{"id":8651,"date":"2026-03-10T09:40:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T09:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/?p=8651"},"modified":"2026-03-10T09:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T09:40:07","slug":"module-choice-and-your-career-what-actually-matters-to-employers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/?p=8651","title":{"rendered":"Module choice and your career: what actually matters to employers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Module-choice-lego-curve.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-8655\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Module-choice-lego-curve.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"161\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>Choosing your modules can feel like a huge\u00a0decision and\u00a0many people wonder whether picking the wrong ones closes doors.\u00a0The good news is that for most careers, specific module choices matter far less than you think.\u00a0Explore more about what employers want in a range of industries; watch the <a href=\"https:\/\/learn1.open.ac.uk\/course\/view.php?id=100172&amp;cmid=51508\">CareersFest 2025 sector-focused employer panel sessions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h4>What employers\u00a0actually look\u00a0at<\/h4>\n<p>When employers see your degree on an application,\u00a0here&#8217;s\u00a0what\u00a0they&#8217;re\u00a0usually\u00a0interested in:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Your overall degree classification<\/strong> and the range of subjects you studied \u2013 this shows your knowledge base and what you achieved. It\u2019s worth knowing that <strong>only one in five graduate employers require specific degree subjects<\/strong> (Institute of Student Employers, 2025), suggesting skills are usually more important than subject knowledge.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The skills\u00a0you&#8217;ve\u00a0developed<\/strong> \u2013 OU study is designed to build the skills that employers look for, such as problem solving, communication, digital and information literacy, initiative, commercial and sector awareness. <a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/employability-skills\">Audit your employability skills<\/a> to work out which you have and which you might focus on building.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Accreditation or official recognition where\u00a0it&#8217;s\u00a0relevant<\/strong> \u2013 some OU qualifications are accredited by professional bodies. Where this is the case, the required modules are already built into the qualification structure, so you don\u2019t need to select specific modules to meet accreditation requirements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Unless\u00a0you&#8217;re\u00a0going into something highly specialised, employers\u00a0are unlikely to\u00a0be scrutinising individual module titles. They want the bigger picture.<\/p>\n<h4>Key questions to help you make module decisions<\/h4>\n<p>Choosing your next module is a great opportunity to shape your degree around <em>you <\/em>\u2013 your interests, strengths, and long\u2011term goals. Questions to consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What sparks your curiosity?<\/strong> Most people do better in their studies if they are genuinely interested in the subject matter.<\/li>\n<li><strong>What plays to your strengths? <\/strong>If you are analytical and like to solve problems, you might lean more towards maths and science modules. If writing essays and developing arguments is your thing, then arts and humanities could be a good fit. Areas like business and social sciences often blend both skills \u2013 combining data analysis with critical writing, or mixing quantitative research with theoretical debate.<\/li>\n<li><strong>What relates to your goals? <\/strong>If you have a direction in mind then some modules might offer useful context. For example business management if you\u2019re considering self-employment, or biology if you are interested in health-related or laboratory roles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Making your choices count<\/h4>\n<p>When employers ask about your degree,\u00a0they&#8217;re\u00a0after evidence of how you think and what you can do. Being able to talk about what you learned and why it matters is worth more than module\u00a0titles.<\/p>\n<h4>Still unsure?<\/h4>\n<p>If\u00a0you&#8217;re\u00a0weighing up options and want to talk it through,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/help.open.ac.uk\/book-a-careers-appointment\">book a careers consultation<\/a>\u00a0with us.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ou-box ou-box--info\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-6664 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Penny-crop-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"OU Careers Consultant Penny\" width=\"93\" height=\"93\" \/><em>Penny Beecroft is an OU Careers and Employability Consultant specialising in supporting students in Wales. Penny helps students navigate their futures, figure out their goals and build their confidence through one-to-one careers consultations and by designing career learning events and resources for the OU. Explore the rest of the Careers Stories page for more articles from the Careers and Employability Services team.<\/em><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Choosing your modules can feel like a huge\u00a0decision and\u00a0many people wonder whether picking the wrong ones closes doors.\u00a0The good news is that for most careers, specific module choices matter far less than you think.\u00a0Explore more about what employers want in a range of industries; watch the CareersFest 2025 sector-focused employer panel sessions. What employers\u00a0actually look\u00a0at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,61,78],"tags":[86,62],"class_list":["post-8651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-career-planning","category-jobs","category-lmi","tag-career-planning","tag-jobs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8651"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8660,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8651\/revisions\/8660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}