Careers

A degree from the School of Language, Literature, and Media will prepare you for careers in fields such as:

• Civil Service (such as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, or the Department of Culture, Media and Sport)
• Marketing
• Public relations
• Journalism
• Publishing
• Education
• Charity sector
• Academia
• Media
• Policy and research

The sectors listed above are just a few examples of the pathways that a degree from our School can lead to. Employers are often looking for a degree level qualification rather than anything subject-specific, so there is no need to limit yourself to the sectors listed above. The skills you will develop during your time at Essex will enable you to pursue a wide range of potential career paths.

At Essex you will be immersed in a broad programme of study, uniquely designed to equip you with a diverse skill set. Graduates of our School will find their skill set highly sought after by a wide range of employers throughout the world.

A degree from the School of Language, Literature, and Media will help you to develop:

• Communication and interpersonal skills; communicating complex ideas, listening to and understanding others, tailoring writing for audiences. Those undertaking a language degree will learn to read, write and speak a foreign language.
• Cross-cultural skills; adapting to different cultural settings, dealing with complexities of meaning, understanding local and global perspectives.
• Presentation skills; confidence communicating in public and with diverse audiences, conveying meaning precisely, presenting information effectively and confidently in speech and writing.
• Analytical skills; gathering, assessing and interpreting information, identifying patterns, applying methodologies and constructing and applying theories.

While artificial intelligence may feel like a threat to jobs in many sectors, AI is just a tool, and it cannot replace human-focused skills. AI cannot deliver a presentation even if it helps you create the slides for one, nor can it understand the nuance of tone and pitch in a spoken language.

The skills you develop through our degrees will make you a well-rounded candidate for a broad range of roles. By taking advantage of opportunities such as work placements, studying abroad, or volunteering, you will gain experiences that will be invaluable whatever job you go on to apply for.

The careers modules that you will take as part of your degree will help you understand how to vocalise these skills and experiences in a way that appeals to prospective employers. And for those who want to invest in themselves the university start-ups team will help you take your first steps into entrepreneurship.

Our School provides a range of unique career development opportunities. For language students there are opportunities to undertake professional qualifications (such as TESOL and CELTA) alongside their degree programmes. There are also opportunities to practise skills in interpreting and translation via real-life scenarios such as conferences.

For students on our literature, theatre, and film degrees, we have close working relationships with the Essex Book Festival, the Lakeside Theatre, and the Electric Palace cinema in Harwich.

Many of our students go on to pursue further study, either immediately after their degrees or after a period of employment. Some careers may require a postgraduate qualification for high level roles, or you may wish to develop your skills further for personal fulfilment.

Our School offers a wide range of Masters level courses as well as research-based postgraduate courses at both Masters (Masters by Dissertation) and PhD level. Some of our students also go on to pursue further study in other fields such as Speech and Language Theory, which build on their training in our School.

As part of our support in your education the university offers an alumni discount for those who return to Essex for further study.

In the School of Language, Literature, and Media we support our students throughout their work placements in the UK or abroad in collaboration with the university placements team.

The university placement team advises students during the process of securing a placement, conducts checks before the placement commences, and assists in case there are any difficulties during the course of the placement itself.