Social science graduates

mehmeh12

Ive just graduated from UCD with a social science degree. Ive been sending out cv's but no interviews yet :mad: Does anyone know if there is realistically any future employment in this area? or would i be better off changing to a different carreer? I was thinking of doing a conversion masters course?

Cannibal Ox

When you're applying for jobs/writing a CV, make sure you focus on the quants and qual courses you took, as well as the research projects you would have done for them. They're practically useful in most jobs. Vaguely I remember most big companies look for people to do market research for them, so it might be worth checking out companies like vodafone, diageo, etc, etc.

If you've got nothing else to do, go for an internship somewhere for a couple of months. I think the Geary Institute in UCD looks for interns, the child center in trinity has interns (but I think they might be from within trinity), email university departments, and it might be worth throwing the ESRI an email (though, I'm not sure if they actually take people on). It's also worth checking activelink.ie every now and again, sometimes positions come up for research people.

In general though, I think a master's is the way to go for social sciences. Find something to specialize in (something you're interested in, sports, health, work), find a master's that does it, and do it. You should get contacts through your lecturers for a job after.

mehmeh12

If you don't mind me asking are you yourself a graduate of social science? Have you found decent employment with this qualification?

Cannibal Ox

Hey, I did sociology and politics at UCD, so I would have done some similliar stuff to you. I'm doing an internship at the moment, before that I volunteered with NGOs for around 9 months after my undergrad, when I'm finished here I'm going to London to do a master's (and hopefully volunteer somewhere at the same time), and than after that I'm hoping to get a research/analysis job in an area I'm interested in.

I'll get a decent job eventually. It's a round about way of doing it, because what I'm interested in is development/international relations, and that's something I couldn't get a decent start off job in Ireland so I had to leave for a bit. But if you're interested in public health, Irish politics, education, social work, etc, etc., you should be able to find something in Ireland. You need to be a bit creative with it though, do some research and be prepared to stick with it for a while. I think you can still go to the careers office at UCD, it might be worth dropping in to if you've got the chance.