I've only got 3 first year units left to complete finish off my degree and graduate next year, so I'm pretty much done with uni. I kept it broad and majored in communication studies, minoring in professional communication and digital media. I just don't know what jobs or careers this qualifies me for.
What jobs am I qualified for with my Arts degree with communication major and minors?
spacejames on 12/12/2016 - 00:30
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How do you get an arts major off your front porch?
Pay for the damn pizza.
Q: What does BA stand for?
A: Bachelor of Attendance.
You didn't have a career in mind when you selected your degree?
lol beat me to it. just commented same thing
Originally I was studying interactive media but my circumstances changed and the only way to finish on time without adding another year to my studies was to transfer to arts. Originally I wanted to be in media production but I think I've moved on.
I have new media Degree i think let say do you want fries with that. easyer joke a aide show your have an artistic way of thinking. help most job roles like my self you need other skills
Are you working in robotics?
I have new media Degree i think let say do you want fries with that. easyer joke a aide show your have an artistic way of thinking. help most job roles like my self you need other skills
Like basic proficiency in English?
a sandwich artist at Subway
Why don't you look at a private college like Billy Blue or General Assembly and checkout the UX/UI career path. I'm betting communications would help with that and you'd get the chance to be creative. Excellent money in major cities at the moment too.
To be fair, not everyone knows what they want to do at 17. Easy to get pushed in to it.
you didnt think of this before enrolling ?
I just thought up the best job: Starbucks.
Wait, now hear me out.
He can use his arts skills to create decorative cappuccinos.
And he can use his communications skills to write the customers names on the cups.
Voila!AFAIK, Starbucks doesn't do much of the latte art you are referring to, that's more par for classier cafés.
Actually, s barista job might be a good fit for a young guy with a creative background to ground himself. Once he has some experience in 'hospitality' it will always be a good fallback between other jobs, especially with the future/changing job market.
You might be onto something, Arts is an annagram for Star.. and bucks is slang for money.
Stars are used in astrology to predict a person's future or destiny.
Combine the two to create Arts money and it seems like OP was destined to work at starbucks.
I just don't know what jobs or careers this qualifies me for.
I thought you look into this before starting a course.
I just don't know what jobs or careers this qualifies me for.
You'll get some nasty comments for this line, but I don't think it's all that deserved. Sometimes people choose to study things that they're interested in and find it worthy to spend their time studying about things they enjoy. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Of course, it'd be nice to make a career out of it as well. I'm assuming you're in this situation. Nothing wrong with that in my view.
My suggestion is to do your own research online. Careers fairs and all that are pretty useless in my opinion, I've never found them to be particularly useful. Often you'll find that you get jobs in areas where you least expect it. I'd suggest looking into something in the field of public relations, publishing, marketing, events management…etc. that sort of thing. If you're able to complement your degree with useful practical skills, such as being proficient in graphics design software (e.g. Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) and familiarising yourself with different industries, e.g. maybe taking a first or second year marketing unit from the Business faculty will genuinely help you broaden your horizons a fair bit.
Lastly, you might wish to consider an alternative, but related career through further study. You may wish to do a Masters degree in teaching, for example, and become a high school English teacher. Perhaps doing a specialist professional Masters in communications will help you land those more competitive PR jobs (which are very competitive these days). Alternatively, complementing your degree with a Masters degree in a related field is also a good strategy - if you wish to go into marketing, for example, a Masters degree in marketing will be extremely helpful and will place you far ahead of the standard graduate.
Generally, from knowing a large number of students who did Arts, the skills which they learn are generally very useful. They tend to be much better writers, critical thinkers and are more familiar with reading complex material, digesting large amounts of text and have a better awareness of current affairs and social issues than students from other faculties. These skills are very important to have, especially in the 21st century, even if they, by themselves, are not that employable. If you combine this with a bread-and-butter degree, such as one in Business/Commerce or IT (two of the most bread-and-butter fields IMO), you'll find yourself with a very big leg up on everyone else.
