Careers
We acknowledge the importance of employability skills and we’ve embedded them as part of your studies.
Our Global Sustainable Development (GSD) degrees have been designed to develop the core skills that employers seek in graduates. You'll have the opportunity to complete unique professional development certificates and engage in different work placements.
Professional development certificates
We offer a series of certificates outside of the curriculum as a way of continuing your professional development. These certificates will help you enhance the skills identified by employers as being vital for success in the workplace. Your achievement will be recorded on your Higher Education Achievement Report which you can show to employers.
Certificate of Digital Literacy
To succeed in a digital society, you need to be savvy about how it can be used to enhance your life and career, and aware of the potential threats that come with the territory. Workshops focus on issues including online identity, privacy and security, and digital etiquette. You’ll explore trends in digital literacy and how to market your social media presence professionally.
Certificate of Sustainability Consultancy (Auditing)
On this certificate, you will develop your consultancy skills by undertaking a sustainability-related audit. In a team, you’ll focus on one aspect of sustainability on campus and explore ways of addressing the problem. You will report findings and recommendations to the client, an internal University partner.
Carbon Literacy Certificate
This online certificate is the first step for students to become carbon literacy trainers or consultants. Students will learn to communicate about climate change, adapting their message to different audiences, and how to use tools to induce change for a more sustainable future, both individually and as part of collective initiatives.
Certificate of Coaching Practice
This certificate aims to develop your ability and confidence to conduct effective coaching conversations. You’ll have the opportunity to practise the key skills – such as listening to understand, asking open questions, and building rapport and trust – that enable you to coach well. These skills are useful in many other contexts, including teaching, consultancy and managing people.
Certificate of Professional Communication
This certificate aims to develop your professional communication skills and promote your understanding of the working environment. Workshops will explore theories and concepts around communication in relation to the world of work. Using this preparation, you’ll undertake a short work placement which concludes the certificate.
Work placements
We encourage you to undertake a work placement during your degree. This will enable you to engage in the world of work and learn about the professional environment. It’s an opportunity for you to apply theory to practice, develop skills, learn from industry professionals as well as explore a future career path. This ultimately supports you in developing your employability skills and prepares you for future employment. The two work placement options are:
Year-long work placement
You will complete a four-year degree and your work placement will take place in your third year. The work placement can take place in the UK or globally and after completion, you will return to Warwick for your final year. Your year-long work placement will be formally recognised on your Higher Education Achievement Report.
Short work placement
We also support students to undertake shorter work placements throughout the year.
As part of the Certificate of Professional Communication, you will undertake a short four-week work placement which takes place during the summer. This placement will be formally recognised on your Higher Education Achievement Report.
Our students have been successful in securing work placements with employers from the private, public, and third sectors. This includes Research Institutions, Governmental Bodies, NGOs, Intelligence Agencies, Environmental Consultancies, and many others. They have undertaken diverse roles from Marketing Assistant, Sustainability Officer, Intelligence Analyst, and Researchers.
"Placements are a great opportunity to gain experience in a professional environment"
"I decided to do a placement primarily because I wanted to gain experience in an area that I was considering working in after university. I think placements are a great opportunity to gain experience in a professional environment, and enable students to develop a range of skills including communication, organisation and adaptability. It's a great chance to see how your degree could fit into the real world, and apply some of the knowledge you have gained in the past two years into a real-life scenario."
Alice | GSD and Business Studies Graduate,
Year-long Work Placement at Outcomes Based Healthcare
Support
We have a dedicated Employability and Placement Manager in the School for Cross-faculty Studies who will provide you with one-to-one careers guidance. They work in collaboration with employers, so you’ll be supported in securing appropriate work placements. You will have access to specialist pre-placement advice, guidance and preparation, as well as ongoing support during your placement.
You will also have access to the University's Student Opportunity resources (including careers counselling, employment advice, and job fairs).
Careers
Some examples of what our alumni have gone on to do after graduating include:
Employment
- Analyst | Independent Think Tank
- Audit Associate | Accounting
- Communication Officer | Environmental Services
- Consultant | Recruitment
- eCommerce Trading and Marketing Executive | Retail
- Energy Procurement Coordinator | Utilities
- Head of Geography | Education
- HR Business Specialist | Telecommunications
- Human Rights and Social Issues Analyst | Investment Management
- New Business Account Manager | Renewable Energy Semiconductor Manufacturing
- Operational Manager | Hospitals and Health Care
- Project Coordinator | Environmental Services
- Project Support Officer | Public Policy
- Research Manager | Environmental Services
- Risk Consultant | Accounting
- Senior Policy Advisor | Government
- Senior Social Value Advisor | Public Policy Offices
- Space Analyst | Space Economics Consultancy
- Sustainability Advisor | Environmental Services
- Sustainability Engagement Manager | Renewable Energy Semiconductor Manufacturing
- Sustainability Learning Officer | Non-profit Organisation
- Sustainability Programme Director | Business Skills Training
Further study
- Applied Social Data Science
- Business Administration and Management
- Development Studies
- Global Sustainable Development
- Human Rights and Humanitarian Action
- Humanitarian Engineering
- International Business and Management
- International Management and Sustainability
- International Peace Studies
- International Trade, Strategy and Operations
- Law
- Management
- Marine Conservation
- Media and Communications
- Philosophy
- Public Administration
- Public Health
- Social-Ecological Resilience for Sustainable Development
- Spatial Data Science and Visualisation
- Sustainability and Consultancy
- Sustainability and Environmental Management
- Sustainability and Management
- Sustainable Finance
- Sustainable Territorial Development
Skills and strengths
You will learn valuable transferable skills that will help you with your employment prospects including:
- Analysing and problem-solving: Through your study of economic principles and models, you’ll learn how to extract the essential features of complex systems, providing useable frameworks for evaluation
- Critical thinking: Assess arguments, make judgements, formulate reasoned debates and generate feasible solutions
- Communication: Develop advanced communication skills that enable you to communicate with a variety of audiences and in different settings
- Research: An integrated programme of research skills training, teaching you how to source, evaluate and use different forms of information and data
- Organisation: Through a rigorous assessment schedule and a compulsory dissertation module in your final year, you’ll learn the essentials of time management, prioritisation and how to be well organised
- Collaboration: You’ll have plenty of opportunities to work with others and nurture your emotional intelligence, developing a professional attitude
Warwick's employer reputation
- Warwick is the 6th most targeted university by the UK's top 100 graduate employers (The Graduate Market in 2021, High Fliers Research Ltd.)
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Warwick has been ranked as having the 6th highest earning graduates in the UK (The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021)