subject - Philosophy

Make a start by reading this section of the Prospects website and develop ideas on how you can best use your degree.

There are a number of obvious jobs that you may wish to consider, such as Lecturer in Further or Higher Education, or Secondary School Teacher. However, you should remember that a large proportion of vacancies advertised to graduates are open to any degree subject, so you should be prepared to explore all your options.

Occupations

This section of our website provides links to professional bodies, organisations (many include vacancy databases) and journals. Use it to research your chosen sectors.

Explore types of jobs

Detailed profiles for a wide range of occupations are available from Prospects and include job descriptions, case studies, salary and conditions, entry requirements, training, typical employers and vacancies.

These are our suggestions

We've chosen these because they are often seen as related to your area of study, or there is a pattern of graduates in your subject working in these roles. Of course, they are not the only options and there are many other graduate careers potentially open to you.

Search courses and research

If you are interested in postgraduate study, a good place to start is Prospects, which offer a database of courses and research opportunities.

myVacancies

We advertise over 5000 vacancies each year for graduate jobs, placements, part-time, voluntary and vacation work. Students and graduates can register and login.

There are a large number of websites advertising graduate vacancies; some cover a broad range of occupations while others specialise in a particular sector. Increasingly, professional organisations and government bodies also include vacancies as part of their website. Here are some links that you might find helpful:

Creative job searching

Many jobs are never advertised through the usual media so you may need to be creative in your searching. Talk to academic staff in your department about possible vacancy sources and useful contacts for networking if you wish to pursue a career related to your discipline.

Read the section of our website on Creative job searching to help you approach employers who do not normally advertise.

Finally...

At this stage you are not seeking the perfect match, but rather choices which are as far as you can tell going to meet your broad objectives; your decision is probably not for life. Though some decisions can have long term consequences, others enable you to keep your options open until you feel more certain.

Use the menu on the left to explore your career options and plan your applications. We can help you to write your CV and covering letter and prepare for interviews.

Please call us on 0114 2220910 if you would like help with your career planning and would like to talk to a Careers Adviser, or visit us at 388 Glossop Road on the corner of Durham Road.

Email Enquiry Service

We also offer an email service if you find it difficult to visit us at the Careers Service.