Best of luck!
Just wow about Arts being the critical thinking faculty.
Yeah, it's much more they are better at bullsh*t and lying with complex justifications for their waffle.
And saying that, the OP is probably most well attuned to a "social media strategy" type job. They tend to be seen as junior to the real marketing roles, tend to be seen as the preserve of the young, and there are plenty of firms that are only really now getting to grips with it (just as it fades) so the openings are there.
Not an arts grad, but this is the attitude that gets results like Australia's climate change policy. "let the facts speak for themselves" doesn't work when you need to convince many people of an idea.
Critical thinking explicitly means questioning and investigating the underlying basis for things, not logical or structured thinking. I reckon it is fair to conclude arts degrees foster this more than, for example, engineering or medicine.Critical thinking explicitly means questioning and investigating the underlying basis for things, not logical or structured thinking.
I'd suggest that statement has much more to do with the mess of Australia's climate change policy than anything
@sane:
To clarify, I would rather have a chemist develop a new drug that requires careful and measured evaluation of a huge bunch of information to assess risks and test for efficacy and issues. The application of the scientific method is a fantastic way to extend ideas into new areas and expand knowledge.
I'd rather have somebody with an arts degree evaluate whether building a wall along the Mexican border is a good idea. How do you apply STEM to such a question? You can probably estimate costs. And likely quantify materials, load values and dimensions. But how do you evaluate whether it is a good idea? And then how do you persuade others of your conclusion?Strangely enough, it's the STEM graduates who forever making the moral decisions; and the arts grads trying to excuse them with nice sounding words. Remember, pol sci majors make up most of the politicians, and that's a liberal arts subject.
But how do you evaluate whether it is a good idea?
Hmm, game theory mixed with system dynamics. You might have to throw in some economics (which claims it is a science). At no point should you NOT be engaging the STEM side.
And then how do you persuade others of your conclusion?
You mean if facts and evidence don't work?
Employ an arts grad to lie for you?
@sane:
Why not just say you will build a model simulating every particle in the universe to decide whether building a wall is a good idea? And how will your model evaluate 'good'? Is it wealth, number of deaths, additional healthy years lived, total population?It is really OK to admit there are some questions the scientific method is poorly equipped to answer.
(Oh, and nearly none of our politicians, state, federal or local have any political science qualifications. Federally, lawyers are the most common professions).Why not just say you will build a model simulating every particle in the universe to decide whether building a wall is a good idea?
Because the appropriate tools are game theory and system dynamics, with a bit of economics thrown in.
It is really OK to admit there are some questions the scientific method is poorly equipped to answer.
Very, very few. That's usually the arts grad version of "we demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty". Indeed 'evidence based' is what is supposed to be done most of the time, in most domains.
(Oh, and nearly none of our politicians, state, federal or local have any political science qualifications.
Tony Abbott?
Put it the other way, can you think of any politicians with STEM degrees?
And how will your model evaluate 'good'? Is it wealth, number of deaths, additional healthy years lived, total population?
Votes in marginal seatsJobs and growth.@sane:
You've seen the episode of the Simpsons where Mensa takes over running Springfield, right?
Metric time is a brilliant idea, why not adopt it?
Game theory and economics both explicitly ignore externalities that are too hard to model, and any analysis that attempted to use them for decision making is doomed to fail if it relies solely on them in a real world scenario (as opposed, to say, a blackjack deck). The implicit assumption that externalities are unimportant and can be safely ignored is how we end up with stuff like the current climate change policy!
As for pollies, the most recent stats I can find are several years old:
http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departm…Parliament apparently loves a lawyer.
You've seen the episode of the Simpsons where Mensa takes over running Springfield, right?
You've seen china, right? Guess how they got from there to here…
@sane:
Ok.
Is step one always the cultural revolution? How did all those village iron forges work out in the Great Leap Forward?
