What Can I Do With This Major?
Think beyond your major and capitalize on your skills to land a job after graduation.
Match your top skills to jobs that require those skills.
Four years ago, you chose your college major because you were interested in that subject. Now you're starting your job search, hoping to find a job, and thinking, "Ok, soooo just what can I do with this major?" Don't freak out. You don’t have to become a history teacher just because you majored in history. Instead, think about the skills you learned over the past four years as a way to find the right job for you.
Every job ad lists the skills the employer's looking for in the ideal candidate. Keep in mind, there are soft skills and hard skills. Soft skills are the things your professors have been talking about a lot: critical thinking, teamwork, and strong communication. (All those group projects will end up paying off in the long run.) Hard skills, on the other hand, are the things you stayed up late mastering: computer programming, data analytics, accounting, editing, statistics, and even typing.
Now, think about the skills you've learned and which ones you're really good at. Focusing on those when looking for jobs will move you closer to finding one that's the right fit. Still not sure how that'll work? Here's a guide to matching the skills you learned in different majors and the jobs that require those skills. And for extra credit, we threw in a few good descriptors to use on your resume.
What Can I Do With This Major: Liberal Arts
There are a lot of majors that fall under liberal arts, including psychology, sociology, philosophy, history, creative writing, theater, English, and journalism. After four years as a liberal arts major, you're a seasoned writer with strong interpersonal skills and an ability to synthesize information clearly. You're inquisitive, a critical thinker, eloquent, creative, and great at research.
You’d be a good fit for:
What Can I Do With This Major: STEM
The growth of STEM employment has outpaced any other occupation. Science, technology, engineering, and math majors are in high demand right now. You're good at math (natch!), problem-solving, research, understanding data, collaboration, and writing. You're innovative, curious, analytical, organized, and methodological.
You’d be a fit for:
What Can I Do With This Major: Health and Medicine
If you're interested in health and medicine, you might have majored in psychology, biology, public health, health studies, chemistry, nursing, statistics, sociology, or even anthropology. You thrive under pressure and are great at research. You're caring, analytical, detail-oriented, and driven.
You’d be a fit for:
What Can I Do With This Major: Business
After majoring in finance, economics, accounting, marketing, sales, statistics, or entrepreneurship, you developed strong leadership skills. You’re good at networking and motivating a team. You’re perceptive, detail-oriented, decisive, motivated, collaborative, and convincing.
You’d be a fit for:
What Can I Do With This Major: law
Most schools don’t have a traditional law or pre-law major, so you might have studied political science, history, criminal justice, philosophy, psychology, economics, or business. You're excellent at critical thinking and public speaking and have strong interpersonal skills. You're analytical, organized, determined, competitive, detail-oriented, and decisive.
You’d be a fit for:
Major Asset
Matching you skills to the job ad is the first step in finding the right job. Could you use some help getting your career path up and running? Take a look at Monster's grad site for all the information you need with regards to resumes, interviews, job offers, and much more.
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