<p>As in, are there any employers out there actively searching for liberal arts majors, as they do for engineering/accounting/etc. majors?</p>
<p>There are some who actively search for economics or math majors – two fields that count as liberal arts.</p>
<p>I know where they can find one. She’s looking for a job come June…</p>
<p>I work in insurance and my company loves liberal arts majors, especially from great schools. I think there are plenty of companies out there looking for these kids… not every job requires a STEM degree. Very few people in my company start with any insurance credentials, and the company pays for us to earn them.</p>
<p>STEM and liberal arts are not disjoint sets. Math, statistics, physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy are all considered both STEM and liberal arts subjects.</p>
<p>But yes, the various liberal arts majors each have jobs specific to them (although some, like math, statistics, and economics, tend to have more or better-paid available jobs per graduate than others like biology).</p>
<p>However, there are also employers looking for people with any bachelor’s degree. Idealistically, one can say that that is because they want people who are able to think; cynically, one can say that it is just excessive credentialism or devaluation of the high school diploma.</p>
<p>I am involved in graduate recruitment at my Big 4 consulting firm. Questions are scenario based e.g. describe a time you had to lead a group to solve a problem. We are looking for the following qualities:
- ability to lead a group to get a result
- able to work well with others
- being organized
- work ethic
- relationship building abilities, building a consensus
- able to process and organize large volumes of information (quantative and qualitative)
- good PPT, EXL, WORD skills, and able to produce documents to a high standard
- genuine interest in consulting and a basic understanding of what it is we do</p>
<p>You may have studied English as your major. But you are confident enough with numbers that you passed the numerical test. Your verbal/writing skills are obviously brilliant so you can pass that test too. You have a good GPA. You rose to leadership positions with a couple of campus clubs (e.g sorority treasurer, head of College Kid’s Charity, SGA involvement) which showed you can lead your peers, solve problems, work with college admin to your advantage. You may have worked part time too - great - shows excellent time management. Your summer jobs were: retail jobs in 1st 2 summers, where you took respsonibilty for managing the rotas and other admin/managerial tasks to help superiors; maybe a summer job/internship in an office environment, writing press releases/building spreadsheets, taking meeting notes (all great experience). You are involved with your college’s Business Club or Consulting Club. Above all, you can explain how your experiences are relevant to the questions being asked of you in the interview, and you have great examples of all the competencies that we’re looking for. You speak clearly and concisely, do not mumble. You are able to explain your answer without getting confused, talking too much, going round in circles. You have used your college career service for advice on interviews :)</p>
<p>To get to first round interview, you need to pass online verbal and numerical reasoning tests, complete an online app, and a phone interview with HR. Common reasons for not getting to the first round interview</p>
<ul>
<li>failed the tests (particularly the numerical test)</li>
<li>GPA underneath the cut off</li>
<li>poor answers to phone interview questions: Why consulting, why this firm, why do you think you would be a good consultant. Answers to these require some research on the internet and some thinking: this is what a consultant does + this is what I am good at + this is my experience to date = compelling story</li>
</ul>
<p>Finally - for non quantitative majors: get comfortable with numbers NOW. They are not going to go away. Even if you work in Public Relations, there are numbers. Just managing your personal finances requires basic numeracy. It is not advanced math: percentages, ratios, understanding graphical representations of numbers, etc. Maybe take a stats course or something.</p>
<p>[A&L</a> grads compete in business - News - Notre Dame - The Observer - University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College](<a href=“http://www.ndsmcobserver.com/news/a-l-grads-compete-in-business-1.2855244?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=The_Observer_2&utm_campaign=The_Observer_2_201242036#.T5GdYjJYvEY]A&L”>http://www.ndsmcobserver.com/news/a-l-grads-compete-in-business-1.2855244?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=The_Observer_2&utm_campaign=The_Observer_2_201242036#.T5GdYjJYvEY)</p>
<p>I’d tell kids that they should “actively” be looking for job that fit their hard skills…not to wait for companies to “actively” look for them. It’s sometimes easier to get kids to focus on an industry that interests them and then look for the job categories that make sense for their course background and skills. I tell them it’s a job to find a job and devote the time and research to it that you would devote to going to class and studying. But in general…communication and writing skills, ability to present themselves and be socially comfortable in a business environment, analysis (particularly data analysis) and proficiency with generally used business software are three skills that all college grads need and are common to liberal arts. Most jobs don’t have a direct correlation to a college major unless the major is a technical degree (like engineering, nursing etc.).</p>
<p>The problem with a Liberal Arts major, particularly in certain majors, is that there are simply so danged many of them out there. When my son graduated from college a few years ago, the School of Arts and Sciences listed the candidate by major and the students listed under Philosophy, Psychology,and Political Science were greater in number than what was left. We are talking about thousands of kids from that school alone, graduating with those majors. There are not enough “good” jobs out there for all of those kids. But when you go to the math majors and other areas where special skills are learned and may be needed in certain jobs, it’s a whole other story. </p>
<p>But it really comes down to the skillsets the students have rather than the major. A Poli Sci major who has had enough math and computer knowledge that he can fit needs a company has is not going to be limited by his major. It’s more the niche knowledge that a number of jobs require that many graduating college students do not have that limit them in the job market. Certain majors increase the probability that a candidate has such skills.</p>
<p>A business major is very common and is no guarantee at all in finding a good paying job. There are business majors lined up around the building for one job opening. But change that to an accounting major or focus on accounting or in a post college accounting program on track for CPA studies, and the picture changes dramatically. A teaching certificate means your job application lands on the desk with hundred of others for just a few positions. But with ASL fluency, athletic expertise for coaching, or a concentration in the maths and sciences or other area where there is a scarcity, and you are at the top of the list. </p>
<p>So it’s not the degree or major that is the issue but the lack of skill sets needed for positions that are open and pay, that make it difficult for kids to get jobs.</p>
<p>Let me chime in on the consulting (IT consulting) front. The field is full of liberal arts majors that decided that a minor in IT or a few courses at the local community college would do it. That’s not quite as promising as the flood of liberal arts majors to grad computer science schools back in the 80’s, but I would bet a BS history / MS comp sci would be preferable over a BS history, minors in sweet talking and IT any time.</p>
<p>Maybe this is a bit of bitterness coming thru but having seen how the typical ‘liberal arts’ IT workers do in the workplace despite their apparent (and often obvious) lack of ‘hard skills’ I would say that yes, there is hope, if one is well networked, can learn the right buzzwords, and has the gift of gab. After all, gab trumps Java or Oracle certifications about as much as scissors trumps paper. </p>
<p>There are exceptions (the guy who took every comp sci course ever offered at Cajun State and graduated with a general studies degree and a grad comp sci degree - I could not hold his mousepad :)) but there’s quite a difference between ‘finding a job’ and ‘being good enough to stay there on merit and not on gab’.</p>
<p>Above based on 25+ years of IT consulting career with 3 STEM degrees (Mrs. T, double major undergrad in comp sci/statistics, grad degrees in statistics and engineering)</p>