The Career Development Process for College Students

To begin, let us consider the expectations of a majority of students (and their parents) as they begin college: 1) That they will become financially self-sufficient after graduation; and 2) that their university will provide them with effective career development support toward achieving lifelong career success.

As we saw in the previous blog post, the career development process for college students involves a three-way matching process involving the student, the university and the employer.  We will start with the interaction between the student and the university, while never losing sight of the ultimate goal—i.e., to have the student forge a win-win agreement with the right employer at some point in the future.  

Choosing the Right College Major

 

One of the first and most critical decisions that a college student must make is a choice of academic major.  Choosing the right major has always been a difficult decision.  But in today’s world, with its uncertain economy and rapidly changing job market, new stresses and uncertainties have emerged. 

The right major may be defined as one that leads both to career success and career satisfaction, where success designates ongoing gainful employment, while satisfaction designates the employee’s sense of personal and professional fulfillment and happiness which that particular career success brings.

A familiar wish for graduates at university commencements goes something like this: “Success is getting what you want; Happiness is wanting what you get; and Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.  I wish you success and happiness and no more experience than absolutely necessary!”  

This wish also reveals a sobering truth—that success and happiness are not the same thing and, in extreme cases can be mutually exclusive, so that to have one automatically precludes having the other.  Fortunately, frequent opportunities exist for individuals to have both career success and satisfaction, and a key to that achievement can often lie in the choice of academic major, for the following reason.

Unemployment Versus College Major

In the current economy and job market, the unemployment figures for recent college graduates range from 4.8% to 14.7%, depending on college major.  The overall unemployment rate for recent college graduates is 7.9%, and the overall unemployment rate for recent graduate degree holders is 3.3%.

These figures suggest that a wise choice of academic major involves considering the needs of both the employer and the employee.  The academic majors with low unemployment figures are those for which greater employment opportunities currently exist.  The majors with the two lowest unemployment rates for recent graduates are nursing (4.8%) and elementary education (5.0%).  For the complete listing, please see the report Hard Times, College Majors, Unemployment and Earnings from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. http://cew.georgetown.edu/unemployment2013/.

It goes without saying that, to choose a major without regard to the needs of the job market invites great risk and disappointment, and to do so may almost certainly require such graduates to give up a great deal of job satisfaction later, in order to become and remain gainfully employed in the future.

College students who graduate with less-needed degrees often face temporary unemployment or under-employment, a situation in which they are both overqualified and underpaid for the positions that they hold.  Sometimes, these are positions that may not even require a college degree.    

Strategies for Success

Earlier we made mention of the new stresses and uncertainties that have emerged as a result of the difficult economy and changes in the job market.  Those stresses and uncertainties have caused students as well as universities to change their strategies to minimize risk and maximize opportunities.

For example, it is increasingly common for college students to graduate with a double or triple major, minor or concentration as a way to hedge their bets in a very difficult job market.  According to the U.S. Department of Education, the number of bachelor’s degree recipients with two majors has increased by 70% in the last ten years.

A recent New York Times article [1] noted that the choice-of-major decision is getting more and more difficult to make. The article states that universities continue to add academic majors, with some now offering 250 or more options to incoming students.  Ironically, this growth in options is happening at a time when the number of students seeking out colleges and universities is expected to remain flat or decline slightly until the year 2021, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

Universities continue to expand the number of degree options in response to real world changes due to homeland threats and technology, e.g.  Those changes in turn drive real changes in the job market.  And as universities do that, they also multiply the number of academic options that students may choose from. 

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/choosing-one-college-major-out-of-hundreds.html?_r=0.