Career prospects
The Alumnitool on LinkedIn can help you gain insight into possible careers after you finish your degree. It can also help you get in contact with an alumnus or alumna of your degree programme or other programmes. Nearly all graduates have a LinkedIn profile and can answer questions about your future career. They’re often more than happy to share their experiences with you. The video belows explains how the alumnitool works, and how you can use search criteria to find career information that is relevant to you.
Would you like to know more about how you can use LinkedIn to expand your network and put the new information into practice straight away? Take the LinkedIn workshop from Career Services. The workshop Exploring the job market & networking is also useful if you'd like to improve your networking skills, using LinkedIn and other ways.
The unique combination of expertise offers an exciting opportunity in this challenging international Master’s programme. It provides you with sound academic training that will prepare you for professional positions in a range of organisations.
OSI alumni will have a wide range of employment options thanks to
- their knowledge about governance and organising geared towards societal change,
- their analytical and critical problem-solving competences,
- their experience in organisations through the fieldwork, and
- the professional skills graduates have acquired through the programme
Considering the programme’s focus on organising principles, processes and practices, graduates will be most suited to take up positions across a wide range of employers requiring an understanding of institutions, governance and civil society and their relations.
Examples of jobs fitting the programme focus on communication functions in non-profit organisations, lobbying positions, outreach staff of local administration and trade unions, CSR managers in firms, etc. Therefore, OSI graduates can work for the (inter)national associations and NGO’s with a societal transformative mission, advocacy organisations, grassroots community organisations, trade unions and political parties, but also (local) public administrations, (social) enterprises, and cooperatives.
The knowledge and skills acquired through the programme are also of relevance in non-waged roles OSI graduates might take up as volunteers, for instance, in their own neighbourhood or village, or parents’ committees in schools and other communities sustaining the livelihood of the society. In this sense, they are generative of individual income and public value for the communities in which the graduates are embedded.
After finishing this Master's programme, you can also enrol in a PhD programme at UU or another university. During a four year programme, you will do research on a specific topic and start your academic career.
Are you considering starting your own business? Now is a good time to prepare. Utrecht University can offer you a number of opportunities to explore entrepreneurship.
You could, for instance, take electives from Master's degree programmes that cover entrepreneurship in their curriculums:
- If you’re interested in becoming an expert at creating the prerequisites for running a successful business, take an elective at the Master’s programme Business Development and Entrepreneurship of Utrecht School of Economics.
- If you have a background in Economics and Business, and wish to do a Master’s programme in Entrepreneurship: check out the Master’s programme Business Development and Entrepreneurship.
- If you have a background in Science or Medicine, you can take classes Science and Business Management classes.
- If you're interested in sustainable business practices and sustainable innovation, take an elective at Sustainable Business and Innovation.
The Utrecht Center for Entrepreneurship (CE) also organises Spring schools, Summer schools, Winter schools, Honours classes and short seminars on entrepreneurship for non-Dutch students. All courses are offered in English except when the entire group is Dutch.
StudentsInc
Would you like to run a business while still at university? Do you want to graduate on running your own business? StudentsInc (Dutch language website) is home to a number of student businesses and offers programmes to develop your entrepreneurial skills.
UtrechtInc
Have you (nearly) graduated and do you want to start a business? UtrechtInc is the place to find financing, office space, expertise and coaching. UtrechtInc is there for
- starting entrepreneurs and alumni, doctoral candidates, and researchers (preferably from Utrecht University, Hogeschool Utrecht, UMC Utrecht)
- who are still in the ideas phase OR further along (less than five years) and have
- and have a (IT) start-up focusing on health, environmental sustainability, or education.
Would you like to know more? Visit the UtrechtInc site, register your idea, and drop by for a cup of coffee.
Enactus
Would you like to know whether entrepreneurship is right for you? Are you driven, socially conscious, and ambitious? Are you willing to spend a year working on a business for at least 8 hours a week? Enactus Utrecht (Dutch language website) offers you the opportunity to run a business and provides workshops and professional coaching.
Useful links
- Register at the Chambers of Commerce.
- You can read about all the other things you need to take care of on the Revenue Service (Belastingdienst) website.
- Join relevant groups on LinkedIn to share knowledge online and expand your network.
- Will you run an especially sustainable, innovative, and/or internationally oriented business? The Netherlands Enterprise Agency can support you with subsidies, knowledge, regulation, and more.
Upon completion of your current Master's degree programme, you can follow a one-year (Dutch language) teacher training programme. This will grant you a first degree teaching qualification for secondary education. That means you will be able to work in the upper and lower years of vmbo, havo, and vwo in the Netherlands.
Take a look at UU's Master's degree programme selection site.
When you complete your Master's degree programme, if you enjoy doing research in your area of expertise, perhaps you should pursue a PhD. You will start out as a research assistant or trainee research worker. Check the two-years Master's Programmes of Utrecht University.
The best way to find a research traineeship is to contact the professor in the field you want to specialise in. Another option would be www.academictransfer.nl.
If you'd like to pursue a PhD at Utrecht University, your PhD programme will fall under the auspices of one of the Graduate Schools. For more information, consult the Prout | PhD Network Utrecht website.