Youth and community work

Job options

Jobs directly related to your degree include:

• Advice worker
• Community development worker
• Community education officer
• Family support worker
• Learning mentor
• Probation officer
• Social worker
• Volunteer coordinator
• Youth worker

Jobs where your degree would be useful include:

• Adult guidance worker
• Arbitrator
• Care manager
• Careers adviser
• Chaplain
• Charity officer
• Counsellor
• Education mental health practitioner
• Equality, diversity and inclusion officer
• Housing manager/officer
• Occupational therapist
• Outdoor activities/education manager
• Paralegal
• Police officer
• Secondary school teacher

Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

Work experience

It's important to get relevant paid or voluntary work experience to increase your skills and help make you more employable. Experience is particularly important if you want to go into teaching or an advisory or social work/care role. For classroom experience, contact local schools to arrange visits to observe teachers or to help with non-teaching duties.

You can also get involved in your local community and build up some experience. When looking for opportunities, highlight any sport, language or performing arts skills that you have. Take advantage of work placements offered as part of your course, or look at finding one in a youth or community centre, school or college.

Experience of working with young people in areas such as advice and guidance, drug or alcohol misuse, mentoring, tutoring, sport and youth justice is also useful. You can often gain this type of experience through volunteering.

Contact your local youth service or club (local authority in Scotland) or voluntary bodies to arrange voluntary or part-time sessional work. You can also gain valuable experience by working or volunteering at summer play schemes, youth clubs and summer camps.

Most local community services of all these types are always looking for extra volunteers, so you should be able to volunteer in a specialty that you're interested in. However, you can take advantage of this and volunteer at multiple types of community organisations to help you decide which you prefer most in practice but also to build up a broad network of potential future employers.

Search for placements and find out more about work experience and internships.

Typical employers

You can find employment in youth and community work with a range of employers, including:

• churches and other faith-based organisations
• education departments
• local authority youth services
• police and probation services
• schools and colleges
• social services
• voluntary and charitable organisations.

Areas of work include:

• community policing
• community work including community arts or sports programs
• drugs services
• education
• health
• housing
• trainee probation
• welfare rights
• youth justice
• youth work.

Many jobs are project based, covering specific aspects such as:

• advisory work
• community arts
• education
• drugs
• homelessness
• poverty
• regeneration
• sexual health.

Find information on employers in teaching and education, social care, charity and voluntary work, and other job sectors.

Skills for your CV

Many courses combine university-based learning with supervised practice placements, testing your knowledge in real youth and community situations. A lot of this work can be very emotionally difficult. But your degree should prepare you to be able to engage with, support and motivate young people so that they can explore and understand their ideas, values and beliefs and make a successful transition to adulthood.

Employers are also interested in the broader skills you acquire studying youth and community work. These include:

• skills in critical thinking, analysis and reflection that can be applied during your fieldwork practice
• empathy, and a commitment to non-judgemental practice
• broad understanding of ethics, diversity and inclusion practices and to implement them
• problem-solving skills developed by integrating theory and practice
• presentation skills, and oral and written communication skills
• management, supervision and organisational skills
• the ability to work independently and to deadlines
• fundraising and advocacy skills
• resilience especially working with people in difficult or upsetting situations
• teamwork and other interpersonal skills.

Further study

Some graduates opt for postgraduate study, such as studying a research-based Masters degree or a PhD in education or community/youth studies, however most go straight into employment. MA courses for qualified youth and community workers are also available.

For some careers, such as teaching and social work, you'll need to take further vocational training. You'll need to complete work-based training programmes to enter careers such as probation or police officer.

For more information on further study and to find a course that interests you, see Masters degrees and search postgraduate courses in youth work.

What do youth and community work graduates do

The top ten jobs for youth and community work graduates include youth and community workers (33%), welfare and housing associate professionals (10%), youth work professionals (8%), educational support assistants (8%), child and early years officers (6%), care workers and home carers (4%), counsellors (3%), housing officers (3%), early education and childcare assistants (2%) and teaching assistants (2%).

Find out what other graduates are doing after finishing their degrees in What do graduates do?

Graduate Outcomes survey data from HESA.