Through your course of study, you’ll need to make a number of choices which will affect your course of study and your professional profile.
This question pops up for most students during their course of study. And it is probably also the question your mother, grandfather or friends may put to you when the talk is on programmes in the Humanities: What do you become when you have completed a programme in the Humanities?
No matter how far you are in your programme, you’ll experience doubts about what it is all for – and whether you have chosen the right programme.
Doubt is never a comfortable feeling. But in terms of career prospects your doubt may be a good thing – it may perhaps even help strengthen both your motivation and your career prospects. You may use your doubts about where your course of study is taking you as a welcome opportunity to start the process that is meant to help you find your motivation as a student and make you an attractive graduate in the Humanities.
Start out by trying to explore the following:
- Consider why your started on the programme – what motivated you? These questions may often help you clarify what actually motivates you.
- Find an answer to what you may offer a future employer. You may e.g. note which competences you have acquired so far in your course of study.
- Get in touch with former students who are now holding interesting jobs and ask how they got to where they are. You may also use LinkedIn to learn about what others with the same professional background are doing.
- Talk to fellow students and lecturers about their view on your possibilities.
- By using job banks(Jobindex, Jobzonen, Jobnet osv.) find out what job titles and tasks are generally related to your academic field. Sign up with job agents and create your CV in order to get relevant job offers automatically.
- Book an appointment with a career counsellor at the Counselling and Career Centre for sparring.
The many other choices you have to make apart from those on your course of study may affect your career prospects.
To employers a relevant student job has high value. With a relevant student job, you get to practice your competences.
How do I find a student job?
The Career Center at SDU are here to help you. They have many different career events that can help you boost your career and help you gain experience to add to your CV.
They are always here to talk to you about your next steps in your career search, and they can help you create a unique CV and application.
Look at the interesting student jobs at SDU jobbank.
You can also look at Work in Denmark for jobs.
- Make sure to look at your Residence Permit in regards to how many hours you are allowed to work when you are in Denmark.
No doubt you want a good job. But how do you find it?
Think outside the box
Where exactly is the good job? Perhaps you are familiar with companies or organizations that you like and that you sympathize with. Therefore, you’d like a job there. But there is no rule saying that this is where you’ll find the perfect job. Perhaps you’ll end up finding it in a company you have never heard of – and perhaps even in a field that you didn’t know of. But you have the competences to help solve their challenges, and they offer a good place of work with challenging tasks. In an article from the journal Magistrenes about “the great job”, a graduate says, “When I graduated, I had an overconfident plan for what I was going to do and where. That was my dream. However, I have realized that the dream job may be many different places. We have to be open and curious about other fields.”
If you are able to think outside the box, you not only improve your chances of getting a job. You’ll also experience that the good job, the exciting job, may be found in many different places. That’s what graduate Christopher experienced when he applied for a job as a communications officer in a medium-sized carpentry business. Read his story on The Danish Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises website.