Friend: “Sal, what are majoring in? Why don’t you just go to school out here in Cali?”
Me: “Uhh, I don’t exactly know and I like it out here, I am experiencing a unique environment! Why not?!”
[St. Olaf College: image by Wikipedia]
I am pretty sure most, if not, all college students are asked the same question: what are you majoring in? What are you studying?
It can be overwhelming. Today I am talking about attaining a four-year bachelor’s degree. Most students striving for a bachelors are looking to become more qualified for the work force in search of job opportunities that require a degree. Sadly; however, having a degree from a four-year university is far from the actual reality of solely becoming a highly employable person in the real world. Having a college degree has become overrated and misunderstood, and has created mass confusion among college parents in today’s growing college student population.
“We all need degrees!” “Your major matters and should pertain to your career!”
Reality: “Having a degree is nice, and can help your employability. However, your choice of major does not necessarily have to match your future job career at all; only for very particular jobs.”
[Photo Creds: Ryan Higa]
Here’s a fact: according to Jaison Abel and Richard Deitz from Liberty Street Economics, 62% of college graduates are working in jobs that require a degree, while only 27% of these graduates are working in a job that even relates to their major. The worry here is that most college students in the U.S. forget what a degree means. A degree simply is: an academic title given by a college or university to a student who has completed a course of study (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/degree). Your title can mean three to four years of experience with valuable skills or can mean you got straight A’s and barely learned anything outside of getting the grades. Get this: what truly matters in the workforce is ingenuity and performance. Having had seven unique internships and jobs myself, I understand what they ask for. What makes you as an individual truly employable; all institutional educational matters aside?
If your goal is to find a position as an engineer at Apple, school and dedication along with connections may help you get there. If your goal is to be employed almost anywhere, then you are reading the wrong article. If your goal is to develop a lifelong career of learning and helping yourself grow as an individual and worker, then you need to understand this: you are a company’s investment. The better the skills and performance, the more employable you are. Yes, in any career, one needs to have the skills to perform well in their given tasks. No, you will not 100% get the position you want. Even doctors face this sad reality at times. Why? What truly matters to the company you want to work for is: attitude, willingness to learn, critical thinking, problem solving, prior skills (graphic design, Excel, Photoshop, ability to plan events or meetings, etc.), and maybe a degree. Also, depending on the economy, you may have an easier or more difficult time finding employment somewhere.
[Photo Creds: Wikipedia]
Working at an office, for example, my experience in my internships at PG&E and First Republic Bank taught me that a person’s ability to learn fast and have critical thinking, as well as be socially charisma is what matters most. My supervisors would always require me to complete tasks that I was never able to do before. High school rarely required me to use Excel Spreadsheets or Outlook, as well as send out mail to difference office buildings. I learned to plan events and book venues first-hand from my supervisors, which is a skill I never would have learned through an institutional education alone. College was rarely mentioned at work. If we ever had conversations about college, most of the details would be about how much of a good time my colleagues had back then. They never spoke about being inside a classroom...or what their major was...Hmm...
[Photo Creds: Kevin Dooley]
Here’s a real-life example: If I majored in business, I may have gone through multiple classes and still might not be as business-smart as the other guy. If I really wanted to learn about business, I could teach myself online via research and speaking with other business people. The degree only gives you the title. That title only indicates: Yes, I took and passed the classes required to complete this major. Whether I actually learned as much as the next guy and became more experienced in that field, is never guaranteed.
I am not saying your major does not matter completely, but realize that if you’re focusing on any particular career, you will always need one very important skill that most college students tend to passively remember (or actively forget): NETWORKING.
[Photo Creds: Wikimedia.org]
Holy moly, networking is important!!! Networking means communicating with people who can help you and your career in the future. Anybody can network! Have you heard the saying, “It’s about who you know, not about what you know.” In my words, it is all about who actually knows YOU. Have you ever had that one friend who can get you cheaper, if not, free tickets to a show? They got that access via connections, ergo networking. Now, do NOT confuse networking with taking advantage of people, as this is an abuse of networking and needs to be clarified. Networking requires the proper establishment of a relationship among people based on trust like any other friendship; it takes time. Some connections may not be as close as friends but a network is not tolerant if you abuse them of their abilities and connections.
I digress.
Networking allowed me to create one of the most successfully marketed music events at St. Olaf College. The marketing strategy started with a fellow student that I met who spoke at St. Olaf’s famous Sto Talks, which are very similar to TED Talks. His speech was about marketing tactics, and what makes your brand or business successful. I knew right away that his dedication to his passion for marketing and business was real. I wanted to connect with him, so I did! Because he was a student as well, I knew we could meet up for lunch some time on campus. After the event was over, my colleague introduced me.
I said, “Hey, I’m Sal. Pleasure to meet you, man. Your speech was on point! I’m interested very much in marketing and business myself. Is there a time we could grab some coffee together soon?” I got his email, and we started networking within days.
BOOM. It was that easy! Two months later we were working closely together for my music event: the Urban Sound, which had an incredible turn out for the small St. Olaf population! He was my marketing advisor and helped me network and create the St. Olaf Instagram page campaign which allowed me to further leverage the event by posting pictures of the event via St. Olaf’s pages. I realized how this relationship-building skill with people is important in my life and in my passion for the music industry because it works.
BOTTOM LINE: If I had a large business, I myself would employ people I can trust. Performance and a good relationship with the employees is the most important element.
College students, do not hassle your brain with stress over choosing your major. You will figure life out!
Parents of the students, please understand that college is more than a machine that instantly makes more employable students. Most of the learning at college takes place outside of the classroom, where real life happens. Please respect your child’s decision to study whatever they would like in college. After all, they are getting a college education!
[Photo Creds: Me]
