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Enhance your employability

When you study at Durham you’ll graduate with so much more than a degree. You’ll have the chance to develop your skills, explore your career options and ensure you’ve got the best possible start to your future.

Explore a world of opportunities

You might know exactly where you want to be when you finish university, or maybe you don’t even know where to start. Either way, our Careers & Enterprise Centre is here to help. From career planning through to applying for internships, placements, and graduate jobs, you will be supported from day one. We’ll help you develop the skills and experience you need to succeed.

Our careers advisors are available to offer hands-on CV clinics and skills sessions, and explain what employers want to see from an application and interview.

We’ve got links with many leading graduate recruiters and you’ll have access to thousands of work experience and graduate opportunities. We host hundreds of employer events each year, where you can find out about internships, placements and graduate roles.

University student
At Mars, we place a huge value on recruiting the best and most diverse talent in the UK from the top universities. Careers fairs give us the perfect pathway to find that talent and help drive them to become future leaders of tomorrow’s business. At Mars, we say: “Your tomorrow starts today”, and this go-get-it mindset is a valuable trait we see in Durham undergraduates. As a Durham graduate myself, careers fairs allowed me to ask companies directly any questions I had, and ultimately, find the perfect Graduate scheme for me at Mars!

Rosie Merron, Customer Development Manager
Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Waitrose, Mars Pet Nutrition UK

Where will your degree take you?

Our graduate success rates speak for themselves - we currently rank 56th in the world for employer reputation in the QS World University Rankings 2023.

Many of our graduates go on to achieve incredible things in law, science, academia, business, the arts, government, journalism and athletics. Our alumni work in a variety of organisations, including IBM, the United Nations, Saatchi & Saatchi, Deloitte, the NHS, EDF Energy, the BBC, The Times and the Civil Service, to name but a few.

Our inspirational graduates

Discover more about some of our recent graduates

Hassan

Hassan grew up in the UAE. He graduated in Biological Sciences and was the first in his family to go to university. He is now CEO of his own business based in Newcastle.
Student Hassan sitting with a laptop

Nicole

Nicole is from Middlesbrough, UK. She graduated with an Ancient History degree after completing the Supported Progression programme. She now works in Museums Heritage.
Student Nicole with an artefact

Matthew

Matthew is from North Shields, UK. He graduated in Modern Languages and also went on a year abroad. He now works for the EU in Brussels as Head of Office to an MEP.
Former student Matthew working for the EU, with flags and seats in the background

Joanne

Joanne is from Chester-le-Street, UK. She graduated in Psychology (Applied), was the first in her family to go to university and is now a Trainee Educational Psychologist
Former student Joanne stood in the hills with sea in the background

Durham Graduate Destinations

Finding out what our graduates have gone on to do after leaving is very important and we collect information from graduates after they leave university, to find out more about what they are doing. Data is now collected 15 months after graduation using the new Graduate Outcomes Survey. The first survey was conducted in December 2018, with the data published in summer 2020.

You can find the data at the national level on the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) website.

What Durham Graduates Do

Use the links below to view the destination data for each department within the University from the last Graduate Outcomes (GO) survey (2017/18). This data was collected 15 months after graduation. This includes data on the proportion of graduates that were in work and/or further study and the average salary of graduates.

Arts & Humanities

Science

Social Science

Business

Comparing Graduate Destinations

Destinations data, provided by HESA, is one element often used in national press league tables to compare different institutions, usually on a subject basis.

National league tables include:

Please be aware that the methodology used to calculate the scores in each league table is different.