what jobs can be achieved through an arts degree

the tipster

?

Scarinae

This is taken from http://www.skoool.ie/skoool/collegechoice.asp?id=2759

A story is told of a deeply disgruntled arts graduate employed by a major corporation. The employer had not bothered to inquire what subjects he had taken in his degree. Given the hard work he put into getting a good honours qualification, he was quite disappointed. After some months he plucked up the courage to ask the employer, who smiled and responded that the content of his degree was not the key factor in securing his contract of employment. Rather, it was the fact he had negotiated his way independently through three years at university, learnt the skills of self-motivation, and worked through a series of project deadlines, formal examinations, and so on.

Also relevant was that he had got involved in numerous college societies, learning the skills of public debating, as well as actively participating in the sporting life of the college. In doing so he had proved his suitability to be similarly self-motivated in acquiring the skills necessary to perform productively in his new job.

There is no clearer rationalisation of the benefits of taking a liberal arts/social science option in college.

Recent statistics published by UCD show that within a year of graduation, 44 per cent of arts graduates were involved in post-graduate study, while 45 per cent were in employment.

For many 18-year-olds, the prospect of choosing a career is a daunting prospect - and the opportunity to study a range of non-career specific subjects, while learning the skills necessary for independent living, is attractive.

The range of careers open to such graduates is enormous: teaching, civil service, local authorities, journalism, public relations, advertising, recruitment, management consultancy, customer service, entertainment, insurance, sales, marketing, social work, politics, telesales, e-commerce, and tourism, to name only some.

Arts and Social Science graduates have the flexibility to move in any direction they wish. Many of them take post-graduate master's degrees in areas such as journalism or business administration. The key strength of an arts/social science qualification is its flexibility.

EdgarAllenPoo

Teaching would be a good option, in my experience it's what most arts students end up doing (although I do know someone that went on to work in an art gallery). You would be perfect for a job in RTE they love arts students, have to be a good irish speaker though.

the tipster

Fishie wrote:

This is taken from http://www.skoool.ie/skoool/collegechoice.asp?id=2759

i will probably take a risk and be a proffesional gambler

leemer

Ok so secondary teaching(with a h dip), primary teaching (if you do a post grad in England) Arts administration, something to do with media like RTE or whatever, law (if you do legal science and do a post grad) Psychology(also if you do a post grad) interpreter of some kind or you can join the civil service.(all you need is a leaving cert or if you have degree you get in at a higher level.)Basically you can do anything you want except medicine or sciencey courses. Sin e!...... Hope this helps :rolleyes:

DingChavez

Crap and unintresting kill-me-now jobs.

cuckoo

TBH, i think employers look at the class of your degree before the subject.

So, if you have a love of say history, and got a 2.1 or a 1st in it you'd have a wider range of employment options than if you went with a science/business course (for 'career' reasons), hated it and got a pass degree.

sock.rocker*

i've heard loads of stories of people not gettin employment after an arts degree..

the fact that its 6-8 hours a week means that employers wudnt value the degree as much as a degree with maybe 20 hours.

b.comm (what im doing) is a very good degree if ya dont know what ya want to do..

i know exactly what i want to do and will need a post grad for it but at least i know i can go pretty much anywhere from a b.comm

AndyWarhol

Ah yes... Good 'aul Arts. The first thing that anyone has to remember when taking on arts is that you are there for an education and not a qualification. What this means basically is that you will be a cultured, bohemian type by the end of your 3/4 years.

So when undertaking an Arts degree, it's most important to get in with a good crowd, be passionate about something (Acting, film, dancing, sport, politics, debating etc.), do lots of high brow socialising and move freely in the right circles.

If you're doing arts and you're spending 8 hours in the library every day, you're missing the point. Arts is about soaking up life. I'd definitely employ somebody with an arts degree - they are well rounded individuals with good personalities and often end up as personal assistants, HR types, PR types, politicians/councillers, etc. There's lots of scope to do anything with an arts degree in my opinion.

If you did study too hard as an arts student and got a 2.1/1.1 or feel you didn't do enough socialising, you can always go to smurfit business school for a year or go to Kings Inns or do a masters and you'll be back on the career track in no time.