“Could you name any careers that particularly require English” 

“what a lot of people often do is they link subjects directly to careers and jobs, which is okay, but what I would say is its not necessarily about the English, but about the skills that you gain. So jobs that use things like the big skills you’ll get from English like critical thinking, critical analysis, interpreting what you’ve read, and drawing your own conclusions, interpreting what you’ve learned. A lot of people say to me ‘I don’t know why I'm doing that subject, why would I need to know about Shakespeare?’ Again, you might not need to know about Shakespeare, but the being able to interpret complex information, take in information and draw your own conclusions is something you will probably use quite a lot in the work place. So any job that would use critical thinking/ critical analysis skills. So it could be even things like computing. People like computing programmers would also need to have good English skills. So as I said its more about the skills you’ve learned rather than the English itself. Even as a careers advisor I need to use critical thinking skills. I need to be able to hear what the young person is saying and not take it at face value. Even jobs like counselling really need good English.” 

“What is the highest paying job that requires English?” 

“Off the top of my head, I don’t really know the answer. However, if people would want to find that out, you can go onto My World Of Work, and you can go onto the industries section, and you can filter it by careers that require certain meta skills to find what you need. Law is a good one, pays very well. Then again, some jobs pay well, but only pay well if you’re good at it. Like if you’re good at law, you could get paid thousands and thousands, but if you’re not so good at it, it might not pay as much. But I couldn't give you an exact job that pays the most.” 

“The last question I have is what’s a job that you wouldn't expect needs English but actually does?” 

“Most jobs at some level need English, that's why when looking at subjects we don't like to look at it as compulsory subjects, but more as essential subjects. Young people say ‘Oh these subjects are compulsory’ But I would say they’re essential subjects. That’s why you do them till s4. So I would say most jobs need English, but I would say even jobs where you’re not working with people. Like working as a cleaner, for example. Even though you’re not going to have to speak much to people, it still needs those skills like critical thinking – needing to think on your feet. I have one. A job that you wouldn't expect needs English but actually does is a Lighthouse Keeper. You’re months on your own, sitting in this lighthouse, but you’re still going to have critical thinking skills, and this job might even need higher English.”