Finding a job you like and keeping it is a phenomenon these days. A few years ago, I heard that the average American changes jobs five times in a lifetime; now that figure can be found at ten to fourteen different career fields in a lifetime! The trend has been to keep on changing jobs until you find one that suits you perfectly. Well, why not make your own job title or field? In this computer age especially, money can be made doing practically anything, so why not do what you love?
Most degree-granting institutions don’t advertise well enough the double major and minor options open to students. Sometimes all you need for the perfect job is the right combination of skills and knowledge. For example, say an Accounting major likes the business and accounting classes she is taking, but would also like to pursue her love for writing. She could keep the Accounting major, then add a minor in English or Professional Writing to give her the skills she needs to be able to produce well-written, informative financial documents. This person could easily find a job within an Accounting firm or work for a venture capital firm to write business plans, which revolve around financial information.
Let’s say you are an Engineering student. Perhaps you would rather work on the business side of an Engineering company; you could double major or minor in Business as well and gain the know-how of a Business major in addition to your Engineering skills. That way, when a managerial position opens up in your company, you will have an edge on other Engineer applicants because you will already have the Business background that so many have to return to school to obtain.
Foreign languages like Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and French are very helpful to know. Thus, it is only common sense that any major combined with a popular foreign language will make you more marketable in all job markets. In addition to being a sought-out commodity, you will have the options of perhaps relocating to the country where that language is spoken, working directly with people who speak that language, or just as a translator.
In many cases, employers are looking for someone with specific skills that can relate well with people in person or on paper. Skill majors include Engineering, Graphic Design, Architecture, and the like. Knowing how to relate to people comes from Communications, English, Public Relation, and other communication-based majors. Combine any specific skill/technical major with the proven ability to communicate, and you will have a winner.
Other combinations include:
Biology and Business – This can land you a job selling and marketing pharmaceuticals to companies across the world.
English Lit and Media Studies – This will provide a venue to influence a lot of people with what you have to say.
Science and Journalism – Obviously!
Pre-Law with any major – There is a lawyer for everything!
Psychology and Criminal Justice – This can get you a job working with patients in psychiatric rehabilitation at detention centers and hospital wards.
A sometimes overlooked and not-so-well-known option available to students in recent years is a concentration within a major or minor. Many Arts & Sciences majors offer the option of adding Business classes to the curriculum and calling it a concentration. Also popular is a Leadership or Global Business concentration added onto a Business degree – both of these make any student look more attractive to employers because they make students seem more knowledgeable about current events as well as highly ambitious. Each school has its own set of concentrations and most of the time they are not well advertised, so you will need to actively look for them.
Want good advice? DON’T SETTLE. I don’t mean switch majors every semester; rather, just don’t settle on one thing until you explore everything your school has to offer. One student who wanted to work with computers, but didn’t want to take all the difficult computer classes, opted to major in Professional and Technical Communication, which is a bit of journalism, a bit of technical writing, a bit computer science, and a bit of art. When he graduates, he will be the one employers need to create a webpage and also be able to write a grammatically correct sentence.
Any combination of majors and minors offers several career options right after graduation. With all the different subjects available to study, the possibilities are unlimited. It just takes a little imagination and knowing what you want to come up with the right combination for you. Don’t get daunted by the idea that a major or minor is permanent and restricting; you can always drop or add another one. Choose what you love, what makes you curious, what invokes passion in you … that is what your combination of majors/minors should be.
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