Image: Roberto Hund
Searching online for ‘humanities jobs’ is, in my opinion, often a sign that you are not sure what work you want to do. You are looking for new leads.
Not vocational training
Studying in the humanities is not vocational training. You might have been told so during your studies. However, it didn’t mean much to you at the time. What mattered was doing a study that you liked. And it was also attractive that you could go in several directions after finishing your degree.
Then the study ends and you want to get a job. That’s when you realise what it’s means to not do vocational training: it’s not fixed what you’re going to do next.
I know someone who calls students who choose a humanities degree students with guts, because they have often followed their heart in their choice of study.
But now, after your studies or PhD, you feel stuck with your career question. How did having guts help you now?
Where to start?
My invitation would be to hold on to your guts approach a little longer. After all, to answer your career question and find out what work suits you, you need that very approach.
All the career coaching methods out there assume that you first need to know:
To then
- examine what work attracts you
- and arrive at a choice that suits you
When you search ‘humanities jobs’ you want to start your search at the conclusion
Actually, you know it yourself: you cannot start a search at the conclusion.
Sure, you can get some inspiration by doing such a search once, but an incredible number of options remain out of the picture.
You are not going to find the match between you and your desired job by searching for vacancies indicating they are looking for a humanities graduate. This is because, in most cases, humanities degrees are not explicitly asked for in job ads.
Research has also shown that while the skills of humanities graduates are in high demand, supply and demand often do not meet.
The conclusion of the study: humanities graduates are insufficiently able to name their qualities and skills. Only when you can name what you are good at and what you enjoy doing, it becomes possible to find a job that suits you.
You are more likely to find a match when you focuss on your natural strengths and what motivates you.
Start at the beginning and list those things for yourself.
These exercises can help you do so:
