What are the career prospects after completing a post graduation course in Philosophy?

Students with MA Philosophy degree can get jobs in both India as well as abroad. It provides students various opportunities in the teaching profession or personnel management. There are many job opportunities after completing post graduation in Philosophy like researching, teaching, writing etc. Students who have completed research on philosophy can opt for teaching jobs in research institutes, universities and in colleges. Besides, philosophy graduate can become a lawyer, management consultant, journalist, policy analyst, social worker, government employee and public relations officer. As far as faculty position is concerned, after completing doctoral degree in philosophy you can apply for assistant professor job in government college and private college. After completing B. Ed you can apply for teaching job in school.

All students who complete their Post Graduation in Philosophy can't be accommodated as a teaching faculty in colleges. They have to look around for various options and explore the possibilities. The following are some of the possible ways,
1. Research: After completing their PG, they can apply for NET examinations and get qualified in that. They can join as a research scholar in any university and work for their PhD under a suitable guide. Some people are doing PhD even without NET qualification. But they may not be getting any financial assistance. But NET qualified candidates may get CSIR/ UGC/ University scholarships while working for their PhD.
2. Teaching faculty: There are some private degree colleges where this subject will be offered. In such colleges, the PG qualified people can join as lecturers. The NET qualified lecturers in aided colleges and government colleges may get the salary as per the UGC norms. But private colleges will not give as per that scale and may offer less salaries.
3. Teacher in School: After completing their PG these students can go for B.Ed. They can choose the subjects based on their graduation subjects and complete BEd. Then they will be eligible for teaching staff in government schools. They have to write the entrance tests and then interview. They can be language teachers or social teachers in the school.
4. Bank Jobs: For clerical and officer posts in banks, the eligibility criteria will be any graduation. So these PGs can apply for those jobs and the selection procedure will be a written test for qualifying for the selection and then again a written test for a specific post and then an interview.
5. Assistant to a lawyer: Many lawyers prefer the Philosophy graduates and PGs as their assistants to make their papers and other documentation. But career growth will be less. It is better for these students to do LLB after completing MA and to join as a junior lawyer with a reputed lawyer so that they will excel in that profession,
6. Other Opportunities: These PGs can appear for various government posts selection like Group I, Group 2. Group3 and Group 4 jobs in State governments. They can also try UPSC jobs like IAS, IPS etc, There are many private companies that will offer jobs to these PGs in their HR and personnel departments.

After doing PG in Philosophy one line which is common to many undergraduates and postgraduates is to try competitive exams in our country. There are many positions in the Govt departments which are filled through competitions and subject is not the barrier to them rather the knowledge of various fields and proficiency in one core subject are needed. For example, one can try for the prestigious IAS exam conducted by UPSC where one can select Philosophy as an optional subject in the main exam and score as per one's knowledge in that core subject. Similarly, states also have their own public service commissions and one can try for them also depending on the state where one wants to serve. Apart from that, there are many PSUs in our country which take executives for various positions and a PG in Philosophy can try for the HR and administrative types of job stream there. Every PSU has its own entrance examination and interview for the selection of persons for various technical and non-technical departments and one can apply for the positions where one is fulfilling the minimum eligibility criterion. Generally, graduation is the minimum eligibility for appearing in such exams.
There is another career line that is teaching and if one has got a good score in one's PG degree then it makes sense to go for the NET test and qualify so that one can apply for the post of Assistant Professor or Lecturer in the universities or colleges across India. If NET is not feasible due to some reasons then there is a longer path to achieve that objective and that is to go for research leading to a PhD degree in some niche area under the Philosophy discipline and then apply for the Lecturership position. If both these options are not feasible in light of poor performance in the already secured Philosophy PG degree then there is an option of going for a B.Ed. degree after which there are good prospects to get a teaching job in various schools.
If we do a job survey for a Philosophy PG degree holder then we find some areas where job prospects are available. These could be in Govt or private organisations and one has to keep a tab for them by visiting the various job portals where vacancies in India are depicted. These areas are content writing, insurance underwriting, administrative areas, research areas in social organisations, liaison work in major NGOs, miscellaneous jobs related to museums and archaeological interests, journalism etc.
I will reiterate that there are many areas where Philosophy would not be much used but it enables one to apply in those positions and after gaining some experience one can excel in those areas also. Many students today seek some short term course also before applying for a particular job where the basic qualification does not link much and that is also a good idea but for that one has to do job hunting and then quickly acquire that qualification through so many online educational agencies which offer short term courses to mitigate the job-seeking difficulties of the candidates.
Last but not least I will suggest that today as the job market is very tight and jobs in one's own discipline might not be so easy to secure then why not go for some self-employment mode. Please note that no job is small or big it is what the executor makes it. So if you have some inclination for business or trading you can give it a thought and with some hard work, one can definitely prosper in a business or trading of one's liking. Even opening a shop for certain goods in an area where there is a good demand is a healthy business proposition.

Philosophy broadens our minds providing us true knowledge of an object providing us the reality of the different possibilities of happenings and since this subject has the different approach of the explanations, we would be immensely benefited by going through the deep study of this subject.
After completing post graduation in Philosophy, the aspirants could have different careers which would provide them mental stimulation apart from excellent salaries for the professions they have chosen. The following choices could be beneficial for them in terms of growth apart from substantial earnings-
1) Research Associates- In this field, the aspirants would be required to explore facts about the industry, market trends, economics, investment vehicles etc. They would work closely with the clients to assess the developments in their chosen areas. They would resolve the complexities and they must have the potentials of simplifying the process so that it becomes understandable.
2) Human Resources Manager - They can work as Resource Manager directing the administrative function of the organisation or business. They would review the strength of the employees working in their organisations and can take up steps to modify some norms to augment resources of the organisations. They would work out modalities to augment the profits of the companies through their innovative approach.
3) Historians - This could prove to the aspirants as being the most exciting areas where they can undertake extensive studies, critical analysis of the subject/ topics with which they are indulged. They would correlate their studies in Philosophy to examine its applicability during the current trend. They would study History also to be familiar with the important events that occurred in the past. They might publish a book detailing the facts with their own remarks to benefit the students indulged in Research.
4) Management Trainee ( Administration) - There are a lot of public undertakings and other prospective companies interested to absorb youths with the excellent academic careers in the different streams but here the condition is that the aspirants must have secured at least 60% marks in their qualifying examinations. They would be required to clear the written and the oral interview of the organisation apart from clearance of the Medical Test conducted by the Medical Team of the company. They would be put to rigorous training for a year prior to allocation of the different departments such as Purchase, Stores, Education, Administration providing them excellent growth in their careers.
5) Computers and Technology- The aspirants have sound knowledge in formal logic enabling them to understand artificial intelligence including ethics of technology and computer science making them most suited to the different programs of the computers. With their innovative approach, they can undertake different programmes beneficial to the different industries such as Automotive Industries, Cement Industries, Steel Industries due to their competence in the Software.
6) Psychologists- They can work as a Psychologist helping patients to understand their mental conditions and could explore treatment options of the different patients with their existing symptoms. They could prove to be the successful assets of the medical teams in the diagnosis of mental healths of the patients.