Whatever career path you decide to follow, you will be able to move on with a wealth of skills and a real competitive edge. Where you choose to study is of key significance for your future career options.
Postgraduate careers
Whether you want to pursue an academic career or follow a path in business or other sectors, undertaking postgraduate education that develops your personal and professional skills will give you the edge.
Postgraduate study at the University of Southampton will enable you to push the boundaries of knowledge in your chosen field and make a real contribution to your subject.
Whatever your situation, the Career and Employability Service offers a wide range of services and support for postgraduate students. Visit the Careers and Employability Service website for more details.
Career Destinations day
Your employability
In the job market, the ability to speak another language gives you the edge. The UK trades with over 200 countries worldwide and businesses are continually looking to expand globally- this is only possible if they can communicate internationally. As such, employers are constantly seeking out foreign language speakers. Figures reflect this - consistently showing modern languages graduates as having one of the lowest levels of unemployment six months after graduation.
Postgraduate study in modern languages opens up many doors to you, whatever your career plan. Many of our students have chosen a Masters or a PhD because they wish to pursue academia as a career. As a Southampton Postgraduate student you will regularly work with universal leaders in your field, making your experience here both immensely rewarding whilst offering regular opportunities for networking.
You may want to continue studying simply because you want to specialise in a particular interest within modern languages or continue to learn. In this instance you will still be enhancing your employability in preparation for a number of careers outside of the academic study of languages. Employers will look favourably on you not solely for your second, third or fourth language, but for the enhanced time-management, research and commitment to learning that your Masters or PhD demonstrates.
Career options
The perseverance and determination you develop from learning a language and relying upon it in a foreign country will be invaluable when striving for the job you want in a competitive market. Our graduates have gone on to successful careers in the Civil Service, fashion, financial services, library and information management, heritage and culture, travel and tourism, advertising, retail management, sales and marketing, international recruitment, broadcasting, journalism, publishing, science and IT, voluntary organisations and charities. With the ability to communicate in other countries, job opportunities are essentially doubled should you choose to explore a career in the country of your second or third language.
Humanities works with the Careers and Employability Service to develop opportunities for our postgraduate students.
Through events such as our annual postgraduate career day we explore the pathways available to those with higher degrees in the humanities with postgraduate recruiters such as IBM, to local and national government, from the BBC to the EU. The additional skills acquired through a masters or PhD in one of our disciplines can take you where you want to go.
