Health and social care

A health and social care degree covers a range of areas and helps you develop skills to build a career in health, social care, education, charities, or public services

Job options

Jobs directly relevant to your degree include:

• Advice worker
• Care manager
• Community development worker
• Community education officer
• Family support worker
• Health improvement practitioner
• Health service manager
• Youth worker

Jobs where your degree would be useful include:

• Adult nurse
• Counsellor
• Education mental health practitioner
• Equality, diversity and inclusion officer
• Operating department practitioner
• Psychological wellbeing practitioner
• Social worker

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

Gaining work experience can improve your skills, enhance your career confidence, and provide you with vital insights into career options and industries. Take advantage of opportunities to do a short-term or sandwich (year-long) placement while studying to gain invaluable experience and practical knowledge.

Relevant opportunities for work experience might include working part-time in a local hospital, completing an internship for a health-related charity, or contributing to a research project through your university. Depending on your aspirations, you could also work in an early years education setting or an addiction support service. Gaining experience in support work, befriending, or advice may be useful for careers relating to social work and case work.

If you're interested in arts and health, you could explore work experience within art, play, or drama therapy. Volunteering or working on a community health project may also be useful for developing a career as a social prescribing link worker.

Other relevant work experience includes working at a local school, at a fitness centre in health promotion, or within a local authority.

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

Typical employers

Many health and social care graduates work in roles across education, health, public services, and the charity sector. Typical employers include:

• the NHS
• local authorities including social services
• charities, not-for-profits, and community organisations
• schools, colleges, early years organisations, or adult education settings.

There are a variety of opportunities available across the private sector, for example, within care companies and private healthcare businesses. Graduates can also work within social prescribing, employed by either the NHS or a private healthcare company and working in partnership with community groups.

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

Skills for your CV

A degree in health and care provides students with knowledge of complex issues across the health and care sectors and prepares students for relevant careers. It provides students with an understanding of health and social care from practical and academic perspectives. On the course you'll learn to:

• recognise and understand management practices in health and social care
• research and analyse complex topics related to health and social care using inter-disciplinary approaches
• formulate and present arguments through a range of assignment methods, including reports, essays, presentations, and group projects
• produce an independent dissertation on a topic of your choice, applying research methods and analysing relevant data effectively.

You'll also develop a range of skills and competencies, including:

• written communication skills - to present your knowledge and argument effectively through reports and essays
• verbal communication and presentation skills - to effectively engage in lectures, tutorials, presentations, and supervision meetings with academics
• the ability to work independently and as part of a team - to engage in independent research and contribute to group projects
• research skills and data analysis - to critically analyse information and data and apply it to a specific assignment
• time management and project management skills - managing multiple deadlines and planning assignments from start to finish
• multi-tasking and problem-solving skills - managing competing priorities while studying.

Further study

Health and social care graduates may decide to progress onto further study at Masters, diploma, or postgraduate certificate level. For many health-related careers, including social work, occupational therapy, counselling, nursing and speech and language therapy, you'll need to complete further training. For some careers, there are shortened postgraduate options available, so you won't need to complete a full degree course. There are also a range of degree apprenticeship options available, particularly within the NHS and private healthcare providers.

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

What do health and social care graduates do?

The top five occupations held by health and social care graduates include care and home workers (16%), nursing auxiliaries and assistants (8%), welfare and housing associate professionals (7%), senior care workers (5%) and residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors (3%).

Find out what other economics graduates are doing 15 months after finishing their degrees in What do graduates do?

Graduate destinations data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Find out more

• NHS Careers
• NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme
• Frontline
• Think Ahead