Jobs directly related to your degree

• Fitness centre manager - manages a centre for the promotion of activities relating to physical fitness, including: attracting new and retaining existing members; generating revenue; ensuring health and safety compliance; maintaining equipment and premises; and supervising and training staff.
• Sports development officer - encourages greater participation in sport throughout the community. The job may involve organising and promoting activities, coaching, and advising clubs on fundraising.
• Sports coach - helps people participating in sport achieve their full potential. Coaching roles are often part time or seasonal. Further qualifications are necessary.
• Secondary school teacher (PE) - teaching one or more national curriculum subjects to classes of pupils aged 11-16 or 11-18. PE teachers are expected to teach a subsidiary subject. You will need to take a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) to enter this profession.
• Outdoor pursuits manager - runs a centre for outdoor activities such as climbing, walking, horse riding, mountaineering, water sports and cycling. Responsibilities include managing and training staff and instructors, and ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations at all times.
• Theme park manager - responsible for every aspect of the day-to-day running of a theme park, including managing the customer experience, strategic planning and development, monitoring health and safety and overseeing the park's finances.

Jobs where your degree would be useful

• Sports administrator - carries out administrative and organisational tasks, including business and financial management, event management, marketing and advocacy, including liaising with sports councils and committees, advising sports clubs, consulting with local communities and serving on task groups and think tanks.
• Event organiser - oversees the production of events, from conception to completion. This might include festivals, exhibitions, concerts, conferences, social events, fundraising activities and product launches. Event organisers generally work for event management companies or for in-house teams attached to event venues.
• Tourist information centre manager - runs a service providing information to the public and local businesses about tourist attractions, events, accommodation, transport and other facilities in the region and nationwide. The managers of these centres are responsible for ensuring that the centre runs smoothly, recruiting and training staff, and purchasing items.
• Tourism officer - provides specialist management and development services to a particular tourist attraction or a specific area. Typical consultancy commissions include feasibility studies, strategic marketing and planning, urban or rural regeneration projects, and preparing applications for funding.
• Customer service manager - ensures that a company or organisation satisfies its customers' needs. Customer services managers may work at various levels, from head office to the front end of the business. Work might include: helping to develop a customer service policy for an entire organisation; managing a team of customer services staff; or handling face-to-face enquiries from customers.

There is a crossover between the leisure/recreation industry and hospitality and catering. Roles in hospitality include accommodation manager (i.e. in conference centres and hotels) and restaurant manager, where your general understanding of managing a range of facilities will apply.

Other options

To increase your chances of finding work it can be very helpful to gain related work experience to complement your degree. This may involve, for example, working in the sport and leisure industry as a fitness instructor or in an administrative role. It may also be possible to gain marketing or events management experience, perhaps through university societies or voluntary work. Work experience and travel opportunities can also be combined over the vacation periods by working for organisations such as Camp America and BUNAC .

Portfolio working can help you to develop the skills and experience you need to progress and boost your CV. This can be achieved by working in a variety of short-term roles and at events such as the 2012 Olympics. Internships and volunteering are other valuable ways of gaining experience. For example, try youth sport volunteering if you are interested in coaching, or find an opportunity to staff a sports event if you want to pursue a management role.

Although some of the jobs listed here might not be first jobs for many graduates, they are among the many realistic possibilities with your degree, provided you can demonstrate you have the attributes employers are looking for. Bear in mind that it’s not just your degree discipline that determines your options. Remember that many graduate vacancies don't specify particular degree disciplines, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here. Look at your degree... what next? for informed advice on career planning and graduate employment, or login/register with My Prospects to find out what jobs would suit you, a helpful starting point for self-analysis.

Explore types of jobs to find out more about the above options and related jobs.