Career preparation in African Studies
Career preparation in African Studies
How can you use the knowledge and skills you acquire? Which specialisation should you choose within your study programme and why? What skills do you already have, and what further skills do you still want to learn? How do you translate the courses that you choose into something that you would like to do after graduation? These questions and more will be discussed at various times during your study programme. You may already have spoken about them with your study adviser, the Humanities Career Service or other students, or made use of the Leiden University Career Zone. Many different activities are organised to help you reflect on your own wishes and options, and give you the chance to explore the job market. All these activities are focused on the questions: ‘What can I do?’, ‘What do I want?’ and ‘How do I achieve my goals?’.
Activities
You will be notified via the Humanities website and by email about further activities in the area of job market preparation. The following activities will help you to thoroughly explore your options, so we advise you to take careful note of them:
First year
Second year
Third year
Mentor Network with students and alumni
Leiden University actively seeks to prepare students for the labour market and wants to help young alumni at the start of their careers. For this we like to use the knowledge and experience of Leiden alumni. To bring these students and young alumni who have questions about their career in contact with experienced alumni, Leiden University has created the Mentor network.
Transferable skills
Future employers are interested not only in the subject-related knowledge that you acquired during your study programme, but also in the ‘transferable skills’. These include cognitive skills, such as
conducting research, critical thinking and argumentation skills, intrapersonal skills such as creative thinking, self-directed learning and interpersonal skills such as effective communication, persuasion, and teamwork. In short: what you need to function well in a responsible position.
Contact
If you have any questions about career choices, whether in your studies or on the job market, you are welcome to make an appointment with the career adviser of the the Humanities Career Service or with your Study Adviser Tim Sanders.
