"What is communications?"
"You know that communications is so broad it will be hard to find a job, right?"
My fellow communications majors and I hear these questions and comments quite often. So to answer the question everyone has asked since we started our college careers, a major in communications has three different pathways: public relations (holla!), news editorial (newspaper and traditional journalism), and professional communications (public speaking). We have concentrations so we can take specific classes to prepare us for the jobs we want to do when we graduate. And what people don't recognize looking from the outside in is that we are learning skills in our major as communications that will help us in any job that we end up in, and we are passionate about what we do!
Communications majors view the "broadness" of our major the opposite way of parents and adults that constantly ask us that age-old question, "Are you going to be able to find a job with that major?." Most people say we won't find a job because our major isn't focused enough on one topic, but the thing is, we are going to be some of the most versatile future employees on the job market! We hone our skills in a little bit of everything so that we can do anything! We have to be able to write newspaper articles, make broadcasting packages for TV news, write and create advertisements, design magazines, layout newspapers, give presentations, speak effectively and professionally. The list goes on and on!
Speaking well in front of people and being articulate are skills all jobs value, whether it is communications-related or not. Almost every class we take in our major requires us to get up and speak or deliver presentations and speeches. So by the time we are seniors about to graduate, we have developed a valuable skill and we have much more confidence in it than we ever had before! Studies show that speaking in front of people is a fear that almost every person in the world struggles with. Lucky for us, we are forced out of our comfort zone every semester to hone that skill to the point of actually enjoying it by the time we graduate (well, most of the time)!
Another awesome thing about communications is the fact that we are learning how society is changing and related skills that employers everywhere will pay anything to have in their organization. We learn all about the crazes sweeping the business and professional world, social media and the Internet: how they operate and how to write for them. We also have to know how every medium of communication functions, including cross-cultural, verbal, nonverbal, you name it!
Consider all the skills we are learning as communications majors and how passionate we are for writing and achieving great things. We work hard to make sure we are the best we can be at a subject that a lot of people don't understand. Without communications there wouldn't be news and journalists to keep you updated on all the things going on in the world. There wouldn't be the traditional newspaper for you to read while drinking coffee every morning. There wouldn't be people to write speeches for famous public figures before televised events. There wouldn't be professionals to do damage control for companies during PR nightmares when something has gone horribly wrong.
So, see? We have plenty of opportunities as communications majors to keep things interesting, learn applicable life skills, and change the world!
