Arts & Sciences Career Exploration

• Considering Career Options: Getting a Life After College

  Career Planning: Step-By-Step

  1. Identify Your Skills and Objectives

  2. Talk to People

  3. Gain Work Experience

  4. Starting Out

  5. Graduate School

  Alumni Advice

  Alumni Networking - how to get in touch with Arts and Sciences alumni

  Careers After Cornell - survey results of what Arts and Sciences students are doing after graduation

  What do I do with this major?

  Considering Career Options: Getting a Life After College

  What can you do with a liberal arts degree? The answer is: Just about anything! Your liberal arts curriculum provides you with broad knowledge, varied skills, and the flexibility to pursue a number of career paths.

  A significant number of college graduates pursue careers with no direct connection to their undergraduate majors.

  While your liberal arts major does not train you for a specific career, you are nevertheless acquiring career-related skills from both your academic and extracurricular activities.

  According to a September 2004 national survey by the Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive, employers are looking for students with the following attributes:

  • Communication and interpersonal skills

  • Ability to work well within a team

  • Personal ethics and intergrity

  • Analytical and problem-solving skills

  • Leadership potential

  • Fit with corporate [organizational] culture

  • Strategic thinking

  • Well-rounded

  • Willingness to relocate

  • Work experiences

  • Core curriculum

  Career Planning: Step-By-Step

  1. Identify Your Skills and Objectives

     If you need help figuring out how to connect what you have to offer with what employers are looking for, College of Arts and Sciences Career Services is a good place to start.

     Figuring out what you want to do in life, or even what you want to do for the next five years, can be tough especially if you've got a lot of different interests and talents, as most Cornell Arts and Sciences students do. To give you courage, and inspire you to meet that challenge head-on, here are some comments from Cornell grads who started out where you are now, and went on to survive the job search.

     Here's a quick self test and a list of career exploration Web sites that we think will be helpful to liberal arts students. (For those who prefer print, check out the Cornell Career Services libraries.) We can also recommend the Developing Career Goals page.

  2. Talk to People

     The majority of people looking for a job get a position by talking to people in the work world (that's another way to say networking).

     Talking to alumni, or participating in an alumni-based program will give you real-life information about fields and jobs that interest you. The best way to find out about a particular career is by speaking with people who are already pursuing it. They can tell you what they do every day, how they got where they are, what the lifestyle is like, what the market looks like, what they enjoy most and what they dislike about their jobs, and give you a sense of salary ranges and educational and skill requirements.

     By networking, you'll gain a wealth of information that will help you decide if a particular career is right for you, and, if it is, how best to target your resume and cover letter. You'll also be making contacts in your field. Networking is a simple practice, one that you probably use all the time without noticing. Use it to your advantage when choosing a career and looking for a job.

  3. Gain Work Experience

     As you focus in on your goals for the future, you'll find that gaining work experience is valuable both to you and to your future employers. Pursue paid or unpaid experience that will help you test potential career directions and give you insights into the work-a-day world. Employers appreciate the practical knowledge students gain from hands-on experience and observation.

     Many students also gain career-related experience from active involvement in extracurricular student activities, community service, and from student jobs. Volunteer or unpaid experience is no less valuable than paid work; what matters is what you contribute and what you gain from the experience.

  4. Starting Out

     Your first job out of college should be challenging and provide you with a chance to "learn the ropes." But don't expect that you'll be locked into your first job forever. Liberal arts graduates in particular find that their job responsibilities and job titles change significantly in the first five years out of school. Your broad education and mental flexibility will really pay off a few years down the line, while your next-door neighbor with the specialized degree may find that his options narrow as time goes on.

     For examples of alumni career paths, compare the immediate plans of seniors at graduation in the Careers After Cornell first jobs and salaries, to the level of employment of graduates of Cornell College of A&S 5 largest majors five years later.

  5. Graduate School - An Important Part of your Career Planning

     How should you decide if graduate school is right for you and when you should go?
     First, think about why you're considering graduate school. Are you trying to delay leaving school and entering "the real world"? Do you have a specific goal in mind? Do you want to acquire professional credentials in your field? Whether or not to attend graduate or professional school, and which degree to pursue, depends on your answers to these questions, as well as your particular field of study and the value your field places on graduate-level education.

     Master's and professional degrees might give you an extra boost in the labor market and potentially increase your salary, or may even be required for some fields (see The Rewards of Education, 2007 NYTimes graph of U.S. Census Bureau report). This is generally true for professional education in fields such as business, law, medicine, or policy and administration. Some of these programs, however, prefer applicants with work experience, so it may be best to wait a year or more before applying.

     For example, Dianne Renwick '82, judge on the New York State Supreme Court (the highest trial court in the state), recounted her career path, including time out for pre-professional school employment, for the President's Council of Cornell Women newsletter. You can read it here.

     If your goal is a career in research or teaching, you may want to go directly to graduate school. For those in scientific fields, or for those in the humanities or social sciences who plan to pursue academic positions, a master's degree does not offer much return value; you will probably need a Ph.D.

     Ph.D. programs can last from four to twelve years, generally averaging six in the sciences and eight in the humanities. The decision to undertake a Ph.D. program should not be taken lightly, especially in view of the fact that the number of Ph.D.s produced annually in this country now far exceeds the number of academic jobs available in all fields. In the late 1990's Science magazine reported a bleak job market for Ph.D.s in science and engineering fields, while the Chronicle of Higher Education bemoaned the (even worse) situation in the humanities and social sciences. More recently, the U.S. News and World Report's America's Best Graduate Schools 2006 Edition echoed these comments concerning jobs for Ph.D. recipients in social sciences, humanities and even the sciences. However, while recent Ph.D. recipients may be underemployed or employed outside their fields, few are unemployed. Many have found satisfying career paths in industry, nonprofits and the government.

     Be sure to investigate opportunities in your field so that you can make an informed decision. Conduct research at the Cornell Career Services Library (103 Barnes Hall) and talk with T.A.s and junior faculty in your department. If and when you decide graduate school is right for you, check out the Graduate and Professional School Application Guide for specifics on when and how to apply.

  Alumni Advice

  Conduct skill and experience assessment to: a) decide what sorts of jobs you are most interested in and best suited for, and b) be ahead of competition by clearly defining those skills for employers through resumes and essays.
  Sociology '95, Consultant

  Look diligently for travel and school grants and fellowships - There are many. Although work is important, don't let life pass you by. Remember what life is about. If you are deliberating between art and a standard career (business, etc.), choose art. Life is too short and precious to do otherwise.
  Theater Arts '91, Film Assistant

  Be confident and sure about your abilities. You are a Cornellian!
  Government '91, Associate Producer, Production Company

  Writing is important. If you don't know how to write, you can't be a good banker. The major weakness in the people I train is a lack of writing skills. Because those skills benefit from an accumulation of education, liberal arts students are continually improving their writing.
  History '84, Assistant Manager, Corporate Banking