Comparative Literature

Comparative Literature graduates enter a wide variety of occupations on graduation. Your course develops and enhances high-level skills of analysis, synthesis, written and verbal communication and creativity which are all valued by employers. Of course, your languages skills open up more areas of work than many degrees.

Typically, we’re asked about roles in creative industries such as advertising, PR, media and marketing. Also popular are careers in the Civil Service Fast Stream, graduate training schemes and professions like law and marketing. The destinations information of previous King’s students below gives a flavour of some of the less obvious career choices too. One of these may be right for you.

Knowing where to start can be difficult and that’s where we come in. We can help you identify where you are and the decisions you need to make and come up with a plan. This might mean researching more occupations or perhaps understanding what employers are looking for and how to market yourself.

Equally, it may mean exploring what you mean by creative work or “using your degree” or understanding why you’re considering further study.

Taking practical steps such as internships or vacation work throughout your degree can really help. Deadlines apply for some schemes and also for some of the graduate posts or further study options you may wish to consider. These deadlines are often early in your final year of study so seeing us in your second year can be very helpful.

Here’s just a few of the services for Comparative Literature students:

• Find out what employers and alumni are saying by attending our events
• Attend specialist events at King’s such as the Media Forum, Human Rights Forum, Policy Forum
• Job Online and International Job Online provide details of part time, vacation, internships and graduate opportunities. These include the less obvious options that aren’t really covered in the standard publications.

Speak to one of our careers advisers. We can help you talk through any further study or time out you are considering. We can help you draft or improve your CV, prepare for interview and research opportunities. You can also talk to our Information Officers about how to find the latest information on career options, and use the wide-ranging resources of the Careers Information Library in the Macadam Building to help you with your research.

Use CareersTagged CareersTagged is the new social bookmarking tool for locating all kinds of career related resources –job profiles, professional bodies, directories, journals, books, courses, vacancies, etc. Type in a "tag" to find the subject; combine tags to refine your selection; click through to resources; add your own "tags" and comments. CareersTagged is more than a search engine because each item is described so you know what you're going to look at.

Here are some examples of what King's graduates in Comparative Literature go on to do, based on the annual survey conducted about six months after graduation.

• Tindle Newspaper, Junior Reporter
• Freelance, Writer
• Prada, Sales Assistant
• Saffron Interactive, Instructional Designer
• Leonardo Media, Customer Service Agent
• General Surgery, Production Editor
• King's College London, Administrative Officer
• Greek Supplementary School of Nottingham, Teacher of Modern Greek
• University of Reading, Administration Assistant

Many students go onto further study in the UK or abroad.

Just a small selection of sites that will be of particular interest...

Options with your subject: use both the English and Languages sections of the Prospects website for help with links to employers and career ideas.

Jobs in Development
ELDIS

Politics and think tanks
Work for an MP

Civil Service and Public Sector
Civil Service Fast Stream - the recruitment site for anyone interested in the accelerated route to Civil Service management.
National Government Development Programme - the graduate entry route to careers in local authorities.