From Degree to Career: A Non-Linear Path

By Julia Dunn on December 4, 2016

When we graduate college, many students expect that they’ll directly jump from a degree to a career. For some of us, that happens easily.

Other students experience a more nonlinear pathway, either by working jobs not directly related to their chosen subject of interest or by facing profound challenges locating job openings that interest them. In any case, getting settled into a career aligned with your interests generally does not follow a linear trajectory, and it can feel daunting to think about how you might land a job that involves work you love.

Image via Pixabay.com

So how do you get a career in your field?

Believe it or not, students in any major can find a job one way or another that relates to their field entirely or partially — but your success is dependent on the following:

•You must cultivate killer interview skills and practice talking about yourself professionally.

Any hiring manager wants to know what you can do for them — not just what the job will do for you, the applicant. If the job for which you’re applying is in your field, you should have no problem connecting the job prospect to your own experience, background or education. Thankfully, you’ll also probably be passionate about the topic with which the job addresses, which always strengthens an interview.

However, you must become extremely able to identify what you’ve learned from your past experience and tie that into your interview. How does your experience make you perfect for the job? What are some challenges you’ve noticed about work in your chosen field and how can you spin those challenges into opportunities for growth?

•You must learn the ins and outs of the job market in your field.

This is most easily accomplished by doing a lot of research early on about what types of jobs fit your criteria. If you’re currently a senior in college and not planning on going to graduate school (right away or at all), you might start job-hunting as early as November or December if you graduate in June of the next year. Some employers may interview you and offer you a job to begin once you graduate, which is a great relief for students.

If you plan to enter some of the more competitive job markets (for instance software engineering or robotics/computer science), you must learn the basic skills you need to even be considered for an interview. The more you know about your future job market, the more time you can spend gearing up to enter it once you get your diploma.

How do you prepare for the unexpected (not immediately finding a job in your field)?

•Diversify your skills academically and technically

Even if you’re an ecology and evolutionary biology major, it might be smart to go to those free InDesign workshops at the student media center simply to learn usable skills that you might not have otherwise picked up. Apply for a work-study job doing public relations even if you’re an introvert. In college, opportunities abound for students to acquire plenty of eclectic skills; any combination of these assets could mean getting a job versus not getting a job, so you have nothing to lose by becoming knowledgeable in another subject.

Along the same lines, take opportunities in college to gain professional experience in fields outside of your primary one. See if you can’t get into an internship or field study opportunity that adds a new set of knowledge to your brain. Your graduated self will thank you when employers start asking you about what you know and what you’ve done in college to prepare for the work force.

•Network

Whether you prefer using LinkedIn or scheduling in-person coffee dates, start talking to folks in different fields to find out what they do and whether you’d be qualified to do that type of work despite having a degree in something else. It’s also smart to network with people in the fields you are really interested in, because you never know when that connection could somehow land you a hard-to-get interview or give you an edge during your application process.

Networking may also lead you to realize the jobs you really don’t want, since talking to others allows you to hear about real experiences.

•Consider your non degree-related knowledge

Oftentimes, employers care more that you have a bachelor’s degree at all; they may not concern themselves too much with what you actually majored in, so long as you have college-level skills in general.

In another case, you may have majored in chemistry and minored in history, which could qualify you enough to work as a museum content curator and put your history knowledge to use while you’re searching for a job in a laboratory.

Furthermore, although some students may not have formally minored or double majored in another subject beyond their main focus, they might have extensive knowledge about a different subject for another reason. This can also be helpful in your job search.

Although you may not get the perfect job for yourself on the first try, researching opportunities and building your skill set will always help you and never hurt you.

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