If your degree is not related to the job you do, how did you get there?

[gretat]

So if youve done law and now you're a marketing manager how did you get there?

Was it through a graduate scheme?
Was it working in a very junior role and staying with the same company working your way up?
Was it just a random fluke?

I would love to know the career journey as I wish I had a bit of knowledge/ advice after I left uni on where to start.

So I done Politics and have ended up as a Planning Consultant. I suppose it is related in a way, I have to deal with policy and political stakeholders but I didn't take a Planning, Urban Design or Geography course which are the usual routes in.

I ended up there after doing some work experience where my Dad worked. I had finished uni and was waiting to hear back from the Civil Service Fast Stream process (actually got offered a job but turned it down for Planning!) So in the meantime thought I would get some work experience under my belt just to keep me busy.

My dad worked for a major housebuilder and so I sat in various departments to see different aspects of the company and just fell in love with the Planning side of it.

Ended up signing up to a Planning Masters course part time and found a different housebuilder to work for. Now I'm working at a planning consultancy firm.

Oh wow. Politics is quite different to planning!. Thanks for your reply!

I did a history degree. I then joined a Big 4 grad scheme and qualified as a chartered accountant. Left practice when I qualified and moved into business analysis and planning/ bit of investor relations. I then side stepped into equity research due to industry knowledge of what was then a hot sector. Left that role when I moved overseas and took a career break but subsequently returned to the same company in a very different role ( philanthropic grant making). Not looking to move, but if I did I’d love to do investor relations or a stakeholder engagement role in clean energy.

I did a history/education double degree and taught for 3 years. I wanted to get out of teaching and a friend worked for Unilever. She had an online copywriting job going and I used my English teaching background to get it.

From there I have done various marketing roles and now do digital change management

I did ancient history and am now a lawyer - I did a graduate conversion course.

I joined a graduate scheme with an English degree initially I was in sales but have under up in Project Management 20 years later.

The graduate scheme was with a large multinational and was an excellent start to my career. It branded me with a mark of quality given the employer and set my expectations for the type of employer and role I would take in future.

I did law but started in market research for IT companies, and then became a languages teacher, then a sahm, and then a software tester/QA now moving into software management.

In all cases I applied for a job I saw advertised, even though my qualifications and experience were not exactly what they asked for.

In all jobs, I started a bit lower level than I liked, Then worked my way up (eg I started with data entry for 3 months, then research analyst, then managing client accounts, then managing a team of research analysts)

If you work for companies where there is a possibility for career progression, I never minded starting low.

Saying that, it's not as if I am.CEO now!

I did graphic design and am now a teacher, of English.

I hated graphic design and floated around doing many things before deciding to work from home.

Then I was searching for a job and a position came up, needed a degree, to be a native speaker, bingo, two years on and I love it

Politics degree followed by a law conversion course. Worked as a PA in a law firm while doing the conversion course at evening school. Realised I definitely didn’t want to be a solicitor and made a sideways move into being a business development exec for a law firm - I was so lucky to get that gig because I’d got up to a decent PA salary and couldn’t afford to start as a BD assistant which was the first rung of the ladder. Hopped into another law firm as a BD exec and now on my third role as a BD manager. I actually really enjoy it although it doesn’t really use my degree (although there’s some horizon scanning stuff such as ‘what would a Corbyn government mean for our clients’ which I suppose does play in).

Temping in junior roles at a huge range of companies until I found one that just felt right. Worked my way up to management positions but then later did a complete change and became a primary school teacher!

Watching this with interest as my degree isn't particularly useful but about to start a masters in a similar field but more policy making/public affairs/hr based and ever hopeful of a good job at the end.

Degree was a specialist area of history which only really lends itself directly to teaching that subject or working in a museum.

After I graduated my first job was in police recruitment, dealing with application forms and interviews/tests.

From there I moved to a governmental funder of medical research (the link with police job was handling applications - at this job for research funding).

Then to a charity funding medical research, promoted from admin to manager (most of the other research managers had a PhD in scientific subject).

Then moved to a university as a research admin helping academics apply for research funding, using knowledge gained in precious two jobs (gamekeeper turned poacher?).

Now a SAHM but seriously thinking of doing some postgrad research into medical history, and tying it all together...

Alot of you have done really well. I seriously have gone very wrong somewhere!

My first degree, after school, was english lit. Didn't really know what to do with that - no interest in teaching and editing/copywriting jobs (which I really fancied) were not well paid.

Went travelling afterwards and when I returned 18 months later, I took on a junior role in a design and build company. Then went on to do a BSc, then MSc in building surveying. Now a manager in this field.

I did a BSc in music followed by a Primary PGCE. I then retrained as a specialist teacher and now work for a sensory support team for a local authority.

I studied politics too, although I drifted through uni and didn’t enjoy the course. I should have changed subject, but really didn’t know what I wanted to do, so stayed put.

After graduating I worked in a call centre for 6 months before becoming a trainee recruitment consultant. I worked for the same agency for almost 17 years and moved from recruiting to running large outsourced recruitment contracts, before moving ‘in house’. I now lead EU resourcing a major logistics company.

I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up!

I have a degree in music management (which is also the worlds most pointless degree) and am now an estate agent. I fell into it by accident after bouncing around various admit type jobs but I love it and can’t imagine doing anything else now.

Friend got MSc in biology (lab rat, gen engineering, iirc). Got into customer service for a large tech company... eventually charmed her way into junior role in online games production (helped she was a huge fan of the game they sold). Has moved around many online game companies as senior producer since.

I have a degree in Journalism, I had to get a job asap after leaving uni so worked in admin in a large company HR company. Then I had a baby so needed a part time job (journalists, especially junior journalists dont work part time) so I worked as an Operations Assistant for a small company. I left there as there idea of part time and my idea of part time weren't the same. I worked in a call centre as needed a job and that's all was available that fit in with school hours. Whilst at the call centre I did Bookeeping, payroll etc via distance learning and now I work in an accountancy firm.