Working in a Field in Which You Don’t Have Degree

When posed with the question: Should you work in a field other then what you hold a degree in, the answers are across the board. Many people in today's working environment are frustrated. Having gone to college and graduated with a general degree, even having done extremely well in college, they may graduate and find, shockingly, that the job market has no use for them. As hundreds of thousands of students graduate with a generalized degrees in Communications or English, they struggle to decide what to do with their once sought after degree. Do they try to find a job in a directly related field, even though the search may be long and futile? Or do they settle for a job that requires a completely different skill set, but may bring in the money for the short term?

You have a few different options. If you search for a job within your major, and you do not manage to find one right up your alley, you may decide to go back to Grad School. The pro's of going to Grad school are that you might be able to bide some time. In these changing times, who knows if opportunities for a job in your field may suddenly open up? You could also develop even more marketable skills, either in your specific major area, or other related areas, to make yourself even more enticing to a particular employer. The cons are that grad school can be very expensive. You may still not be able to guarantee a job in your field even, at your increased level of education. Sadly, this could set you back several years and $30,000 dollars or so.

It may be very daunting to look for a job that is outside your specific area of expertise, but numerous students do this every day. If your heart is not set completely on a job in your specific field, then a good idea would be to sit down, analyze your strengths and weaknesses, and try to match what your strengths are with a job in a faster growing career field. If you do accept a job that is not in

your area, or you feel it is not a job with enough mobility for you, all is not forsaken. Keep your ear to the ground and keep checking up on jobs that match your major. Most people change careers 4-5 times in their life time, and straight out of college, your first job will most likely not be the job you end up keeping for life. So stay active in the job market. Volunteer within your field, make contacts, network. Hopefully the job that you are looking for will show itself in due time.

As more and more students find that they have graduated with degrees that do not make them instantly employable, students will have to reach deep into their skill set to find a skill that will help them make money in the mean time, or will have to go back to school to wait it out.