What have History Graduates done with their degrees?: Gemma

What have History Graduates done with their degrees?

Welcome to our new series of blog posts where we post about what recent students have done with their undergraduate degrees in History! We have worked with Dr Charlie Rozier, the History employability officer, to give you some insight into what you could do with your History degree!

You might be surprised!

Gemma Barnes

    1: Your name:

        Gemma Barnes

    2: Where did you study, what year did you graduate?

        I studied BA History (Hons) at Swansea University, graduated in 2015.

3: How did you feel about your career choices when you graduated? Did you know what career you wanted?
I was set on teaching at the time and so focused on accessing a PGCE. Swansea University played a great deal in me gaining a place on a PGCE course through means of supportive and informative workshops as well as volunteer placements through discovery and also within the History and Classics Department themselves.

4: Describe your current job (including job title and organisation)
Last September (2015) I began a Secondary PGCE History and graduated in July this year (2016).  I then came back to Swansea University to study a Masters course in MA Gender and Culture. Alongside this, I was offered a part-time job as a Supervisor for the South West Wales Reaching Wider Partnership in the Centre of Academic Success at Swansea University.

5: Do you use the skills learned in your history degree at work? If so, how?
Personally, time management and organisational skills are key in my teaching career thus far in regards to preparation. Another valuable skill is the ability to liaise with lecturers and peers as well as conducting presentations to deliver information. I think a History degree is especially brilliant in developing academic/nuanced written and spoken English. The two almost come hand in hand, and that certainly will benefit a candidate in any job.

Finally: Do you have any careers advice for history graduates?

Do take advantage of the schemes, workshops and placements while you are in university. There is plenty going on at the university to support you  in taking the steps towards your chosen career. Although a History degree will provide you with these advantages I listed above, you need to have that something extra to set you apart from other potential competitors in the job market - and your department can help you with that.   

Thank you, Gemma!

Remember, if you want to get any careers advice or want to
arrange an employability appointment, contact Dr Charlie Rozier by email at c.c.rozier@swansea.a.c.uk 

Also, follow him on twitter - @RozierHistorian

You can also find out more careers advice from SEA
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/employability-academy/ 

What have History Graduates done with their degrees?: Ally

What have History Graduates done with their degrees?

Welcome to our new series of blog posts where we post about what recent students have done with their undergraduate degrees in History! We have worked with Dr Charlie Rozier, the History employability officer, to give you some insight into what you could do with your History degree!

You might be surprised!

Ally Lomas

    1: Your name:

        Ally Lomas

    2: Where did you study, what year did you graduate?

        University of Kent, 2006

3: How did you feel about your career choices when you graduated? Did you know what career you wanted?

When I graduated I wasn’t entirely sure of what career I wanted, but I was aware that I wanted to take a break from academia to experience the ‘real’ world and to travel.
Shortly after graduating I applied for the JET Programme (https://www.jet-uk.org) and spent three years teaching English in rural Japan, before travelling back to the UK overland following the Silk Road through Central Asia and Iran. These experiences led to me thinking about work in international development, but the 2008 recession hit while I was away, making things a little more difficult than expected …

4: Describe your current job (including job title and organisation)

Between 2011 and 2016, I worked as senior programme officer at a London-based charity called Cara: The Council for At-Risk Academics (http://www.cara.ngo). In this role, I worked with university lecturers and researchers from countries including Syria and Iraq, who were at risk of discrimination, persecution, suffering or violence. I brokered partnerships with universities across the UK and beyond so that these academics could continue their work in a place of sanctuary, and provided the logistical support required to bring them to their host institution. Our intention is that they return to their home countries once the situation improves to rebuild the higher education systems there; if not, we hope that they can contribute their skills to UK universities and organisations.

I recently left this role, and I’m currently undertaking an MA in Visual Anthropology at the University of Manchester. I’m studying a mixture of practical documentary filmmaking and anthropological/philosophical theory. I have a keen interest in telling the stories of the underrepresented, especially refugees and forced migrants, so I hope this course will lead me into a career as a documentary film director. Returning to academia has been great, although it’s challenging after a decade away in the world of work!

5: Do you use the skills learned in your history degree at work? If so, how?

While it’s now rare that I use the content that I learnt in my undergraduate degree (I focused on early medieval history), the skills that I developed have proven invaluable. As Cara is reliant on universities for much of its funding, a very high standard of written English is expected – especially the ability to construct a compelling, well-argued narrative from limited materials. All applications from academics seeking support must be fact-checked and cross-referenced with up-to-date information (which in conflict-affected areas is often hard to come by), in much the same way as a historian constructs an essay from sources of variable reliability. A broad knowledge of events in world history puts modern conflicts and political problems in context. Organisational skills, especially time management and multi-tasking, have also been important when dealing with highly stressful emergency situations and a very heavy workload.

I also still enjoy reading history books for pleasure!

Finally: Do you have any careers advice for history graduates?

While a history degree may not seem to give you the employability of a computer science or engineering qualification, it does give incredible scope to do whatever you like! My former course mates have gone into all sorts of careers, and while many of them may not have followed orthodox paths, if they’re anything like me they will have had a lot of fun finding out where they’re going.    

Thank you, Ally!

Remember, if you want to get any careers advice or want to
arrange an employability appointment, contact Dr Charlie Rozier by email at c.c.rozier@swansea.a.c.uk 

Also, follow him on twitter - @RozierHistorian

You can also find out more careers advice from SEA
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/employability-academy/ 

What have History Graduates done with their degrees?: Chloe

What have History Graduates done with their degrees?

