Maya Bewley Finding a job that uses skills from your degree and gets your foot in the door is no easy feat. Life after graduating can feel daunting, but it’s also an opportunity to try new skills and discover what you love doing (and what you don’t, too!).
If you’re figuring out your options, we’re sharing four stories from graduates who all took different paths after graduating, with the hopes it might inspire you too. Be sure to check out the ‘What Do You Actually Do’ podcast for more inspiration too!
“Being open to evolving paths is key to thriving professionally and personally after graduating.”
After graduating with an MA in Medieval Studies, Ved used the skills she’d developed while studying at York to progress into her role as an educational consultant. Now, she helps students navigate opportunities in higher education, providing guidance on scholarships and applications:
“One of the most memorable days at work was when a highly complex student, who had been refusing to attend lessons for months, finally decided to return to class. Seeing them walk back into the classroom that day was an incredibly emotional moment: a mixture of joy, relief, and pride – and it brought tears to my eyes.”
Ved shared 3 important tips for recent graduates on navigating today’s overwhelming job market:
“My top tip for York students preparing for today’s job market is to adapt faster than AI is evolving. Change is constant, and embracing it early is the first step toward eventually leading it rather than being led by it.
Secondly, don’t hesitate to chase your dreams, but do so in a way that is flexible and uniquely your own, leveraging your strengths and passions while staying open to unexpected opportunities.
It’s also important to understand that you may not end up in the job you had always imagined, and that’s perfectly okay. Being open to evolving paths is key to thriving professionally and personally after graduation.”
“I applied for a graduate scheme after working for a year. Here’s how I found the right role for me.”
If you didn’t apply to a graduate scheme in your final year, don’t worry. Many organisations offer schemes aimed at recent graduates. One alum who did this was James, who worked for a year before deciding he wanted to join the Civil Service fast stream:
“I basically went away and googled and read and listened to as much as I could. I decided a graduate scheme would be a good idea because I wasn’t really ready to commit to something yet and it would provide really good training and opportunities.”
The UK’s Civil Service Fast Stream is an award-winning programme helping train recent graduates to access postings across government departments, tackling real issues that matter to people across the UK. James chose the Science and Engineering programme after graduating from a Masters in Chemistry at York. Here’s his top tips for the application process:
“Understand why you want to apply for this specific scheme first… Practise the initial online tests, and when it gets to the latter stages, have a reason for why you want to join. The civil service is really big on civil service behaviours, so you need to answer the application questions in that certain format.”
“I studied English at York. Now, I’m a junior doctor for the NHS.”
Becoming a doctor after studying English might not seem like an obvious career pathway, but one York graduate, Ian, is part of a growing number of alumni choosing to study medicine after graduating.
Ian pursued a route known as Graduate Entry Medicine, which allows those with a non-medical degree to study medicine on a shorter 4 year course (normal medicine courses entail around 5 years of study). This might sound daunting, but Ian assures graduates that there’s lots of opportunities to find your feet:
“You build up gradually over your career, you get this exposure in medical school, then you do your more generic foundation years, where you’re building up general medical and surgical competencies, and building up your confidence, and then you start training in your individual specialty.
So if you don’t think that’s for you, then there are plenty of other aspects of obstretrics and gynecology [women’s reproductive health], or other aspects of medicine, or different combinations of career interests that you can combine if that specific lifestyle doesn’t suit you.”
Now, he’s working as a clinical academic in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. So what’s it like to work in this area?
“You’ve got to have a sense of humor, because your days can be quite emotionally intense, with a range of different experiences, and you have to be able to process that and unwind from that.”
Through his PhD at Oxford, Ian is now hoping to develop prediction models to forecast severe complications in pregnancy.
“My philosophy degree helped me develop my career as a marketer.”
A philosophy student at York, Tasha use the reasoning and argument skills gained in her degree to help navigate her job as a digital marketer, where she worked for the National Railway Museum:
“I chose a degree that interested me and it turned out that there are all these transferable skills, but that took me a while to realise. It was only when I was applying for jobs, when you’ve gotta market yourself effectively, that you pick out the little things you can turn into a justification.”
“The most crucial skill that you can have in business, no matter what your speciality is, is being able to make your message understandable to others, to get your point across and convince them to trust in you.”
Tasha’s top piece of advice for those looking to progress into marketing, or a career in heritage, is to make the most of the resources available:
“Read what’s out there. Smart Insights is a really good tool for marketing professionals in the digital sphere. Reading articles on there will make you more aware of the terminology being used.
With heritage, volunteering is always a really good option, or if you can’t facilitate volunteering because you need an income, then look for front of house roles. Museums are always looking for visitor fundraisers. Having the perspective of front of house people is really valuable in an office role and it is something that we don’t get enough of.”
This interview was done at the time Tasha was working for the National Railway Museum. She has since worked at the British Library, and progressed into a role with the Food Standards Agency!
Want to read more graduate careers and explore the right opportunities for you? Be sure to check out the ‘What Do You Actually Do’ podcast for more inspiration. The podcast shares new graduate career stories every other week during term time, so be sure to check it out!
Check out our careers support for alumni below:
- Our alumni careers webpages include practical tips on finding graduate jobs and smoothing the path into your new workplace
- Check out the Careers Team’s job hunting toolkit to get you started
- Log in to York for Life, where you can connect with alumni working in your ideal role, and sign up for mentoring from fellow alumni!
- Find out how to Re-connect with the careers team at York.