Not to be rude, but this comment screams the need for some broader education in humanities like history. I'm no humanities scholar, but I can show some respect for their field and know enough when I am out of my depth not to set off on a new field of excavation.
Both technical and humanities study is valuable.Apologies, my sarcasm detector is broken. Nicely played.
With a background in STEM in high school and finance / professional qualifications / MBA in graduate and postgraduate studies, I agree with the critical thinking strength of an Arts background. I also support the teaching career pathway - google the education system in Finland if you want some inspiration (I understand the reality of Australia is still some way away).
I'm not sure what the degree covers exactly - but the Digital Media side of things is a rapidly growing industry. The types of things you may be qualified for include content writing / marketing, digital advertising, social media management, etc. It's easy to get onto one of the freelancing sites and see if you like it (and get paid a bit too).
I do digital media/marketing. Lots of opportunities for the lots and lots of grads. Good luck getting a job with an arts degree lol
Depending on the quality (and cost) of the university you are doing the degree at they should have careers advisors who can help you (it is in the best interests of the uni to get you employed as it helps them sell the degree to the next intake).
Just to be clear, communications degrees don't cover OSI protocol stacks,TCP/IP or WDM?
Yeah it defies belief.. You'd think it was a pre-req for a ccna
Had a little giggle because I am about to take my Computer Networks and Applications course next semester at uni…
I'll confess a bias against 'communications' degrees and why. It started in the early 90s when US NCAA athletes needed courses and passing grades for academic scholarships. Many of them were illiterate, so communications degrees were invented as the unflunkable jock degree that future professional athletes chose. They would just practise some sportcasting dressed in a sports jacket in a mock studio and would be given a communications degree after their 4 years of sporting service was up. It felt so wrong. So many of my basketball cards had communications degree, I, for a time, thought they were smart and studying network protocols when in reality it was a faux degree to get around NCAA academic rules. There was a later scandal about students graduating who couldn't write their own name.
WDM?! Real unis have UNIX-based courses
:P
Wavelength Division Multiplexing for fibre optics :p, but yeah, I do remember Windows Driver Model and even Windows Display Manager or something.
I'd just apply for every grad program you see. Gov and large companies give you the opportunity to move around if you find you don't like what you're doing.
This is reasonable advice.
You are qualified for a beginner office job in a big organisation like a bank/government department/IT company/etc.
As to the people saying you should think of this before you commence studying, I have no idea where they got their career advice. Was it the Richard Scarey Busytown books?
My job didn't exist when I finished school, so I don't know how I could have studied for it. Doing a generalist uni degree was a big help, however.Love the Richard Scarey reference. Reminded me of this:
https://boingboing.net/2014/11/26/tom-the-dancing-bug-richar…
Which I find both amusing and depressing
It is not just what you majored in, but how well you did, and what else you did with your time. Did you do any extracurriculars? Have any part-time jobs? What did either teach you about what you like doing and what you are skilled at?
