Students who study linguistics end up in a wide range of occupations. Data from the UK and Australia has shown that students in less directly vocational courses tend to take longer to end up in full-time employment (Treffers-Daller and Sakel 2010), in part because of the general nature of their skills (British Academy 2004, QILT 2019), however it is precisely general critical thinking skills that are cited as the most in demand from employers (British Academy 2020).
This paper summarises post-study employability experiences of linguistics students. This paper summarises a thematic analysis of 51 interviews with a diverse range of individuals who studied linguistics and went on to work in a diverse range of occupations. We look at the domain-specific and transferable skills reported and highlight common advice offered in the interviews. We conclude with some suggestions for how linguistics programs help their students to think about careers.