Career choices for language graduates

Travelling the world, chatting up the locals on holiday, getting a great job – languages open a thousand doors, so why don't language graduates know what to do for a career?

Pretty much everyone you talk to at university (and beyond) will agree – studying a language is a Good Thing. You get a year off – if not somewhere hot and exotic, then most definitely somewhere better than your student bar – and you open up a world (literally) of opportunity. The trouble is, most language graduates know they're talented, they just don't know what jobs they could do. And their linguistic abilities can sometimes put up a barrier to identifying their other skills. Hang on, I feel some careers advice coming on.

Here, there and everywhere

So what do language grads do with this broad experience? Clair Souter, assistant director of the University of Leeds Careers Centre, and herself a language graduate, has worked with language students for 12 years. She can list a massive range of job areas that graduates go into – from the DTI European fast stream to the JET scheme, and from publishing to law, they really do end up anywhere and everywhere. 'I would say that a little over 25 per cent go on to do something directly related to their degree – say an East Asian studies student going on the JET scheme – but there are a huge range of job areas that use their languages skills less directly.'

And that's the problem. Language graduates are, in Clair's words, 'overwhelmed with options.' To help whittle them down, Clair recommends – in true careers adviser style – that 'grads take a long look at their whole skills package. In other words, identify the skills you have, and the skills you would most like to use in your chosen career (have a look at the top ten list of transferable skills for language graduates to start you off). If your skills point you to a career in marketing, then research marketing companies where you might one day need to use your language.' You could also get work experience in this country, and keep your languages topped up for when you can break away to other climes.

Clair's top tips for making the most of your language degree

1. Promote yourself unashamedly – now is not the time to be modest
2. Be realistic – if you don't find the perfect job immediately, don't give up
3. Focus on your all your skills when doing your initial research
4. Think carefully about how much you want to use your language day to day
5. Don't be fooled – you might think certain employers/industries seem to be a dead cert for using your languages – but you might be wrong

Nice tan

Clair reckons you'd be hard pressed to find an employer who doesn't think favourably of graduates with languages skills.' This is partly because languages graduates have communication skills coming out of their sun-tanned ears, but also because of the time they will have spent abroad. Employers love the year abroad,' adds Clair. And you find that languages students are more focused when they get back. They've been able to think about their career.'

'I think the main advantage is the year abroad,' agrees Hedgie Gundry, a French and politics graduate, also from Leeds, and now working as a press officer for the National Audit Office. Hedgie was lucky enough to be an English language assistant for nine months on the sunny island of La Reunion. 'I became more confident and more resilient too. And it was great to get some proper work experience.' I bet the sunshine helped too, eh Hedgie? 'The whole experience just made me more open-minded,' Hedgie explains. 'I think employers look for people with broad experiences and an international outlook.'

The right approach

This is an approach that worked for Hedgie: 'When I graduated I knew that I wanted to work for a company with offices in France so that I could to use my French. My first graduate job was as at a pan-European PR consultancy with offices all over Europe, including Paris. I worked on several European accounts, took journalists on two press trips to France and also spent several weeks in our Paris office working with colleagues on similar accounts.' And now? 'I am currently researching British companies with offices in France and other French speaking countries to see what communications opportunities there are.'

Ultimately, the career you choose will depend on how much you want to use your language when you graduate. It might take you a while to focus on the skills you have and how to use them in your career and, as Clair says, you probably won't get it right first time. 'With each job I've moved closer to using all the skills elements that are most important to me,' says Clair. But there you have it: do your research, be flexible and be creative, safe in the knowledge that employers will love you and that, one day, you could work somewhere a lot sunnier, cleaner or cheaper than the UK...

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