What career path would you recommend for a humanities major?

[Anonymous]

What is with this assumption that CS majors can't write? There is much more to CS than simply writing code. A typical CS degree, from a decent school, requires research papers, presentations and writing assignments, in addition to the extremely challenging programming assignments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It truly depends on what you want to do. I've known since jr. high I wanted to work in something related to gov't. I have an undergrad and grad degree in poli-sci. I spent 12 years in gov't and now I am a lobbyist for a Fortune 500 making in excess of $500k per year. I went to "fair" schools and my parents didn't find me a job, in fact I started out at $18k answering the phone in a Senate office. I managed to be successful because I was willing to work really hard and make a lot of sacrifices to put my career first. My life certainly isn't for everyone-I travel a ton-but you can succeed with a humanities major without a trust fund. I have a number of friends who are in similar situations.

This is like saying that a high school drop out may become a rockstar. You got lucky. Majoring in something employable will decrease the chance you will be making coffee at starbucks.

[Anonymous]

If you are good at sales, your company won't care if you majored in competitive eating, they will care about numbers you can hit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This topic always generates so many stupid comments and people who mistake snark for wit.

Seriously. My firm hires humanities majors all the time--French majors, history majors, philosophy majors, Russian lit majors. We want people who know how to think, reason, and communicate effectively. That's what I learned with my double(!) humanities major--and what I refined when I went back and got a graduate degree in literature. My career and salary have steadily progressed since I graduated in the mid-90s, and my current salary is the same as my husband's when he was counsel at a law firm.

Humanities majors have to write long, well-constructed, and confidently argued papers; they have to particulates confidently in class discussions about complex topics. They hone skills that are valued in consulting, marketing, communications, and web strategy. Do you think Google is just a bunch of CS majors pumping out lines of code?

OP, I don't know what your major is, but if you're a good writer, I'd look for editorial jobs--web editor/producer, proposal writer, corporate communications copywriter, etc. Start there, learn a lot, then look for the next interesting thing. Build skills and look for new ways to apply them. Good luck!

Google doesn't employ many humanities majors. Only major in humanities if you attend a top school or have parents who know people and can get you a job after school

Sure they do. My sister is one of them.

What really matters here is WHAT COLLEGE the OP's kid is going to?
Top 50/100, and you can spend your time studying art history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do humanities majors study?

Any number of things--history, literature, economics, anthropology, sociology, psychology, languages and regional studies, art, philosophy, political science, etc.

Plus, it's dumb to recommend a career path for a "humanities" major without knowing the field of study and the student's interests and general strengths. I know humanities majors in pretty much every career field except hard sciences and engineering--they work in publishing, business, government, marketing, social work, education, law, medicine, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is with this assumption that CS majors can't write? There is much more to CS than simply writing code. A typical CS degree, from a decent school, requires research papers, presentations and writing assignments, in addition to the extremely challenging programming assignments.

???

No one made this assumption.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It truly depends on what you want to do. I've known since jr. high I wanted to work in something related to gov't. I have an undergrad and grad degree in poli-sci. I spent 12 years in gov't and now I am a lobbyist for a Fortune 500 making in excess of $500k per year. I went to "fair" schools and my parents didn't find me a job, in fact I started out at $18k answering the phone in a Senate office. I managed to be successful because I was willing to work really hard and make a lot of sacrifices to put my career first. My life certainly isn't for everyone-I travel a ton-but you can succeed with a humanities major without a trust fund. I have a number of friends who are in similar situations.

This is like saying that a high school drop out may become a rockstar. You got lucky. Majoring in something employable will decrease the chance you will be making coffee at starbucks.

Then I know a lot of rock stars.

You (because the style tone of some of these posts suggests it's one person) seem really invested in proving humanities majors aren't employable. But just saying it over and over again doesn't make it true--and is pretty weak sauce when a bunch of us on here are stating that, in fact, we HIRE humanities majors all the time. And/or that we are humanities majors who have gone on to successful careers, using the skills we developed as humanities majors. So bring something more convincing, or go away.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would totally flip the question onto you. What are you really good at? What are some of your innate skills? Forget what you studied in college.

[Anonymous]

People on this Forum are generally unhelpful. Dear OP, what you do with your humanities major really depends on you and your interests. What you major in may have nothing to do eventually with what you do after schoo. I was a political science major, and today I work in international marketing and business consulting and I have no educational background in either business or marketing. I learned everything on the job.

What is important is WHILE YOU ARE IN SCHOOL get a handle on the things you like to do, the skills you have, where you can put them to use and how you translate them into a job or some other means of earning income.

If you are interested in working in a business enviroment, seek out internships with organizations and companies that hire people similar to you. For example, I have always been impressed with my interaction with the people at Enterprise Rent-a-Car. They seem to offer genuine opporutnities for young people to gain managerial and business experience, and their customer service never fails. Most recently, I spoke with the manager of my local store and he was happy there. He majored in English in collge.

I also highly recommend, and I have posted this to another forum, that you buy the latest edition of "What Color is Your Parachute?" by Richard Nelson Bolles. Read that book, do the exercises and follow the advice. Also, work closely with your college career center. The most important thing they should be able to do is give you the skills and knowledge you need to find yourself a job.

I think too many people graduate from college without any real idea of how to approach finding work and then complain "there are no jobs." Yet, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports there are over three million unfilled jobs and employers complain that they cannot find employees with the right skills. As Bolles writes in WCIYP, and this was over 40 years ago, the system of matching employers and employees in the USA is just as frustrating for the employers as it is for the job hunters.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Sorry, my figure of 3 million is just in the manufacturing sector, but it illustrates my point that the jobs are out there for the right person.

[Anonymous]

Major doesn't matter in the long term so much as the school one attends. Get into the best college you can get into, if it's not too late. Harvard philosophy > UDC computer science

[Anonymous]

The above is BS too. As an employer, care less where you went to school and more about how you can perform. I have hired hard-working State U grads over Ivy grads b/c they have less sense of entitllement and put in the hard hours to get the work done. Harvard means nothing to me if, in then end, you cannot contribute to my bottom line!

[Anonymous]

I'm an English (undergrad) and Comms (grad) major from an OK state school (UMD). Work at the World Bank as a communications officer making a comfortable living.

If you focus on your interests and skills, and network like crazy, you'll be fine. Surprisingly few people in organizations can communicate in writing effectively. Good writers will always be in demand.

[Anonymous]

DH and I are both in management positions where we hire people. We agree that for 95% of jobs, it doesn't matter if you went to random state university vs. elite. But, there are some jobs--and DC does seem to have a higher concentration of those than many other cities--where clients do absolutely care where your employees received their degrees.

[Anonymous]

Oil business. Thriving despite democrats