With economic headwinds beginning to subside, unemployment rates are steadily deviating from the panicky level of ten percent and corporations are beginning to hire employees rather than eliminate them.
The future is looking brighter for Fairfield’s aptly prepared graduates. In fact, a Career Center Report for the class of 2011 cited a promising breakdown of post-graduation activity within six months: 93 percent of students secured full-time professional employment with an average starting salary of $46, 689, admission to graduate degree programs, or participation in volunteer service programs.
This seemingly positive trend will help counteract a cluttered job market and provide competent students with the opportunity to exhibit their newly honed skills.
There are numerous transcending qualities that distinguish liberal arts majors in the professional world, which include the ability to adapt, think critically and creatively, and fully developed written and verbal communication skills. We believe these, among others, place liberal arts students among the most desirable hires upon graduation.
There have been many complaints in the last couple of years that the Career Fair aims too much at students of the Dolan School of Business. Liberal Arts majors feel left out. “Career Fair – Unfair”, “Career Fair Unfair Biased Towards Business Majors” and “Promised Liberal Arts Opportunities Lacking at Career Fair” are just some of the Mirror’s articles in the past years.
However, when you look at this year’s 84 companies that attended the Career Fair in spring, more than half of them (53.6%) said they are looking for all majors. Almost every fifth company recruited majors from the Dolan School of Business and the College of Arts and Sciences (17.9%) whereas only 11 recruiters focused specifically on students graduating from the Dolan School of Business. It seems like Liberal Arts’ students aren’t aware of their opportunities at Career Fairs or on campus recruiting.
Only a little more than one third of the Career Fair’s attendees were Liberal Arts majors (36.9%), 50.7 percent were from the Business School. There might be a lot of business companies at the Career Fair but this doesn’t mean that they only recruit business majors. Cathleen Borgman, the director of Career Planning, believes that finance companies would be happy to interview non-business majors. “You can do almost everything with a Liberal Arts education,” Borgman adds.
Fairfield University stresses the importance of receiving a liberal arts education, connecting interdisciplinary courses through its core curriculum. By informing more students about the wide arrange of careers and opportunities that are available to them even outside of the Dolan School of Business, students would be able to choose a wide range of careers.
Strong writing, communication and creative skills are essential in the business world; especially in fields such as public relations, advertising and marketing.
According to CNN.com, “Insiders say, one of the fastest growing career choices for English majors is broadly defined as business. The verbal and written communication skills that English majors possess remain in top demand at nearly every company in America.”
Not only are business fields increasingly becoming the desired career for Arts and Science majors, their expertise in writing and communications are in demand by employers of corporate America.
Famous arts and science majors that have led successful careers including Kathryn Fuller, Chair of the Ford Foundation and former president and CEO of the WWF, studied English at Pembroke College. Fuller, with an English major, excelled to the upper tier of business, serving as CEO’s of a large corporation.
So maybe the problem does not lie in our institution but rather in our motivation. The arts and sciences students do need to expand their horizons when looking for jobs, but we should encourage professors and advisors to stress this importance to students. You do not need a Business degree to enter the world of Business and although that may seem like common knowledge it should be brought to the attention of the students.
An article published by Harvard detailing the value of a liberal arts Education stresses that, “No particular concentration or area of study is inherently a better ticket to security, leadership, or personal satisfaction than another.
Students should be encouraged to follow their passions and interests, not what they guess (or what others tell them) will lead to a supposedly more marketable set of skills.”
It is important to remember the true value of a liberal arts education, the skills we have and will acquire over our four years here will prepare us for a career in a number of fields.
Students should take advantage of the career fairs and the career center, and not be discouraged if they seem geared towards business students.
So don’t count yourselves out, liberal arts majors, because there is a seat at the table for you too.
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