Forge your career with Sheffield geography

Where our graduates work

The flexibility of our courses will enable you to specialise and pursue individual interests, so you can progress into a diverse range of careers across a variety of sectors.

Our recent graduates have secured positions in the following fields:

• Policy and government
• Environment and sustainability
• Teaching and education
• Travel and journalism
• Research
• Charities
• Advocacy and the third sector
• International development
• Planning and housing
• GIS and data science.

Some examples of organisations where our graduates have gone on to work:

• Natural England
• SQW
• BBC
• TeachFirst
• Met Office
• British Red Cross
• Sheffield City Council
• Environment Agency
• Deloitte
• HM Government
• Oxfam
• Royal Mail
• The TEFL Org
• DHL
• SSE
• Transport for London (TfL)
• John Lewis
• Lonely Planet
• ITV
• Jaguar Land Rover
• Santander
• Eastwood

I work as a project administrator at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). ODI is an international development think tank working to inspire people to act on injustice and inequality. My job is to assist project managers in the running of different research and technical advisory projects on aid and finance in lots of countries such as Mali, Uganda and Liberia.

Studying geography at Sheffield cemented my interest in international development and influenced my desire to work in the sector.

Eve Stanislawski 

BA Geography

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Developing your professional skills

Drawing on a range of multi-disciplinary expertise and real world issues, throughout your degree you develop a range of professional skills.

You will learn to apply academic training to real-world situations, with a strong focus on employability related skills. You can also choose to study a skills module that allows you to put your subject specialism into professional practice.

As a student in the School of Geography and Planning, you will:

• become a confident fieldworker
• design and deliver research projects
• examine different approaches and perspectives
• think critically and problem solve
• use digital tools to analyse data
• become a confident communicator
• collaborate with staff, students and external partners

Being able to develop the art of communicating complex issues in a concise manner to non-academic audiences is a really important skill in so many careers.

Alex Adams

MSc Environmental Change and International Development

Faculty of Social Sciences Employability hub

Social sciences students have access to an employability hub based in Cornerstone in the Wave, which offers bespoke employability support.

The hub team can help you to explore career options, build experience and skills, and it organises events that are tailored to social sciences subjects.

Social sciences employability hub events

Past events have included:

• Workplace Insights - Easter Internship programme
• City Connections  Business and networking visit to London
• Meet the professional - speed networking event

Faculty of Social Sciences Employability Hub

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Work placements and research opportunities

As well as the opportunities for work-related learning throughout your course, you can choose to do a work placement, an internship or to complete a research attachment with an external stakeholder.

I can now show employers that I have the knowledge and skills to do well in a professional job setting, and I can give many examples of certain skills gained and practised during my placement year. One benefit of my placement is the openness of my team to welcome me back when I graduate.

Lauren Rimell (Placement in Environment, Health and Safety team at Siemens)

BA Geography with Employment Experience

It was really good to see how the skills we learn at university are applicable in the job world, but also the different ways organisations use GIS. I also feel like my placement year really improved my time management skills as I tended to go into the office and work a 9-5, but I also had to juggle lots more tasks with shorter deadlines.

Libby Norton (Environment Officer at Wessex Rivers Trust)

BSc Geography with Employment Experience

SURE

The Sheffield Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) is an opportunity in your penultimate year of study to be directly involved in research activity at the University of Sheffield, working in partnership with an academic staff member on a bespoke real-life research project during the summer vacation.

Sheffield Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) (student login required)