I’ve recently heard from a lot of graduates that their degree in PR/media and communications is wasted, sentencing them to a life of barista work or retail (not that there’s anything wrong with that). It can be hard when you’re fresh out of Uni to get enough perspective, and there’s no knowing where you might end up.

A degree in PR/Media and Communications can get you a lot, provided you know how to adapt your skillset. Here are my top 5 roles that a degree in PR or Media and Communications can get you:

This seems obvious but hold your horses. Public Relations is a massive space to work in. For some, it can be based around entertainment and individual people, for others it can be based around public relations for companies, or even small business. The world is your oyster in this space, and when it comes to PR management, you can do anything provided you have the contacts.

Content marketing is a great place to be in, and it’s an industry that is set to bloom enormously in the years to come as more and more companies understand how powerful content can be. Content marketing can be anything from shooting video, recording audio interviews, writing and can touch just about any skillset you may pick up during your degree. This leads into…

The single biggest area of content marketing is in the SEO space, particularly in blog writing and website copy. SEO specialisation doesn’t mean you’ll be designated to be a copywriter or blog writer, but that you’ll be able to consider your audience and how you can best reach them. SEO involves finding the interests of your audience as much as it does creating the content to match.

While it might take a bit of experience to work your way up to this point, working in digital strategy means being able to build digital marketing campaigns. One of the best parts of a media and communications degree is that you learn how to consider your audience. As digital strategy becomes the most important part of marketing for more companies, having this kind of degree will out you in great step. Especially when it comes to the advertising side of things, understanding who your audience is and their key motivations will allow you to form a unique view in digital marketing.

As Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn presence grows in significance, so too does the work that goes along with it. It’s hard to imagine a world without social media, and for companies that need to broadcast their message while receiving feedback, social media is the most prime way to do that. Communications degrees were made for this kind of work. Social media doesn’t need someone who understands the numbers and return on investment, it needs someone that understands key messaging and brand.

A degree is just a piece of paper though. What you do with it is what matters.