Students and recent graduates are often surprised to learn that most degrees have tremendous crossover potential. People are most certainly not constrained to careers within their discipline! Geography graduates work in marketing, political science graduates work in human resources, business graduates become teachers, religion and culture graduates work in sales and sociology graduates work in finance. In fact, it is probably more common to find people working outside their field of study than within it. So why bother getting a degree at all?
Well, studies show that employers look for specific qualities in their employees:
• Communication skills - written and verbal
• Teamwork and flexibility - appreciation of diversity and change
• Ability to access and apply knowledge - commitment to lifelong learning
• Adaptability - open-minded, creative, curious individuals who are respectful of diversity and differences
• Thinking ability - problem solving, decision making, critical judgement, assessment and evaluation, analytical skills
• Responsibility - ability to plan time, money and resources, self-discipline and self-
direction, motivation and enthusiasm, ability to set goals and priorities, follow through
Regardless of your major or area of study, to successfully complete a university education you will develop this valuable set of general skills. It is usually because of these ‘transferable skills’ that employers seek employees with a university degree. For information specific to an academic discipline, click on the discipline on the left-hand menu.
