Job prospects for English Lit degree

[sunglasses]

DD in 2nd year of Eng Lit BA. She hasn’t secured a placement year in any of the ( very few) she applied for. There didn’t seem much to apply for and she got to the second stage of application for Disney, Universal and Warner Bros but obviously they have thousands of applicants so wasn’t pinning her hopes too much. None of her friends from her course or other unis she has friends at have found anything either . She is now looking for Sumner internships/ placements/ work experience. Can anyone recommend anything she should be looking at? She will be in London from June to end of September.

Good advice. Would contacting people on LinkedIn be a good idea? I don’t use it but have heard it can be good/ annoying by friends!

Amazing advice. This is definitely worth exploring. Do you need proper training in making a podcast? Special equipment? I wonder if the university has equipment- will get her on the case.

I don't know, but I would guess that most people making fairly professional podcasts are doing it using nothing more than a quiet room and a decent quality microphone that you could buy easily online.

You can get such good quality recordings just using a mobile phone these days that it would surprise me if anybody was spending a lot of money on equipment, especially if they're just getting started.

But most podcasts will also have their own social media accounts so there's really nothing to stop her from contacting people whose podcasts she likes and asking them if they have any advice to help her get started.

Good idea! She recorded an EP of her songs in her bedroom at age 16 and worked it all out herself so I’m sure she can figure this out. Reaching out to others for advice is a great suggestion though and something she probably needs to do more of in general.

Re: Linkedin

I am a visiting lecturer in a very hard to get into international profile specialist uni. I always give my linkedin and contact details at the end of my sessions and invite the students to connect or get in touch if they need anything. The amount that do is less than 1%. I remember the ones that do and try to help.

If your DD goes to any seminars / talks or meets anyone relevant, get her to link in and engage lightly on there. EG liking posts. Then if she needs anything (a coffee, an intro, advice), they have a connection established.

What she should not do is link in with randoms and send DMs demanding their time.

You’ve had some really great advice here @sunglasses so I hope it’s useful. I think the key thing is that she needs to be proactive as others also say. Applying for roles, yes all good, but she can also make it happen.

My ds is at lboro uni and I follow his sport there and others on socials - very active and all content produced by students. Lots of unis do similar. Your dd is not sporty but there will be uni societies she is interested in - who does their socials? Anyone? Could it be her?

Take a look (or she can!) at Lboro athletics or lboro sports on insta to see what I mean.

It's so difficult to get placements nowadays. I did a sandwich degree (Law) and as I had no contacts the university helped me with getting a placement (Allen & Overy). Ds is doing a MEng and was meant to have a year in industry but was unable to find anywhere so he decided to just do his degree without the placement. His Russell Group university were no help whatsoever!

They also hold careers fairs in most Unis. I know a lot of people who have made contact with companies offering grad’ schemes, sometimes in an area they would not have thought of and who have been employed on the programme and gone on to have amazing, well paid careers. Good luck to your daughter, it is a daunting but exciting time.

@Manthide What era are you talking about? I’m not sure any top employers give students work placements now based on contacts within a university. It would not be seen as meeting equal opportunities. And clearly doesn’t. All these placements are competitive now and students and many parents have been slow to realise that.

The mid 1980s. I think if a course is marketed as a sandwich course or with a year in industry then the university should give some assistance if necessary. Ds applied for lots of internships etc and didn't get anywhere. He was applying during his second year and after he was awarded a prize for getting the top marks overall on his course in his first year exams. He is now being 'headhunted' to do a PhD.

PhDs don’t necessarily get the holders great jobs. It’s another over sold area. The 1980s aren’t now. You cannot get a uni giving some students preferential treatment by negotiating jobs and placements for them. It’s obviously not fair. Also top marks is only part of a recruiting process. As your DS is finding out. Unis haven’t found anyone placements for a long time. Vast expansion of student numbers is another issue. Who is paying for this bespoke service? I think unis should be honest about numbers of placements acquired by students but they cannot favour some students above others based on their relatively narrow view of who might be a good employee.

I'll DM you.

@TizerorFizz I agree that there should be transparency with regard to how many undergraduates get placements. Ds is on the fence about doing a PhD ( he finishes his MEng in Aeronautical Engineering this year) as we are on UC and though he'd get a stipend for doing a PhD he'd like to earn real money. He is ASD and really struggles to put himself across via the online application process. Ds always works during his holidays and he is considered an excellent employee (he works at the warehouse I work), much better than me.

It seems like the wrong point in time for her to do a placement year, especially on an English Lit degree rather than something more vocational. Universities love to offer these ‘years in industry’ but then it’s all on the student to find these placements which aren’t plentiful and are incredibly competitive if they’re proper schemes. It’s harder than ever now for companies to take students in with all the insurance and red tape, so why the unis create these false expectations is beyond me, except for the fact they’re spiralling and desperate. As your DD doesn’t have a clear career path yet - which is totally fine at this stage - and is doing Eng Lit, why can’t she just stay in the zone, do the degree, do these other pursuits (podcasts etc) on the side and apply for things when she’s finished, or do a more vocational post grad (eg in an area of comms) if that becomes relevant. Most creative based careers don’t really pay much to start with anyhow so there’ll often be a bit of a run up - working the hotel job to pay the bills while developing skills, contacts and hustling for the dream jobs alongside it - so there’s no need to take the year out now. If one of the applications to schemes pays off, great. If not, stay at uni. I’ve got lots of friends who did Eng Lit degrees and have a whole range of roles now, including DH who switched to specialise in digital, but none of them did a mid-degree placement and I don’t think it would’ve made the difference.

English Lit is a classic subject, so plenty of options. I went into marketing myself. Did some part time work in the field whilst still at uni and then went from there. Did do a top-up marketing diploma a few years into my career. For context, I finished my degree in 2014.

@Manthide He could get a job! He’s not unemployable!

He sounds very employable and in demand. There is a shortage of engineers.

@Manthide Lots of smaller employers are not using on line tests. He maybe needs to go to careers and see if other companies are available. Big companies weed out by on line tests, others would be pleased to see him. He should expand his search because having a PhD doesn’t really enhance employment prospects in engineering. It means you have a specialism that some companies don’t really want. They will also know he’s never had an engineering job and isn’t on the road to getting Chartered. He could teach after a PhD but it’s a route not without risk.

@TizerorFizz that's good advice. He's very able ( not just saying that because he's my ds) and he just needs a foot in the door.

That’s exactly what she is going to do now. She has started to pursue contacts for advice etc re publishing/ marketing etc and looking for Summer work experience. She has found a house share for next year and is working on deciding what to do for her dissertation. She has pursued a voluntary role at a radio station to get some more relevant experience and is actually looking forward to doing her final year. Thanks so much for all the advice, it’s been really useful.

Don't forget to look at the academic press and scientific journal press as options for placements as well if she has any interest in that area.

I did Lit then worked at the police