Liberal Arts graduates facing graduation this spring are entering a sluggish job market. Unlike their peers in engineering or nursing, many have no idea where they will get a job or what they will be doing.
Despite this, Liberal Arts graduates can expect to have bright futures.
The strength of a Liberal Arts education stems from the creative thinking processes that are encouraged in these fields of study. Students with Liberal Arts educations tend to be lifelong learners and open to continuing education, learning and training.
Some of the greatest minds in history have excelled in the Liberal Arts including: Einstein (math), Leonardo da Vinci (art and design), Mozart (music) and Plato (philosophy).
A quote from a professor sums up the essence of a Liberal Arts education: "A liberal arts education doesn’t teach you how to make a living, it shows you how to make a life worth living." (Oregonlive, by Bill Graves of the Oregonian, 3/28/12)
Seize Opportunities When They Present Themselves
Seizing opportunities is central to turning a Liberal Arts education into a profitable career. Liberal Arts graduates haven’t learned vocational skills so creating a career based upon the opportunities that present themselves is one of the best ways to excel.
For example, several of the math majors that came out of colleges in the 1990’s went on to create algorithms for computerized trading. At first they just did this for fun and then they started working for large Hedge Funds. Today, these algorithms dictate the world’s financial markets.
Liberal Arts graduates and designers have started some of our country’s most successful new tech companies.
For example, Rob Kalin, One of the founders of the popular website Etsy, has a classics degree from New York University.
Ben Silberman, one of the co-founders of Pinterest, worked in design for Google before he left to found Pinterest. Silberman, pre-med to please his parents, changed course after graduating and “cajoled” his way into Google. Now he is one of the shining rising stars in tech despite the fact that he never trained in computers.
The list of great people with a Liberal Arts education also includes John F. Kennedy who had a degree in International Affairs and English major Harold Varmus, who holds a Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Liberal Arts students are rarely linear thinkers. In all cases, these are people who have taken their creative skills and applied them to the opportunities they saw linear thinkers had missed. They are creative people that capitalized on change.
Invest In Training And Business Learning
Unlike business and accounting students, Liberal Arts students who create careers often need to acquire further skills to build their career and increase their understanding of the business world.
Training and certification in things like business management and Six sigma can open doors and create new opportunities. Adding these business-oriented skills to a Liberal Arts education demonstrates to prospective employers that these people are talented nimble thinkers.
GlaxoSmithKline and the Sloan Center for Aging and Work produced a lengthy study in 12/2011 entitled: “Flexible Thinking and Flexible Options: Effects on Work Engagement and Organizational Commitment,” One of the most extensive studies to date, the GlaxoSmithKline study looked at the value of flexible work environments and flexible thinkers in many companies.
The study included more than 7,000 employees in 10 countries. The findings revealed, “... the rewards for flexible thinking in the workplace may be greater than they were just 10 years ago. For businesses to be successful, employees need the skills associated with flexible thinking.”
The value of flexible thinkers is not lost on today’s businesses.
For example, one of the leading builders on the West Coast took a Liberal Arts education in Architecture from USC and added Six sigma certification and an MBA (both paid for by the company he worked for at the time) to catapult his career into six-figures.
In an interview he revealed that the creative skills he learned in college give him an edge over the competition. “I know how people live and I think about how they want to live... most people in this business are just number crunchers - that’s all they know - and really that isn’t too hard to learn.”
All the Liberal Arts graduates this spring can take comfort in knowing the skills they have learned are very valuable. Combined with a passion for life and learning a Liberal Arts education can provide an excellent foundation for a fabulous career in business.
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Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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