Popular jobs for school leavers and graduates

You could apply for officer roles in the Army, Royal Navy, Royal Marines or Royal Air Force. You can normally apply for officer training if you have two good A levels, though the majority of successful applicants have degrees.

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Fancy a career in art and design, theatre, film, music or writing? Many roles combine creative skills with detailed technical knowledge, or use strong organisational abilities to support artistic work. 

A lot of careers in this area involve working freelance rather than having a guaranteed, regular salary, and some creatives need a second job to help pay the bills. Some jobs require a degree, but others are open to anyone who can show they have the right skills.

Areas to consider include HR, marketing, PR, sales and management consulting (advising organisations on how to make improvements). You can get into most business careers with or without a degree, though the vast majority of entry-level roles in management consulting are for graduates.

You could specialise in fundraising, lobbying (trying to get politicians to support your cause) or policy-making, among other areas. School leavers can work for charities, though you might need to get experience elsewhere first.

This is also a good place to put other buisness skills to use for a good cause, as the industry still requires the skills used in all organisatiosn such as HR, IT and Marketing.

This wide-ranging career area includes architecture, landscape architecture, geotechnical engineering, civil engineering, structural engineering, building surveying, site management and quantity surveying (estimating and tracking costs). There are good opportunities in construction for school leavers.

There are job opportunities in the police, ambulance, and fire and rescue services, and emergency planning careers. You can get into the emergency services without a degree, though in some cases having a degree helps.

There are many different engineering specialisms to choose from. Some of the most popular are mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronic engineering and chemical engineering. Both school leavers and graduates are very welcome in this profession.

Options include accounting, investment banking, retail banking (working for a high-street bank) and actuarial work (calculating risk for insurance companies). Lots of finance professionals are graduates but there are routes into most areas for school leavers too.

You could become a doctor, dentist, nurse or vet, or consider something a bit different, such as training as a dietitian, pharmacist or clinical psychologist. 

Many healthcare and veterinary careers require a degree but others, such as dental nurse or dental technician, don’t require you to go to university. There are also nursing degree apprenticeships, which combines free university tuition with paid work.

You could consider hotel management, event management, adventure tourism, managing a bar or restaurant, or becoming a travel agent. You can get into this area with or without a degree, though many formal training schemes are for graduates.

Technical roles in IT include software development, games development, network engineering, cyber security and software testing. There are also non-technical jobs such as project management, meaning there are good opportunities for both school leavers and graduates.

The main career options are to become a solicitor, barrister or paralegal. Currently you must have a degree if you want to become a solicitor or barrister, although this may change in the next few years for solicitors.

This wide-ranging area includes journalism, editing, photography, design, broadcast production, copywriting and presenting. Lots of media workers are graduates but there are some opportunities for school leavers.

You could work for the Civil Service, an intelligence agency or in local government. There are plenty of opportunities for graduates and some for school leavers.

There are career opportunities in store management, fashion design, buying, product technology (creating and improving products), merchandising (deciding which products to stock) and visual merchandising (creating store displays). There are lots of opportunities for gradates and some for school leavers.

You could use your study of science to launch a career in chemical development and manufacturing, food production and development, crop research, meteorology, pharmaceutical research and development, or monitoring and preventing pollution. Most jobs are for graduates through there are some apprenticeships.

You could work with children and families, older people or adults with mental health problems. Social workers need a degree, though there are related careers where this isn’t necessary.