Why arts and humanities degrees are valuable for your career: you have plenty of options

You have plenty of options

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your career does not have to be determined by the degree that you take. So no matter how many times people ask you, studying English doesn’t mean you have to become an English teacher, and a Philosophy degree doesn’t condemn you to a life of writing intellectual homilies and trying to grow a distinguished beard.

In fact, an arts or humanities degree sets you up to go into pretty much any career you want, except of course those few that, like medicine, demand certain qualifications. Unfortunately, ‘History graduate’ will rarely be written on a job specification, but there are lots of other ways you can fit the bill.

As well as careers in anything from media, marketing, and finance, arts graduates can go on to have successful careers in the tech sector. It may not seem like the most natural fit, and you may encounter some raised eyebrows, but many leaders in the industry believe in the importance of hiring people with different academic backgrounds.

In 2010, Steve Jobs attributed Apple’s success to the fact the company didn’t rely on technology alone, but rather ‘technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities’. Non-techies have to understand the technology they’re working with, but their ability to visualise multiple solutions to one problem, and to translate paragraphs of jargon into plain language makes them highly valuable.

“Why arts and humanities degrees are valuable for your career” is a guest blog series written by Claire Kilroy.  Claire works as a content writer for leading graduate recruitment agency Inspiring Interns. If you’re looking to get a start in your career, take a look at their graduate jobs London vacancies, or for more graduate careers advice, head over to their blog.