Welcome to our new series of blog posts where we post about what recent students have done with their undergraduate degrees in History! We have worked with Dr Charlie Rozier, the History employability officer, to give you some insight into what you could do with your History degree!

You might be surprised!

Chloe Woitier

1: What's your name?
    Chloe Woitier 

2: Where did you study, what year did you graduate?
- Institut d’études politiques de Lille (School of Politics), France, 2008
- University of Kent, Diploma in European Study, Canterbury UK, 2006
- Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme de Lille (School of Journalism), France, 2010

3: How did you feel about your career choices when you graduated?
    Did you know what career you wanted?

When I was in Kent, I really wanted to be a journalist (even though I couldn’t, and still can’t, explain why!). I thought I couldn’t do it. In France, the easiest way to be recruited in a newsroom is to graduate from a school of journalism. But to access them, you need to pass a very difficult test (concours), on which less than 10% of the candidates succeed. Plus, I had no contacts in journalism, so I thought it would be very difficult to find a job. As a result, I thought it would be too hard for me, and I started thinking about doing something else, like PR.

After I graduated from Kent, I did a summer internship in PR, and… I hated it. Really! I knew I couldn’t work in this area. So piece of advice: do an internship. Really. It’s the best way to know if you are fit for a job.

The good news is that this bad experience encouraged me to study hard and pass my test to get to a school of journalism. I did it 2 years later, after I completed a postgraduate degree in politics. 

4: Describe your current job (including job title and organisation):

I am a media reporter for Le Figaro ( http://www.lefigaro.fr/ ) This is one of the biggest national newspapers in France (direct concurrent: Le Monde). I report all the news in the media industry from an economic point of view: concentration, buy-out, layout, strategic moves, new trends etc… I write pieces every day, and I write about 3,500 characters of text each day. The section I’m writing in is quite influential in the French media sphere, there’s a lot of pressure. It’s a hard, stressful position, but the subject is very interesting. I know I won’t cover media all my life, in le Figaro people switch from one section to another every 5-10 years. Before that, I’ve worked in Lefigaro.fr’s newsroom for 3 years, gathering stories.

5: Do you use the skills learned in your history degree at work? If so, how?

Journalism and history have one thing in common: we need sources. When I was in Kent, I learned about how important sources are: primary, secondary? Trustworthy? It’s a very academic skill that is really useful every day at work. History is also fundamental to understanding our current world (and even more when you write about the world!)

Finally: Do you have any careers advice for history graduates?

It’s normal to feel uncertain about your future when you are a student. In my opinion, the best way to find your way is to do some research about the job(s) you’re interested in doing. Talk with professionals. Evaluate yourself. Do you really want to do a job where you need to travel often (and not see your family so much) or a job where you sit at a desk all day, and you might get bored? Do you want to do research on you own, or would you rather work with other people? That’s for the basics. Then, as I said before, do an internship, or several internships. Compare your dreams with the reality of doing the job.

When you find a job, be modest. Just because you have graduated, it doesn’t mean that you know everything. You still need to learn. Look at your co-workers, especially the older ones. They can teach you their methods and skills. Try to be a better professional, every year.

Thank you Chloe!
You can read more about Chloe’s work for Le Figaro (in French) here: http://plus.lefigaro.fr/page/chloe-woitier

Remember, if you want to get any careers advice or want to
arrange an employability appointment, contact Dr Charlie Rozier by email at c.c.rozier@swansea.a.c.uk 

Also, follow him on twitter - @RozierHistorian

You can also find out more careers advice from SEA
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/employability-academy/ 

What have History Graduates done with their degrees?: Tom

What have History Graduates done with their degrees?

Welcome to our new series of blog posts where we post about what recent students have done with their undergraduate degrees in History! We have worked with Dr Charlie Rozier, the History employability officer, to give you some insight into what you could do with your History degree!

You might be surprised!

1: What is your name?
Tom Ratcliffe

2: Where did you study, what year did you graduate?
Degree in History and Archaeology, at the University of Leicester – 2004 -2008

3: How did you feel about your career choices when you graduated? Did you know what career you wanted?
I always had a great passion for the heritage sector and visiting historic sites, and therefore I knew I wanted to be involved in consultancy / research in this sector when I came towards the end of my degree.

4: Describe your current job (including job title and organisation):
Tourism / Heritage Researcher for Qa Research (http://www.qaresearch.co.uk/)

Tom Ratcliffe

 5: Do you use the skills learned in your history degree at work? If so, how?
Writing in a clear and concise style
Drawing conclusions from evidence
Presentations in front of different audience types
Flexibility – ability to learn about a variety of subject matters
Ability to scan documents and take in information

Finally: Do you have any careers advice for history graduates?
History as a subject gives you a wide range of skills for future jobs. If you want to narrow these types of skills down it can often by useful to look into a Masters or some type of Postgraduate qualification. If you have a high level of interest in history it is often worth looking into Postgraduate studies in specifically History (for more information about the opportunities at Swansea, see: http://www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/artsandhumanities/)
The best advice can often be found from just speaking to people about their careers and how they started out and developed. It can take time to find a job and you want to make that you find the right one.

Thank you, Tom!

If you want to get more information about employability or some advice, please email Dr Charlie Rozer at c.c.rozier@swansea.ac.uk and follow him on twitter at @RozierHistorian