Criminology : Your skills

By studying criminology you develop your understanding of the social and personal aspects of crime, victimisation and responses to crime and deviance. You also develop skills in generating and evaluating evidence, making reasoned arguments and ethical judgments and analysing and interpreting data. You build up subject-specific knowledge and skills including:

• theoretical approaches relating to crime, victimisation and responses to crime;
• the basic principles of social research applicable to criminology topics;
• processes of criminalisation and victimisation;
• the causes and organisation of crime and deviance;
• processes of preventing and managing crime and victimisation;
• official and unofficial responses to crime, deviance and social harm, including policing and the various stages of the criminal justice process;
• representations of crime, offenders, victims and agencies of control (as found in reports, mass media and public opinion);
• local, national, and international contexts of crime, security and human rights.

Criminology draws on the range of human and social science disciplines, and it can be studied jointly with other subjects. If you study other subjects alongside criminology, you should also consider the complementary skills they provide you with. For example, you may have increased awareness of psychology or politics related to criminology topics.

You develop core transferable skills which are attractive to a variety of employers. These include research skills, written and oral communication, time management and planning, working to deadlines, IT skills and the ability to work productively both in a group and autonomously.

Consider the skills developed on your course as well as through your other activities, such as paid work, volunteering, family responsibilities, sport, membership of societies, leadership roles, etc. Think about how these can be used as evidence of your skills and personal attributes. Then you can start to market and sell who you really are, identify what you may be lacking and consider how to improve your profile. Take a look at job application advice for some useful tips.