School of Social & Cultural Studies
Albany Campus, Auckland

Careers in the Humanities and Social Sciences

What can I do with my degree?

Meet our School graduates in English, Media Studies, and Communication to find out about their work.

Career tips for Humanities students

• The Bachelor of Arts offers more choice than any other degree. You can complement your majoring subject(s) with papers in computing, web design, marketing, management, education . . . just about anything. Build an imaginative programme that suits your needs and interests!
• Organise your CV to emphasise your transferable skills--communication, analysis, research, leadership, teamwork--rather than your qualifications. Show how you have added value to academic or community projects that you have been involved in.
• Employers look for well-presented candidates with a positive, customer-focused attitude. As Dale Gray of TMP/Hudson Global Resources comments: "Not only specialist skills count, but the 'total package' too--a job seeker's outside interests, voluntary work record, and family circumstances" ("Job Market Outlook," EXMSS Off Campus, Nov. 2003, p. 15).
• The quality of your degreeis important! Complete your academic projects on time and get the best grades you can.
• Planning a career in writing? Start your portfolio now. Edit a class anthology, write for the campus newspaper, start a weblog, join a volunteer newsletter team . . . take every opportunity to get published.

General careers advice

• Download Professor Kerr Inkson's article "New Patterns of Career" (.doc).
  [ Reprinted with kind permission of the publisher from: Work and Working in Contemporary New Zealand. Ed. P. Spoonley, A. de Bruin, and A. Dupuis. Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 2004. pp. 71-94.]
  
• Visit Massey's careers website
• Contact a careers advisor at Massey
• Browse jobs4grads: The graduate recruitment site for NZ Universities
• Subscribe to the albany-careers email group and register with jobs4grads.net. Download .pdf instructions
• Visit Massey's Labour Market Dynamics research programme

The last laugh

A young man, hired by a supermarket, reported for his first day of work. The manager greeted him with a warm handshake and a smile, gave him a broom and said, "Your first job will be to sweep out the store."

"But I'm a university graduate," the young man replied indignantly.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that," said the manager. "Here, give me the broom--I'll show you how."

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