Other choices after bachelor's

Start working
You can start working immediately after obtaining your bachelor's degree. Perhaps you will stop studying permanently or you will temporarily stop studying in order to follow a Master's program at a later time.

University bachelors have a different profile than hbo bachelors. In addition to knowledge and experience, university bachelors have acquired many academic skills, while hbo bachelors have more practical skills. A university bachelor's often has a broad character, whereas in a master's program students specialize in a particular field.
Employers still indicate that they are particularly interested in academics with a completed master's degree and with a clear profile.
Nevertheless, there are plenty of graduates who entered the labour market with a bachelor's degree and found suitable jobs. This certainly has to do with the sector in which you are looking for a job, but especially with the person himself. What do you have in mind, what do you have to offer and how are you going to approach it?

Skills
Rather than linking job opportunities to your master's specialisation, it is especially important with your academic bachelor's degree to look at what skills (employability skills) you have developed and how they fit in with positions.
Employability skills are core skills (general skills) that you need in every job. They are skills that employers ask for and that are at least as important as job-specific skills. The more you possess these skills, the more employable you are, the greater your chances of obtaining a job and of advancing your career.

• You will find more information about employability skills on the Career Zone and how to translate them into jobs and vacancies.
• Also take a look at the Career Planning module, so that you can focus your search for a suitable job.
• Take a look at the vacancies in the Leiden University Job portal.

Temporarily stop your studies - gap year
If you would like to take a break between your bachelor's and master's studies, there are all kinds of options for how you can spend this time.
Think for example of (language) travel, work, volunteering, doing a management year, etc.

• The career advisors of the Career Services can think along with you if you are not yet sure how to best fill in a gap year or period.
• You will find a lot of information about the possibilities at home and abroad on websites like:
  • gooverseas.com
  • efgapyear.com
  • prospects.ac.uk

 Also take a look at the LU Career Zone if you are looking for information about:

• Volunteer work
• Working abroad
• Working: vacancies on the Jobportal
• Starting your own company
• Board year (e.g. with a study of student association)    

Take time to consider your master's choice
During your gap year, you will of course have the time to think about your choice of Master's program and to investigate the possibilities. 
For more information, see the Choosing a master's program page.