{"id":9569,"date":"2020-07-20T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/careers-internships\/?p=9569"},"modified":"2024-01-30T14:20:29","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T19:20:29","slug":"aligning-your-major-and-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/careers-internships\/aligning-your-major-and-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Aligning Your Major and Career"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Understanding the symbiotic relationship between a college degree, a professional career, and soft skills are important factors when employers consider candidates. But before we answer the question, \u2018What employers are looking for<\/em>,\u2019 we need to answer the question, \u2018What are you<\/strong> looking for?<\/em>\u2019 Everyone knows that there is value in earning a college degree, but the question every college student should be asking is, \u201cWhat do I want to do with my degree?<\/em>\u201d Another way to word the question would be, \u201cWhat kind of career am I looking for?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To answer this, some students might simply say, \u201cI want to get a job in my field<\/em>.\u201d What field? What job? What career? While you may be in college to earn a specific degree, what career field you land in may be quite different than you\u2019d imagine it to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebecca Koenig addresses this in an article for US News and World Report1<\/sup><\/em>,<\/span> \u201cNo one is employed as an \"English major.\" Nor, for that matter, as a \"biology major\" or \"business major.\" Although a few fields correspond with professions, such as engineering and nursing, most liberal arts degrees don't point to specific employment routes. Rather, they provide a set of skills that help job seekers navigate the professional landscape.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
1 \u201cYour College Major Does Not Define Your Career\u201d Rebecca Koenig, US News and World Report, September 24, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
WHAT ARE EMPLOYERS LOOKING FOR EXACTLY?<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
This skill set that you are developing is the basis for getting hired. You see, many employers are steering away from looking at a potential candidate\u2019s specific degree and instead focusing on what overall competencies that candidate brings with them. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) CAREER READINESS<\/strong> is defined as <\/strong>\u201cthe attainment and demonstration of requisite competencies<\/u> that broadly prepare college graduates for a successful transition into the workplace.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
NACE has <\/span>outlined the following eight competencies employers consider essential<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
  1. Critical thinking and problem solving<\/li>
  2. Teamwork and collaboration<\/li>
  3. Professionalism and work ethic<\/li>
  4. Communication<\/li>
  5. Leadership<\/li>
  6. Digital technology<\/li>
  7. Career management<\/li>
  8. Multicultural fluency<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    WHILE EARNING YOUR DEGREE, WORK ON YOUR CAREER<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
    \"Professional<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
    So, while you may not know exactly what your career will look like, you can start working on it right NOW! How do you do that? By working on the eight-core competencies above. If you are serious about developing these skills, then here\u2019s a project you can work on: Take each individual competency and consider how you will begin to implement it into your college career. Attack each one like a research paper, where you define each skill and come up with ways to implement them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    HERE’S AN EXAMPLE:<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
    For the professionalism competency<\/strong> you may consider learning this skill through campus jobs and internships, but what about the importance of managing personal brands both online and in-person? Or seeing the classroom as a professional environment and consider dressing up for classroom presentations \u2014 your own or otherwise.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
    The work world is ever-changing, and we must be able to adapt to those changes if we are to be successful. Understanding the symbiotic relationship between a college degree, a professional career, and soft skills is a great place to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    If you’re a student or alumni currently looking for an internship or employment opportunity, join SPC’s online platform Handshake<\/a>, for direct career and internship opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    How do you know what an employer is looking for? By understanding the symbiotic relationship between a college degree, a professional career, and soft skills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1581,"featured_media":9587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[14,12],"tags":[11,4,162,172,171],"class_list":["post-9569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-exploration","category-career-news","tag-career-pathways","tag-career-services","tag-education","tag-employers","tag-majors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/careers-internships\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/careers-internships\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/careers-internships\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/careers-internships\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1581"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/careers-internships\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9569"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/careers-internships\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9591,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/careers-internships\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9569\/revisions\/9591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/careers-internships\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/careers-internships\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/careers-internships\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.spcollege.edu\/careers-internships\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}