Employability for Postgraduates

Employability for Postgraduates

Employability is about your skills, aptitudes, abilities, confidence and self-awareness and how you develop and use these things. The University of Glasgow is committed to ensuring that all students are encouraged to develop such skills and provided with the opportunity to do so. The University has Employability resources, which include sections for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Philosophy graduates are – contrary to a familiar but inaccurate line of thought –  eminently employable. For example, data that was gathered by PayScale (from the 2016-2017 academic year) showed that philosophy majors were the highest earners of any discipline in the Humanities. Philosophy majors also had the highest starting salary of any humanities major, as well as the highest percent increase between starting and mid‐career salary. For the full data, see here.

Additionally, as reported by the APA’s Data and Information on the Field of Philosophy, the National Association of Colleges and Employers found, for the graduating class of 2015, that, “within six months, just over 78 percent of graduates with bachelor’s degrees in philosophy had either found employment or were continuing their education (28.6 percent).” Furthermore – and this is good news for Glasgow Philosophy graduates – Philosophy at Glasgow is fast on the rise. Glasgow was rated, according to the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, first in the Scotland in Philosophy, and has risen from 34th to 9th in the UK in Philosophy since 2014.

In sum, the narrative that a graduate with a Philosophy degree will have a hard time finding a job compared to graduates with other degrees (especially in the Humanities) is not borne out by the evidence, and in the case of Glasgow Philosophy specifically, the department is in its strongest position yet internationally.

See our page “GRADUATING? WHAT NEXT?” for some more detailed discussion, guidance, and tips for philosophy graduates looking to either academic or non-academic employment.

Our own David Bain has some employability advice for Philosophy students on his homepage. For question, feel free to contact Adam Carter.

students on campus

Graduate students in philosophy wishing to pursue a career in academia are given personalised advice from their supervisors, the Director of Graduate Studies, from their review panel, at the Department's research methods modules and from the College of Arts & Humanities Research Training course. Advice is given on the following topics that are vital for getting an academic job:

  • Research and Publishing
    The department encourages students to publish their research in high quality journals.
  • Presenting Papers at Conferences
    The College of Arts & Humanities has funds for attendance at conferences and students should consult the Philosophy Department Postgraduate Handbook and contact the Director of Graduate Studies for further advice.
  • Teaching
    The department provides opportunities for students with a suitable background to do some tutorial teaching in the department.
  • Curriculum Vitae and Job Hunting
    We give advice on the format and content.