Bachelor of Arts Careers
Key information
Employability skills from this degree
- Understanding, assessing and evaluating issues
- Organising and working to deadlines
- Reading text to pick out the essential points
- Absorbing and retaining large amounts of information
- Writing well in a variety of formats
- Conveying meaning precisely
- Conducting research and evaluating sources, leading and participating in discussions, working independently
- Developing opinions, proposing ideas and theories
- Debating and persuading
- Drawing conclusions from statistical research objectively
- Confidence in formulating opinions
- Critical thinking and creativity
Follow-on Study
Many Arts graduates undertake postgraduate courses in order to specialise in a particular subject or area. Information related to the career prospects associated with individual disciplines can be found on the specific subject pages.
The wide choice of subject areas available in this degree will open possibilities for research-based or taught postgraduate programmes offering many pathways to interesting and challenging careers. Some examples include:
- MA in Applied Linguistics
- Diploma in Human Resource Management
- MA in Gender, Culture and Society
- LLM/MA in Law, Human Rights in Criminal Justice
- MA Business Management
- MA in Psychology
- MA in Sociology (Youth, Community and Social Regeneration)
- MA/PhD in Sociology
- MA in Technical Communication and E-Learning
- MSc in Economics and Policy Analysis
- MSc in Financial Services
- MSc in Project Management
- Professional Masters in Education
- MA in English
- MA Gaeilge
- MA in TESOL
- MA In Public Administration
Job titles for graduates with this degree
Some of our graduates also move directly into employment and take up a wide variety of roles. The following is a sample of the type of roles they progress to;
- Parliamentary Assistant
- Branch Official
- Business Development Executive
- English Teacher
- Insurance Broker
- Radio Editor
- Teacher (International School)
- Teaching Assistant
- Interpreter
- Procurement Administrator
- Journalist
- Compliance Officer
- Recruitment Consultant
- Clerical Officer
- Communications Executive
- Content Moderator
Graduate and student profiles
Ciarán Darcy
Ciarán Darcy is a graduate of Irish and New Media with English and currently works as Senior Social Media and Content Strategist & Manager at Warner Music Ireland.
Originally from Bantry in West Cork, Ciarán was drawn to study in UL on account of the welcoming community and campus, which he describes as ‘the best in Ireland’.
Gaeilgeoir Ciarán took on English as an extra subject and describes his time on the course as ‘really positive’: “So many lecturers care about their students, and an example of that was lecturers making space for me to study in their English class as an extra subject, which meant the world to me.”
After graduating, Ciarán worked in social media behaviour and data at Wilson Hartnell Public Relations, liaising with clients like Guinness. Now working with one of the biggest labels in the world, Warner Music Group, Ciarán has had the opportunity to liaise with artists such as Ed Sheeran on major creative campaigns.
Rhona Tarrant
Journalist Rhona Tarrant is a graduate of New Media and English at UL, which is now offered as English and Digital Culture and Communications through the Bachelor of Arts.
Rhona has a distinguished career in journalism and is now Executive Editor for CBS Confirmed, a unit within CBS News that works on disinformation, AI, open-source investigations and visual verification.
Previously, Rhona served as Head of Editorial for Storyful in New York and spent 10 years working in broadcast journalism in Ireland, including at RTÉ, where she worked in current affairs. She also completed two fellowships at Harvard University, on disinformation and AI.
Rhona says: “UL constantly pushed me out of my comfort zone, between the course, work experience, Erasmus, and the different people I met and became friends with. By the time I graduated, I had a lot more confidence to push myself even further.”
Colette Sexton
Public affairs and communications professional Colette Sexton is a graduate of the Bachelor of Arts at UL and currently works as Senior Communications Manager at Musgrave.
Colette studied history, politics, sociology and social studies, spending a year abroad on Erasmus at the University of Malta and securing a co-operative placement as a junior clerk in the Houses of the Oireachtas.
After undertaking a postgraduate degree in journalism, Colette spent a successful stint working in the media as a business and politics journalist before moving into the realm of public affairs and communications. She worked as an associate director for a communications firm and a special advisor to the Government before taking up her current role at Musgrave.
“UL has it all: high educational standards, a fantastic student experience, the country’s best campus and a welcoming community,” says Colette.
Sarah Kinsella
Events professional Sarah Kinsella is a graduate of History, Politics and Social Studies as part of the Bachelor of Arts programme and now works as Event Manager with the National Trust in the UK.
Originally from Galway, Sarah always wanted to study history at third level and was drawn to studying in UL on account of the opportunity to study abroad and undertake co-op placement. She describes choosing UL as ‘the best decision she made to start her adult life’.
Sarah, who now lives in Nottinghamshire with her family, spent her year abroad in Canada and counts the experience among the highlights of her UL journey.
Since graduating in 2004, Sarah has worked in the heritage sector and held a position in the British Museum before joining the National Trust.
Reflecting on her time at UL, Sarah says: “There are many routes to the career of your dreams, so UL gave me the basis to search for my dream career. What it gave me most was confidence and friends to believe in myself.”
