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/