Arts, creative arts & humanities - an overview

• An overview
• Destinations
• Type of work
• Contacts and resources

View destinations of specific subjects:

This category contains a varied group of subjects ranging from the ‘traditional’, including English and history, to practical and vocational subjects such as design studies and drama, which typifies the range of degree courses now available. Many employers, particularly ‘blue- chip’ and those who recruit graduates onto structured training programmes are interested in students from a wide range of subjects, including those covered in this section. Indeed, according to analysis of advertisements in Prospects Today, reported in the Summer 2003 edition of Graduate Market Trends, just under 65% of all the advertisements that featured between 1 May 2002 and 30 April 2003 were open to graduates of any subject. Employers are sometimes flexible about subject because they trust that a degree of any kind is an indication of a good level of intelligence and transferable skills. However, the job market for graduates is competitive and it is even more the case now that a degree in itself is not enough.

Many students studying arts and humanities courses without a practical element could have only around six hours of lectures a week. They, of course, need to do many hours of independent study, mostly reading and research, but they do have the kind of flexibility that other students (for example, those studying some science courses) do not have. So there are more opportunities for undertaking careers research, part-time work and other work-experience opportunities during term time. It is extremely important that students take advantage of all opportunities to develop skills, for example through work experience (including voluntary work) and membership of clubs and societies, while they are at university, especially if the skills gained from such activities (eg teamworking and decision making) are not an integral part of their course of study.

Some traditional subjects do have a vocational element. Music and art history are good examples. Many students study these in order to pursue work linked to the content of their degree. They may also want to do something completely different. If this is the case, they may have to work a bit harder at the application and CV stage to explain to potential employers exactly what their course involves. For example, some employers assume that studying music is all about performing whereas performance is not actually a mandatory part of every music course. Also, analytical, essay writing and discursive skills can be as essential in music degrees as in many other courses.

Exploring the employment levels of the subjects included in this section as outlined in Table 1, it is clear that employment levels are high. Some newer subjects, such as media studies, have come in for some adverse criticism from commentators, yet the employment rate for this subject of 73.6% is amongst the highest for any degree subject and well above the average of 66.9%. Design studies and drama also fare particularly well, at 70.9% and 70.7% respectively. In terms of further study, the proportion of graduates from English, history and modern languages choosing to undertake further study or training of some kind is higher than the average, perhaps indicating the less vocational nature of these degrees in comparison with the other subjects in the group.

Many potential undergraduates, and their parents, are interested in what types of employment a degree with no obvious vocational link can lead on to. For many, the fact that employers can be as interested in skills as degree content and that over half of graduate jobs advertised don’t specify a subject, may not be convincing. An interesting thing to note is that employment in many creative arts degrees can take the form of unpaid work experience which could extend up to and beyond the point six months after graduation. This just reflects on the nature of the creative industries, where unpaid work experience can be that all important way of ‘getting a foot in the door’. Looking at the type of work breakdowns for the subjects covered in this section, it appears that the category ‘media, literary, design and sports professionals’ is well represented across design studies (31.6%), drama (24.3%) and to a certain extent, media studies (11.5%), reflecting the creative nature of these subjects. The category ‘commercial, industrial and public sector managers’ is also comparatively well represented, above the average for all subjects (11.7%) in all subjects excluding design studies.

Websites

Resources on this site

• Options with your subjects
• Explore types of jobs - occupations especially relevant to arts and humanities graduates can be found under creative arts, design and crafts, administration (specifically arts administration) and information services.

General links

• a-n: The Artists Information Company - resources for those looking for work in the visual arts
• Arts Council England
• BBC Jobs
• Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC)
• Clothing and Allied Products Industry Training Board (CAPITB)
• The Conference of Drama Schools
• The Design Council
• The Historical Association
• Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL)
• The National Centre for Languages (CILT) -information on careers related to languages
• Skillset: The Sector Skills Council for Creative Media
• Your Creative Future - guide to education and careers opportunities in the creative industries

Publications

Graduate Prospects publications

Graduate Prospects and AGCAS publications should be available in your university careers service. You can also order publications from us.

• Prospects Today, Graduate Prospects, weekly.
• Graduate Market Trends, Graduate Prospects, quarterly.

Others

• Careers Using Languages, Edda Ostarhild, Kogan Page, ISBN 0749424524
• BFI Film & TV Handbook 2004, BFI, edited by Eddie Dyja, ISBN 0851709907
• The Media Guide 2002, Paul Fisher, Steve Peak [eds], The Guardian, ISBN 1903809185
• What Can I Do With…an Arts Degree?, Beryl Dixon, Trotman, ISBN 0856607223
• What Can I Do With….a Media Studies Degree? Trotman, ISBN: 0856608661