Career Opportunities
University degrees represent a significant financial investment. So, from the very outset we encourage you to take a long-term perspective and to think about what you want do after you graduate. That way, you can construct the most appropriate combination of courses, in order to acquire the required knowledge and skills.
Over 70% of our undergraduate students attain a graduate level position 6 months after graduating.
What guidance will I receive?
Together with the Centre for Employability Enterprise and Careers we help you:
- find out about the career opportunities available
- choose the most suitable options for you
- make effective job applications
- plan and manage your future career
What skills will I learn?
Employers will be looking for highly skilled recruits. A language study course does not just teach you a body of facts, but also a range of skills, for example:
- the practical skills of careful listening to and transcribing language
- the analytical skills of describing and comparing languages or styles of language
- the intellectual skills of examining and evaluating theories
- various transferable skills (in particular, because we use computers a lot in both research and teaching, you will be able to improve your IT competence)
Our graduates are well prepared for careers which use these skills and others based on them, such as problem-solving, critical evaluation of evidence, attention to detail.
What do students go on to do with a degree from our department?
Here are some typical areas that will be of interest to you once you've taken a degree from our department:
- Professions involving linguistic expertise: speech therapy, dictionary-building, IT (e.g. speech recognition technology)
- Education: teaching in schools, colleges and universities in Britain, and teaching English as a Foreign Language abroad
- Journalism and the media, public relations
- Publishing
- Management
- Higher degrees and research
Former graduates
Sarah Rutter, former English Language student
I'm now working as a teacher for The JET Programme in a rural Japanese village. The modules I studied gave me an excellent background for teaching English, plus a huge advantage when applying for work.
The flexible courses at Lancaster really worked for me - and my numerous career plans during the past 3 years! As a member of a small and sociable department I made new friends and gained confidence quickly - which has enabled me to adjust to life abroad.
I have not once regretted studying at Lancaster - get involved, give as much as you take and you'll leave the department with so much more than a degree.
Luisa Plaja, former Linguistics student
My linguistics degree has always been entirely relevant in my working life. When I first graduated (10 years ago) I worked first as an EFL teacher and then in an EFL specialist bookshop. I then joined Collins COBUILD as a lexicographer, and worked for several years as a full-time subtitler for television and a freelance lexicographer. In 1998 I moved to Boston, Massachusetts to work in Speech Recognition technology at Dragon Systems. When they were bought by Lernout and Hauspie I moved back to Britain and I'm now working for a company called 3F in Durham, again on the linguistic side of speech recognition.
Sam Whiting, former English Language student, Project Manager BT Global Services
A degree in English Language not only gives you unparalleled insight into both written and spoken language but will also provide you with strong analytical skills; giving you a very broad choice of future career path. The variety of subject areas that you touch on will allow you to bring different perspectives to both academic or business problems and this ability is highly sought after by graduate employers.