The University of Kent Careers and Employability Service English Language and Linguistics Careers...

The University of KentCareers and Employability

Service

English Language and Linguistics Careers

Bruce Woodcock University of Kent Careers and Employability Servicebw@kent.ac.uk You can download a copy of this presentation at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm

“Students in their first or second year at university need to ask themselves what job they want to do.

It’s important that they do not wait until their final year to think about finding a job, especially in the current market”.

Sarah Shillingford, Graduate Recruitment Partner, Deloitte

The more you enjoy university life, the more you’ll get out of it. Employers like you to have what they call “customer-facing experience”. You’ll get loads of that if you take a part-time job or work as a student volunteer. It’s a terrific help if you can understand how businesses work, show you can get things done and apply simple common sense. It was my work experience that gave me all these things, not my academic course. Kate, marketing officer with a PR agency

Join three university societies and become actively involved in at least one.

Alan Richardson, Graduate Recruitment, Royal Bank of Scotland Group

Skills gained on an English Language and Linguistics Degree

ELL graduates are attractive to many employers because of their:

• Analytical reasoning• Critical thinking & argumentation• Verbal skills: good handling of oral &

written language, ability to understand & analyse subtle differences in spoken & written form

• Communication skills: awareness of different styles and registers, and of intercultural differences in language use

• IT skills: use of basic software (e.g. Word, Powerpoint, Excel), social media, and discipline specific software (e.g. Praat).

One third of graduate jobs accept any degree subject.

BECAUSE:• Learn new skills quickly• Analyse & solve problems• Communicate well• Open to new ideas,

adaptable and flexible• “Managers of change”

• Marketing and Sales• Retailing• Social Work• Personnel• Civil Service• Accountancy• Banking• Computing

Your final year is too late to start your career planning!• Check you campus emails as I will send

you emails on vacation work etc. on Mondays

• Start your career planning well before your final year. Students who start early get the best jobs!

• Careers talks www.kent.ac.uk/careers/casevents.htm

What can I do with an English Language and Linguistics Degree?www.kent.ac.uk/careers/linguistics-careers.htm

Comparative Literature Careerswww.kent.ac.uk/careers/cls.htm

Example CVswww.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/cvexamples.htm

Bruce WoodcockEmail: bw@kent.ac.uk

www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/skills-Kent.htm

CHOOSING A CAREER

• CHOOSING A CAREER www.kent.ac.uk/careers/Choosing/ChoosingCareer.htm

and booklet available from Careers Service.

• Prospects Planner - powerful career choice program. www.prospects.ac.uk/links/Pplanner

• I Want to work in ….. www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin.htm

Postgraduate Study

• MA taught – 1 year Sept to June – lectures, June to Sept – dissertation.

• PhD – 3 years. Must do an MA first.

• PGCE (teacher training) 1 year: about 6% of grads

• See www.kent.ac.uk/careers/postgradmenu.htm

VACANCIES

University of Kent Vacancy Database

www.kent.ac.uk/ces/vacancies.html

Work Experience - see

www.kent.ac.uk/careers/vacwork.htm

OTHER TALKS

www.kent.ac.uk/careers/casevents.htm

Applications and Interviews

• Humanities CV: must be targeted at the job! www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/English-cv.htm

• Media CV www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/mediacv.htm

• Covering Letters

• Practice Interviews – journalism, teaching, marketing, HR, postgrad study etc.www.kent.ac.uk/careers/interviews/mockivs.htm

• Application, interview and selection centre videos www.kent.ac.uk/careers/IntVid.htm

Moodle Careers Employability Award Assessed by a range of quizzes and assignments

Only 2% unemployment rate for students completing the award compared to 5% for other Kent students.

Will greatly improve your career planning and jobhunting skills, giving you strategies to make career choices and will increase your chances of getting a graduate level job.

Takes about 12 hours to complete

On completion you will get a University of Kent Careers Employability Award to add to your CV

Get 60 Kent Employability points for successful completion of the module.

www.kent.ac.uk/careers/moodle.htm

www.kent.ac.uk/careers Telephone: 01227 823299 Email: careerhelp@kent.ac.uk

Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9 to 5 including vacations

Drop-in times (no appointment needed): 10.30 to 12.30 & 2 to 4 pm

The University of KentCareers and Employability

Service

Bruce Woodcock University of Kent Careers and Employability Servicebw@kent.ac.uk You can download a copy of this presentation at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm