Career Paths for Arts and Sciences Majors

By Kai K. Harvey, sophomore economics major at CU-Boulder 

Picking an internship or career path can be especially tricky for Arts and Sciences students. A quick peruse of job posting sites like CSO (Career Services Online), or a visit to a career fair can leave non-business or non-engineering students feeling hopeless. It may seem like every job opening out there is geared towards marketing, management, sales or some engineering discipline. Finding a job as a major in anthropology, creative writing, sociology, political science can seem like a daunting task at times. On the surface you may not see opportunities, but there are plenty of job openings available for any major. All that’s required is a little flexibility.

One of the biggest misconceptions college students have is that they are going to end up spending their entire careers in the same field they majored in. Talk to any college grad in a well-established career and you’ll quickly find out this is usually not the case. For example, the current VP of Marketing for Vail Resorts majored in veterinary science, the current CFO of Google in the Boulder branch majored in creative writing, and Steven Spielberg majored in English.

It is important to remember that your college major teaches you important skills, but it is not necessarily training you for a specific profession. No matter what your major, these skills can benefit you in a wide range of jobs. A creative writing major, for example, doesn’t necessarily have to become a novelist. Strong writing skills are necessary in many different jobs from public relations to business. As a sociology major, one can apply their knowledge of people and society to a range of jobs, including marketing, international affairs and entrepreneurship.

The most important thing to remember when you begin your job search is opening your mind to different opportunities. If you are overly specific about what you want to do, it will be more difficult to find work. If you are willing to be flexible, however, finding a career opportunity that will allow you to apply your skills will be easy.

When you browse online job postings on CSO, think about the skills you have acquired and whether or not they are applicable to the job rather than only focusing on positions that apply to your major. It’s all about broadening your choices and increasing opportunities. You will soon find that in the real world there is seldom work that fits neatly into one field, but rather most positions require a combination of skills that could apply to pretty much any major. Remember, be flexible, and good luck!

A Day in the Life of a Leadership Associate

Although Kelsi Cooke graduated from CU last year with a degree in journalism, it was her internship and work experiences during college that led to her pursuing a career in another field.

“Throughout my college experience, I worked at a few start up businesses and really enjoyed the entrepreneurial atmosphere and decided I am interested in having my own business someday,” Kelsi said.

“Since I didn’t get a business degree, I took a job with Consolidated Graphics to learn how businesses operate.”

Kelsi first discovered this opportunity at Consolidated Graphics because she worked at Career Services. As a sophomore, Kelsi visited the Career Services office for the first time to learn about job prospects in the journalism industry. Over the course of her college career, Kelsi worked with career counselors to gain assistance with writing and editing her resume. She sought advice on how to network with professionals in industries that interested her so that she could decide which internships would help prepare her for the career path of her choice. Kelsi also used Career Services Online, the job posting system in Career Services, to  search for and apply to internships and jobs for after graduation, including her current job at Consolidated Graphics.

As a Leadership Associate at Tewell Warren Printing, a Consolidated Graphics company, Kelsi’s job entails extensive training in all of the different departments of the printing business in rotations that last from 6 weeks to 1 year. As she goes through the rotations and learns about “how it all fits together to successfully run a printing business,” Kelsi notes any suggestions she has to improve efficiency.

What does a day in Kelsi’s life look like?
> At 7 a.m., Kelsi wakes up.
> At 7:40 a.m., she heads to work.
> At 8 a.m., Kelsi gets to work and then checks in her current supervisor to see if she has any work for her to follow up on.
> At 8:30 a.m., she has a Luna Bar breakfast. J
> From 9 to 12, Kelsi works on various projects. In fact, she goes through different rotations every few months. Right now, she works in accounting, so the company controller is teaching Kelsi how to handle daily accounting tasks such as assembling various reports, especially at end of month. In addition, Kelsi is also working on getting new insulation installed in the company’s warehouse, planning the company 50th anniversary party, learning about their solutions software, and more!
> From 12 to 1 p.m., Kelsi takes a break for lunch.
> From 1 to 5 p.m., Kelsi works on tasks that are similar to those she tackles in the morning, “although no days are the same and there is hardly any sense of routine,” she explained. In the afternoons in the accounting rotation, she gets the mail and handles all of the accounts receivable and payable for the day. In other words, she receives invoices and matches them with purchase orders so the company can pay its vendors. She also deposits all checks they receive that day
> Between 5 and 6 p.m., when her projects are completed or she has reached a stopping point for the day, Kelsi heads home.

What’s ahead for Kelsi?
“I would ideally like to keep learning about business at my current job, but then get more involved in some sort of start up, entrepreneurial project.”

What advice do you have for current CU students?

When Kelsi was in college, she was constantly busy with one or more jobs. Armed with these work experiences, Kelsi said she was able to build her resume in a way that emphasized the various leadership positions and internships she held that also helped her develop her communication skills.

“Showing that you can effectively write and have good verbal communication is a plus for any employer,” she explained.

Looking back on her own experience in college, Kelsi suggested that, in addition to getting a job in college, CU students should get involved in any extracurricular activities of their choosing so they can demonstrate their interests, skills and experiences to employers.

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