More than a third of art and design graduates (34.5%) progress on to careers within the art, design and culture industries, if not jobs specifically related to their mediums. Of those in employment, 14.4% will become self-employed or freelance after graduation, often taking supplementary jobs while they build up their portfolios.

Compared with most disciplines, graduates of art and design are less likely to go on to careers in technology – but the fields remain open to them. Student artists of certain mediums might find themselves well suited for careers in engineering (1.2%), while all can consider IT an option (1.2%).

The creative and critical faculties developed during study of the humanities lead roughly one in ten (9.9%) to take roles in marketing, sales or advertising as their first post-university job. Knowledge of how to interpret information within a variety of contexts – social, cultural, political, historical – is a skill often used in political careers.

  • Arts
  • Engineering (sculpture)
  • Fashion
  • Marketing/advertising/PR
  • Media/publishing/journalism
  • Politics

Return to article: what can I do with my degree?

Back to Top

Get the latest jobs