If you have good grades and some work experience
A good option is a 'generalist' graduate program. It would last 1 - 2years, during which you would rotate amongst different roles, along with 10 - 50 other graduates in the company / government department. Your university careers centre will be running a lot of workshops, probably including over the summer, so check that out now. It can be a long process applying and if you are graduating mid year, there will be less optionsIf you have good grades but no work experience
Consider dropping to part time, 1-2 subjects per semester and get a job, any job, fast food is fine, you really need to be able to talk about something other than uni in job interviews. Graduating at the end of the year instead of mid year will be completely outweighed by the benefit of having work experience. It is much harder for a company to take a punt on someone who hasn't already learnt the frustration of the work environment. Groupwork sucks at uni. Sometimes real work team dynamics suck a lot more, even if you otherwise love your job, and it is good to demonstrate that you are not sheltered.If you have work experience, but not good grades
Network network network, at your current job and start going to every networking events your university careers team put on, join some uni societies than run networking events and go to those as well. Lots of people get a job through contacts, and this is probably going to work best for you if you don't look good enough on paper to get to the interview stage.If you have neither work experience, nor good grades
You need to re-evaluate. You clearly did not like your course or struggled with motivation. Try and find a job, and finish off the degree, but you have some hurdles to overcome in getting a job. Perhaps go see the university counselling team in addition to the careers team whilst that support is still available to you at no cost.If you are completely sick of studying and can't bear the thought of a 40 hour work week and just want to take a year off to travel
Consider taking a leave of absence and travelling now, then returning to finish your degree. I think there is too much pressure on kids to hurry up and finish. If you race to the end and don't have the energy to compete in the job market, you are shooting yourself in the foot. If you take a year off after graduation you will return and find yourself with the clock ticking on the amount of time you can receive careers support from university - which depending on the uni extends to current students and alumni within 1 - 2 years of graduation; and time running out on your ability to apply for graduate programs that only take applicants within 1 - 2 years of graduation, reducing your options. It isn't the end of the world, but it may make it harder, so if you need to 'find yourself' to try and find some career direction consider doing so before graduation to give yourself more time afterwards with these options.Internal/External communications? Copy writing? PR? Content producer?
Thanks everybody for your comments, I originally should have stated that I would prefer a role which required writing. Marketing, copywriting, internal policy development are all areas which peak my interest. My grades are pretty good, averaging Hd's and D's for everything. Although it is VU we are talking about here so the bar may not be set that high..
Thanks. I thought something similar.
Run for parliament. Ticks all the boxes
You could also register with a recruiting agency and let them do the running around for you, although no guarantee's they will find a job you're looking for
If you're not overly concerned about exactly what you want to do at this point, look at as many graduate programs as possible. Many (particularly government) graduate programs with a generalist pathway are not overly concerned as to your actual degree (usually only a minimum WAM). There are also many of the big consulting firms that are moving in the same direction in looking beyond the degree.
The only downside of most government graduate programs (besides state government) is that they'll require you to move to Canberra.
Have a look at this link, under communications there's pretty much a whole list of jobs and potential graduate employers, VU might have something similar
https://www.monash.edu/career-connect/jobs/plan/using-your-d…
I don't know why this doesn't have more likes. This is exactly what the OP is after - a list of jobs they are qualified for and a list of potential employers.
I know people who have zero degree qualifications and are quite successful. A degree helps but it's not the be all and end all. Some roles in some organisations are blocked if you don't have one, but in other cases, if you take any sort of entry level job (ie in a bank) and do you best, and your best work is above average, you'll keep moving up.
You can work for yourself. In this day and age you are not bound to working for someone else or in a set career for the rest of your life. You said you enjoy writing, so why don't you try that for a while. You can make a profile on Up Work and do so on there, or seek your own clients elsewhere. You could also write for a site like Text Broker. An arts degree is a very valuable degree, don't listen to anyone who puts it down. It just takes a bit of thought to get going once you graduate.
porn star
Something like this
Advertising => Arts & Media Agency Account Management
https://www.seek.com.au/job/32371491?savedSearchID=12161385&…http://www.careerfaqs.com.au/news/news-and-views/what-to-do-…
http://au.gradconnection.com/graduate-jobs/arts-and-humaniti…
might be worth looking at these sites as a starting point.
The is a big push in the soft skills side of industry; which may play well with your arts degree.
Do not sign up for anything that asks for money to find you a job; they are invariably confidence tricksters.
Best of Luck with the search.
ASIO runs a grad program and they target arts grads. Want to be a spy?
Call me Bond. James Bond. Phd in Arts.
I actually seriously went down the path of being is ASIO/ASIS… but uni wasn't for me
ASIO runs a grad program and they target arts grads. Want to be a spy?
How would you know if you're applying for a legitimate job and not instead being recruited as an asset?
Because they make the perfect low value / expendable assets.
"Churnalist" ie. the people that write click bait all day long.
You wouldn't believe this awesome opportunity waiting for you!
The top ten careers for communications grads!
Number 7 will shock you!
