Cora’s employability journey – and job success!

Hello All,

After waving goodbye in July to the University life of lie-ins, lectures, Jesters nights out and cramming in the library, I am now officially a proper adult (or at least pretending to be) with a full-time job.

Like many Humanities students, when telling people I was reading English, I was often faced with the response, ‘What are you going to do with that?’, especially from my Engineering housemates, who laughed as I tried to shout, ‘Humanities students have lots of options!’

Before arriving at University, I have to admit, I was unsure where an English degree could lead. Once I came to Southampton, however, I gradually realised the wealth of jobs available to Humanities graduates through attending Mission Employable events and seeing the skills I was gaining.

Outside my degree, societies gave me the essential soft skills and confidence that I needed when applying for jobs: throughout my three years, I was part of the RAG (Raise and Give) society. Through RAG – as well as having a lot of fun – I was able to plan events, be part of a team, learn marketing, and even intern at some of the charities we worked with.

During my final year at University, I successfully applied to be a summer intern for Mission Employable through the Excel Internship Programme. I worked with another student, Bobbi, to build an Employability Module for all Humanities students. The placement gave me fantastic experience of working in a professional environment and I learnt a lot about student employability, which was an added bonus!

I am now working as a Library Manager at a secondary school in Winchester, which I would not have been able to do without the skills I gained throughout my time at University. Working with teenagers has reminded me of what I was like at their age- often making me cringe as I remember my Bebo account and MSN Messenger profile- and shown me how much I have been able to do since then, because of the opportunities Southampton gave me.

Cora