While you do not have to pick a discipline that you are not passionate about to ensure your employability, it can help your chances of getting and keeping steady employment if you do. However, do bear in mind that you are more likely to score more highly at your degree if you choose something that actively interests you, and, further, that all degrees have transferrable skills in some way.
Drama students learn how to communicate effectively and engender confidence; creative writing students learn a host of transferrable skills from public speaking (from giving presentations), to giving and receiving feedback gracefully (from seminars and workshops) to excellent writing skills, good time management, and the ability to follow through with major projects from inception to completion. Having said that, the following six degrees are most likely to be highly employable in the future.
Dentistry
The UK is experiencing a steep decline in the number of practicing dentists. Fed up with the strigent budgets and limits imposed on them by the NHS and other authorities, dentists are emigrating in huge numbers, to countries where their skills are valued and well-paid.
Currently, patients are sometimes being advised to ‘go private’ in order to have vital treatment that formerly would have been included in regular treatment plans, and there is little in the way of cosmetic dentistry offered by the NHS, at all. This is a huge shame as bad teeth do not only look ugly and cause prejudice, but they can affect a person’s self-esteem, confidence and even their way of life as well as being a source of pain and discomfort.
Dentistry students will almost certainly be able to find jobs upon graduation – and may find themselves exceedingly busy as soon as they are employed!
Medicine
The medical fields tell a similar story. Nurses and doctors made heroic efforts during the recent Covid-19 epidemic and many of them burned out, finding themselves unable to face another shift packed with desperately ill patients and no real course of treatment save palliative.
Even before the pandemic, medical staffing was problematic and recent enrolment has not even been enough to maintain levels, never mind bring them up to required levels. Anyone in a medical field will almost certainly be able to find their dream job at almost any hospital or surgery they choose.
Teaching
Government interference, the abrupt shifting of goalposts – both for teachers and students – and the constant need for excessive documentation taking precious time away from face-to-face teaching, has seen the teaching profession lose some of its lustre for many existing teachers.
Snapped up by other countries, or choosing to move into the vastly better funded private school system, this has left the state school system sadly lacking in teachers. You can choose to teach very young children, at nursery and reception, middle-schoolers from year one up to year seven or eight, or older students of fifteen and above: and you will almost certainly be spoiled for choice when it comes to picking up classroom hours.
Psychology/ Psychiatry
The Covid-19 outbreak saw a sharp increase in mental distress in people from all walks of life. The years leading up to the pandemic had seen the increase of awareness in the issues of mental health and the attempts, by sufferers and medical staff alike, to destigmatise mental illnesses.
There is a huge need for psychiatrists and psychologists (the difference is that psychiatrists can prescribe medications while psychologists cannot) to help people come to terms with the huge upheavals of the last two years, the many losses that have been suffered, and general anxiety about the future, given how the world’s political landscape has changed so drastically in such a relatively short time. This means that their will be work for those in these fields almost guaranteed for years to come.
Engineering
Engineering is an enormous field and someone with an engineering degree can find themselves helping in the world of theatre and entertainment (designing magic trick equipment and theatre special effects), food and beverages (working out just how much fizz a soft drink needs to be just right) or with construction crews (to ensure that bridges, roads, and shopping centres are properly designed, safe for the crowds that will use them, and offering easy and safe ingress and egress).
Given how wide the field is, a student can choose to take a degree in engineering and wait to see what is on offer after graduation: there is almost certainly going to be something so new it has not even reached the planning stage yet!
Environmental Sciences
Finally, the environment is the big-ticket item these days. Not only are people rapidly becoming aware of the current effects of climate change, but they are looking to the future, when things will get worse. There is plenty of scope in employment for environmentalists, whether it is cleaning up heavy carbon footprints, implementing new and clean ways of working, or even lobbying and working with governments to introduce green practices into the building, manufacturing and mining industries.
If this sounds like something your degree will help you with, try the experts at headhunter agency Eagle Headhunters for advice, introductions and perhaps even to put you forward as a recommended candidate.