Easiest job. Just be a dirty reposter from reddit.com, but get paid for it as well.
… qualified to start a useful degree that will lead to a job.
Take it from an arts grad.
A piece of advice that I wish someone had of given me, and then maybe I wouldn't have put myself through a massive career change, would have saved my deposit ten years earlier and saved a lot of pain and suffering. If you're interested in marketing - ring up some companies and ask to work experience. Try and get some summer internships, half a day a week, anything. I had no idea to do this and no one told me. And toward the end when they did (too late), I liked the confidence and initiative to do it. The end result is that when I got my job out of university, I hated it. I had no idea of the difference between the reality and the fantasy, I had no idea of going to the workplace that suits your personality, or doing the job you don't mind going out of bed for. Doing all that low-paid or free work isn't just resume building (although it is), it's to give you a sense of where you fit. My first degree was also multimedia and communications so I get it. But you're not going to know what career you're best suited to until you get some face time with them, and it is way better to do it when there's less at stake (i.e. when you're at uni). Good luck.
This is why I chose Commerce when I had no idea what I wanted to do after graduating high school.
i think you made the right choice there.. graduating with commerce lets you get into a bunch of roles, arts however..
I tend to find most people include Arts in a double degree, a good outlet for their creativity
Arts is very broad, from visual arts, languages, etc. Economics at USYD falls under the Faculty of Arts.
Definitely agree, I am a Commerce/Software Engineering student and I can definitely say that Commerce is a good degree for the wishy washy people. The avenues for the low end students with either people skills or none at all is large (bank tellers, payroll officers, accountant, accounts officers, financial planner) and the avenues for the high achievers are even higher (auditor, consultant, business analyst etc.)
most of the commerce people i know are on average/above salaries while the arts dudes are still doing parttime whatevers
"Finding myself" in South America
Some uni courses and subjects are there for the purposes of providing an education for the sake of education, not necessary for qualifying you for a job.
Good on you. Nothing wrong with doing a less vocational degree. Hopefully, it has thought you how to think and reason properly while being able to express yourself (this is seriously missing from so many graduates), but it does mean that you'll need a bit more work getting ready for a skilled role once you graduate.
My advice would be to use those three first year units to do something totally outside of your majors area if possible. I assume you just need the credit points, and they can be at any level? I'd recommend Statistics, Maths, Sciences, Economics or even Natural Language Programming etc. Get some experience in other areas to at least show you have a few dimensions.
There are some good posts above here about getting work experience in the areas you want to be. You need to do this, any area that will take you.
And some other advice….
I've only got 3 first year units left to complete finish off my degree and graduate next year
Yes, this is just an internet posting but if you are applying for writing jobs then your spelling and grammar should be 100%! No exceptions. You either meant to put "completely" or you're missing a "to" after "complete". If you are applying for Marketing, PR or other writing roles then your resume or cover letter wouldn't even be considered with an error like that.
create an app. make alot of money
Hi OP, I did my degree in Media Arts & Production (think filmmaking).
For my first job I worked in IT help desk at a tax consultancy, because I was pretty good at computers and the pay was good. During said job I practiced web development when there was some downtime. So when my position became redundant (as I anticipated, they outsourced the job) I went straight into web development full time and am now self-employed.
Did my Arts degree help? Not really. Were the parties and drinking fun? Hell yes.
Im in a similar boat and I'd love to get into web development ( I Already know a bit, and have played around with programs). But where did you start? What programs do you use/ should I use?
I learned a little bit of code from my uni course, but otherwise used Codecademy ( https://www.codecademy.com ), which used to be 100% free but it looks like you now have to upgrade to Pro to get the quizzes. I made two websites for the company I was at, which was how I learned to use Wordpress.
As for what to learn, you should get pretty good at HTML & CSS first. I also learned Javascript, SQL and PHP, but find I don't use them as much since I just use Wordpress as the backend as it's less time consuming. CSS I probably use the most because it helps alot when it comes to customising a Wordpress theme to what the client wants as well as making sure the website resize correctly on different devices.
