Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 1985)
)'302u irtuni- Box IN' : 1 *880 vffiTm. e*M : Vsyl 9C'»24. >9 t rf Jobs Offered ilmriilists take tear) .. .and take youi* resumes right down to the nearest corporate recruiter. The good news in the 80's job market is employers are in hot pursuit of your formerly'unmarketable' 303) GEt niff,. pent 10 t ofcJ GEfl busii typln offic/ File d fice. neei :all By Kiel Stuart Y ou are going for a liberal arts diploma, and you have heard all the tired jokes about your degree amounting to worthless paper. Want action on the job market? Want the bio buck? Then get a degree in engineering, computer science or other technical field. This is. after all the Information Age. Maybe that still is true, but now nontechnical professionals are also in demand. There is a re newed interest in liberal arts graduates as more and more companies look to those generalists to fill mar keting, management and creative positions Why the change? What brought about this trend? Joseph Ryan, who heads Washington Research Associates, an employment trends analysis firm in Arlington, Virginia, says it is our craze for technolo- "Thene has always been mure opportunity fur liberal arts majors than the popular nation would have us believe," she says. gy itself which has helped create all those open- mgs. Ryan, a former senior government economist graduated with an MBA from Ohio State, taught college, then edited a newspaper for some years. Clearly, he has the generalist’s viewpoint Many of the new nontechnical job opportunities requiring a generalist background actually spring from technological developments. "For instance ” says Ryan, "the increase in advertising jobs is just the result of industry expansion in general. The air plane gave us flight attendant and pi lot jobs.” American University's Patricia van der Dorm, Executive Director of the Career Center, says, "We'd like to believe that all companies are enlight ened concerning what the liberal arts major has to offer. "An investment company in New York decided to hire liberal arts gradu ates for their computer area. They needed their communications skills, so they trained them in the technical aspects of the job, because technical graduates seemed lacking in verbal and written skills." Judith Kayser, placement director of the College Placement Council, a career development organization in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, says, "There are more opportunities now, and liberal arts graduates are a bar gain. They can be hired at relatively lower salaries than technical or engineering gradu ates." Kayser points out that generalists have an advan tage when it comes to dissemination of ideas. "They offer good communication and analytic skills, which makes for more flexible interaction with people. "They also transcend specificity, and they're up wardly mobile in the long run. Technical graduates may start at higher salaries, but liberal arts gradu ates tend to catch up and surpass them." At Purdue University in Indiana (a school noted for engineering and technical programs), Sylvia Howell, Placement Coordinator of the Placement Service for Humanities Students, has guided the job search of hundreds of humanities majors. "There has always been more opportunity for liberal arts majors than the popular notion would have us be lieve," she asserts. She also points out that, while some large firms claim they will recruit only engineers and computer science majors, they still hire liberal arts graduates. "In the last five years, recruitment of liberal arts majors has been up. "And, though they (liberal arts grads) don't usual ly consider jobs in fields like basic metals, tires and rubber for primary employment, some are still hired by IBM, GM or firms like that.” She adds that many liberal arts graduates do not go for the Fortune top 500 companies, but the sec ond 500. "Also, they'll go for government or the non-profit sector, where they get association man agement and other staff positions. "Furthermore, a high percentage of liberal arts majors go on to graduate school, so there is a small er initial group available for employment." Training workshops at Purdue facilitate contact with prospective employers. Students can polish resume writing and interview techniques until job- search skills are well-honed. Dr. Robert Neville, Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, says, "The feedback I get is that liberal arts students aren't finding it half as hard to find jobs as they had feared. Their skills in communication could have something to do with that.” Training in the applied sciences is becoming more humanities-based, as liberal arts curricula now in clude more science. Dr. Theodore Goldfarb, S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook's Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies, adds, "We encourage broad education. We're trying now to get engi neering and science students to take general courses so they can write and converse well." What do companies seek in a liberal arts gradu ate? At brokerage firm Dean Witter, experience counts. They look for graduates with sales experi ence for broker positions. They also tend to recruit from prestige schools, although they will consider other liberal arts graduates with high grades or ex- "We're looking for simple : smart, creative prolilem- solvers with good'people' and a strong track record of achievement." ceptional leadership qualities. Kathy Hoppe, of the large advertising firm Leo Burnett in Chicago, says, "We're looking for simple qualities: smart, creative problem-solvers with good 'people' skills and a strong track record of achievement. They could come from a variety of sources, but they all need a strong interest in adver tising." Other job areas making strong showings include real estate agents and brokers, bank officers, social workers, elementary school teachers and public re lations specialists. Washington Research Associates' Joseph Ryan says, "Our emphasis on high technology has been blamed for knocking off jobs, but it's really had the opposite effect--it has tended to create new ones." And, some of these new jobs are tailor-made for liberal arts graduates. ◄ Kiel Stuart is something of a generalist herself: she writes science fiction, science fact and humor, paints portraits and still life, is a recreational body builder and still finds time to be a member of both the Authors Guild and the Science Fiction Writers of America. 4 BEYOND October 1985