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English and history majors of the world, unite!; Liberal arts grads should emphasize thinking skills when applying for jobs

Source: Tribune Media Services

In a society that places heavy emphasis on raw skills and experience, where exactly do college graduates who’ve majored in liberal arts fit in?

Dr. Laurence Winnie, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y., says the importance of a liberal arts degree is becoming more and more evident.

“Even in a technological institution, we see that students need more training,” Winnie says. “They need the flexibility and creativity that arises from gaining a perspective about what they are doing and being reflective on the world around them.”

Choosing a major in liberal arts provides students with a chance to develop their problem solving skills as well as their writing skills. Miaesha Campbell used her degree in English from California State University, Dominguez Hills, to land a job with Venice, Calif.-based public relations firm, The Blaze Company.

“They asked me during my interview why I was right for the job and I told them because I can read well, write well and I can think,” she says. “They really liked that because those were the skills they were looking for.”

Campbell says having an English degree really helped her because everyone is looking for someone who can write well.

“We’re in a communications age and they need good communicators,” she says. “They need people who can be the image of their company and communicate with people.”

Career options

People who graduate with a liberal arts degree may think they’re at a disadvantage because their skills aren’t as marketable as someone with a business or technical degree, but that’s not true, according to Donna Kozik, San Diego-based co-author of self-published “Get A Job! Put Your Degree To Work.” In fact, Kozik says there are actually a wide variety of career options for them.

“English majors may have picked up communication skills and they can look for jobs in corporate communications, sales and marketing, or human resources,” Kozik says.

Over the years, the need for employees with specific skills and depth in areas has shifted. Today, it’s not hard for someone with a liberal arts degree to break into the finance industry or service areas such as retailing or hospitality. In the past, attaining a job in one of those industries was very difficult.

“These industries will tell you that they want thinking people who can articulate an idea, be receptive to change and capable of working through functional boundaries,” says Gary Bonvillian, vice president for Academic Affairs at Keuka College in Keuka, N.Y. “They want people who are quick on the uptake and can be trained.”

Think tanks

For a graduate with a liberal arts degree, their ability to assimilate information from multiple sources, process it and make observations will help them greatly in their job search.

“Liberal arts programs specialize in helping people learn to think more clearly in a particular topic, but the intellectual ability is applicable to anything,” says Michael Laskoff, a New York, N.Y.-based author of “Ass of American Re-employment,” a workplace advice column. “That’s got real value to an awful lot of companies.”

Laskoff says there’s no reason not to go after entry-level marketing, management, strategic planning or sales jobs.

“In all these positions your ability to rapidly integrate information, shape it into a usable form, and apply it to the position is an advantage, even over those who took a more trade-oriented approach in their education.”

The list of opportunities for liberal arts grads goes on and on. According to Dr. Kevin Harty, chair of the English Department at La Salle University in Philadelphia, people who majored in English “are vice presidents of media companies, presidents of colleges and universities, chief executives of major urban transportation systems, teachers, among many others.”

Sell yourself

If you’re a liberal arts graduate preparing for an interview, be ready to answer why you’re interviewing for a position that — on the surface — has little to do with your major.

“There may be a stigma attached to your major, but it’s up to you to challenge it,” says Kozik. “Show them the skills and talent you have. Make sure you have some concrete examples ready.”

Laskoff stresses the importance of marketing yourself successfully in an interview by showing how your liberal arts degree gives you a competitive advantage.

“Many companies, particularly larger ones, often prefer to hire better thinkers because these graduates have fewer preconceived notions about the profession they are entering,” he says. “Which means they are easy to train and have fewer behaviors that have to be unlearned. You want to find out which companies target your school and what kinds of people they have hired in the past.”