For programs I use Xcode, Filezilla for FTP, Photoshop and Illustrator. I use VentraIP for their solid, cheap, local cPanel web hosting.
My arts degree allowed me to work in Japan for 4 years and when I started in my current government job I jumped to the highest pay grade of my level and i also get an extra $50 a week over my colleagues who don't have degrees. It has also allowed me to undertake several 1 year post grad courses.
Certainly not saying arts degrees are the greatest, just saying there are some uses for them.
I Pm'd you with a query Altomic.
Eikaiwa senseitachi represent
What does an arts degree qualify you for? Absolutely nothing. It does show you are willing to put in the effort and do a good job though (That's if you got good grades). Demonstrates work ethic.
Bachelor of Arts sets you up well for being a grad student for Masters of Arts
A degree gets you a foot in the door. Industry experience qualifies you to a career.
Find a job and see where it takes you, do specific qualification according to your work experience. Any field needs specialists and it does not matter for many people what their previous degree was, they end up doing something they did not expect in the first place. This rings true for many but not everybody, focus approach is good however the market changes by the time you finish your degree. I studied IT and when I finished there was an IT crash and the boom was over, I changed over to finance and Financial crisis followed. You would be lucky if the field you study in is in demand. All jobs are pretty competitive nowadays.
Haven't read the other comments but my ex did one of the first BA (Comms) with majors in psychology and journalism back in the 80s and went into a job creation program creating other jobs in the job creation program. Then she became the manager of the community centre that was co-ordinating the job creation program(she was ~23).
Then she went into community services in local government and did a masters in Applied Social Research and worked her way up as manager Community Service, Manager Strategic Planning, Director Community Services, etc. She currently looks after Libraries, child care, pools, parks and a shed load of other stuff. She has about 200 staff and a budget of ~$20 million. Every day is different and there are a lot of challenges.The point is, she has always been passionate about the job and the money / status has followed. She is also a great networker.
My advice, follow what you are interested in and network (you also have to work your date off).
Govt jobs that require a three yr degree… In anything…
Once you're in the system, choose what you want, make sure its relevant to where you're working, and let the govt help pay for a masters…I would get one of those books/websites that lists all graduate programs. Those are handy because they identify what degrees can apply, due dates, and a brief synopsis of what the company/agency is about. A lot of Government agencies look for Arts in Comms actually - communications, social media, digitisation is such a big thing for them now.
A graduate program can give you a structured start to a job, network connections, and usually paid for training (possibly with a cert/diploma qualification). All the best!
It's a good time for you to get graduate jobs. Whatever they are. Before you get overqualified it can be easier to get your foot in the door on the industry's minimum pay.
my friend who completed an arts degree with major in English and History, is going to do a masters at Macquarie uni on international relations I think. He wants to be the Irish ambassador for Australia like his uncle who retired this year
pretty sure the uncle connection is more important than any degree
his grades are top notch as well, for a person that does not know him, its easier to say, he is nothing without his uncle connection.
yep but for positions like diplomat, its nearly all about your connections, usually passed through families and etc but rarely you get it out of merit
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Well there's the old joke…
The science degree graduate asks "Why does it work?"
The engineering degree graduate asks "How does it work?"
The business degree graduate asks "How much will it cost?"
The arts degree graduate asks "Do you want fries with that?"
But seriously, go along to your uni job fairs and see what graduate programs are hiring people with your majors. Have a chat with the people there, they can be very helpful. There used to be a book full of all the major graduate hiring companies that would give an indication of what areas they hired in and when etc. You can also access your university's resources for guidance - check out what is available - we used to have guidance counselors available via the union, and lecturers could also be helpful in providing direction. You could also just try looking up job websites in the general areas you've majored in and see what jobs come up.
Edit: This is the book I was thinking of…http://www.graduateopportunities.com/free-downloads/ebooks/