Whether you are coming to the end of your three years of study or are still at high school or college and only just choosing which university to go to, you want to have an idea of where your degree could take you.

It’s possible that you are considering embarking on a degree because the subject interests you, but is that enough?

Obviously, if you’re a budding doctor, you’re not going to get very far in your line of work without having the relevant education and qualifications behind you. However, you will often still be more successful in other professions if you have a degree, even if you don’t necessarily require one.

Degree of importance

The importance of obtaining a university degree is often underestimated. While you might not have a specific career path in mind, having some letters after your name can do you a world of good.

Many UK recruiters specifically target graduates, with starting salaries ranging between £26,500 and £29,000. This is around the same, if not slightly higher, than the national average so as a graduate you’re already off to a better start than the typical employee.

Moving into employment

In that case, you could argue that it doesn’t matter what degree you study but unless you’re willing to be very flexible it’s still beneficial to know what line of work you could go for.

The Southampton Solent Career Coach has an online tool, which allows you to search by the degree you are considering. This can really broaden your mind and open up opportunities that you didn’t realise existed.

For example, a quick search for ‘English Literature’ brings up the obvious author or journalist paths but also careers in marketing, public relations and education. Some university degrees, such as medicine, send you in a more obvious direction but others can provide a myriad of employment opportunities.

Which degree is best?

So, if you are unsure what you want to do in the future, but know that you are willing to work for your career, which degree should you do?

You need something that offers career flexibility. The tip here is to avoid specialising in something and going for a degree that improves your all-round employability instead.

Subjects like Business Administration, Accounting or Communications all offer broad career paths because of the kills they equip you with. For example, with the increase in text-speak, fewer young people have good communication skills and therefore holding a communications degree could make you stand out from the crowd.

This is a guest post for TheEmployable