A  CareerZing reader asks…

“I have a friend who is majoring in Biology and is thinking about a minor in business or at least supplementing his curriculum with business classes.  What do you think?”

Benton:  Taking business courses is never a bad idea.  It is always good to know the fundamentals of business...i.e. accounting, management skills, statistics, finance, and business law.  

However, I will get up on my soap box about majors and careers.  There are many reasons to go to college, two of which are to gain more knowledge - learning for the sake of knowledge.  Another reason is to obtain a degree in something one is really interested in that will prepare that person for a specific career.   And that's where the rubber meets the rub.  If a student is not worried about a career, and my experience is that few are, especially early in their college years, then learning for the sake of knowledge is just fine.   However, if the student wants to prepare for a specific career, they need to study a curriculum that will prepare them for employment in that career.

Not all college majors are created equal, especially as directing a student towards a particular career.  The most career specific majors are engineering, computer science, accounting, finance, law, medicine, education or majors that directly link to a specific career option.

The second tier of majors are what I called "indirect career" majors such as business, marketing, economics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, history, English and fine arts, etc.   These majors do not direct a person to a specific career since there are many career routes a student can take with these majors.  The problem is that these routes are, as the name suggests, indirect and require the student to dig through the job market to find a career that he or she is interested in that will link to this major.  This is not easy.  In fact, unless a student is pointed in a particular direction, it is difficult and confusing.  I know many students who are sitting home wondering what to do next...AFTER getting their degree.

The third tier is what I refer to as non-directional majors...such as liberal arts, fine arts, music, sociology, political science, anthropology.   Very few companies are going to interview on campus, looking for anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, musicians, fine artesian, etc.   Again, students are going to have to dig and dig deep to find a career that interests them AND one that their major qualifies them for.

Now, for biology - very interesting.  I love biology and actually remember more from my biology and animal science college courses than from my business courses.  However, what jobs are open to people with biology degrees?  There is always teaching but it will require some education courses and possibly working for a biological engineering company doing water or wetlands management, or lab work.  To really make a biology degree work outside of teaching, the student probably should look at a MS or even a PhD.  That would point them towards research.   Regarding the biology undergrad with business courses - unless a person wanted to go into biological equipment/technology sales, business and biology go together about like peanut butter and pea soup....not very well.   

Bottom line, if your friend is interested in a career after college, it may be a good idea to put together a short list of things he would like to do and them match them up with a list of college degrees that prepare him to do it.  My advice to any student would be to start their career pursuit no later than their sophomore year and preferably their freshman year, then to obtain internships in that field to find out what it is really all about and if they really want to do it.  Your friend is not alone in his bewilderment.  

I recently traveled to a highly respected state university and spoke to class of senior business majors.  I asked the students to raise their hands if they have selected a business sector they would like to work in and if they were actively pursuing it.  Not a single student raised their hands.  It scared the heck out of me.  It made me ask myself once again, just why these kids went to college and what they hoped to get out of their college experience.  The world will not come knocking on their doors.  They need to aggressively prepare themselves for a career after graduation - or even a job.

My definition of a job is a place one goes to each day to perform work for money.

My definition of a career is a job that they cannot wait to get to each day and one that they hate to leave each day....and where they can make enough money to satisfactorily support themselves during their lives.   

Figuring out what you want to do with the rest of your life is scary and confusing.  But, the rest of a person's life starts each day they get up.

Carol: I agree that a business minor is always a good idea.  It may even be better than majoring in business.  I know I just annoyed a lot of business majors out there but when one majors in a specific field of study like biology or any other “hard” subject; they get a foundation of knowledge in something that relates to a business or industry.  Then with the business minor, they gain the business skills they need to understand how businesses work.  An even better idea would be to get an undergrad in the field of expertise then get an MBA. 

Benton will remember our most recent experience working for a large telecommunications company – where I worked on his staff.  The folks who gained the most success had engineering degrees and solid business education as well.  It’s pretty tough to run a business without having a foundation in the actual business of the company!   These people were experts in what we were delivering as a business, then, through their exposure to business courses, they obtained the skills to know the mechanics of how to run a department or the whole company.   Also, when you are managing a staff of, let’s say, biologists, you have a full understanding of what they do.  It gives you credibility as a manager and an insight needed to make the best decisions for the operation.   

I know what you mean, Benton, about encountering students who are majoring in the hard sciences, for example, and don’t have a plan beyond that.  I also visited a university recently where it was obvious that the students I spoke to did not think much beyond graduation.  Senior year is way too late to realize that you are about to take a free-fall in the work world at a point when you need to begin making a living.  That’s where what’s available on the market dictates a direction and the realization comes much later that the decision was not the best.

 

I sort of beg to differ on the statement from Benton about companies not coming on campus to look for anthropologists or musicians.  I think companies often identify with majors that would best apply to their business and train or groom these students to work for them.  But I agree that it is more difficult to find such companies or industries without doing some homework on your own.  The opportunities are not so easy to identify without doing some digging.

Benton: Many students with either non-directional or semi-directional majors are simply not concerned about what they want to do after graduation until after graduation when they are actually faced with having to do something.  And many just stumble around until they find their niche - not at all unusual.   It is preferable to find out what they want to do, and to actually work towards preparing themselves to do it before they graduate.  That is where research, internships or focused summer jobs come in handy.  

 

There is also another group of semi-directional majors such as social work or public relations where the students either find out that even though jobs are available, the salaries they pay are very low...i.e. social work.  Or the salaries may be ok, but the number of people working in the field, and thus the job opportunities, are poor - i.e. public relations.  It never seems to occur to students that a company of 5000 employees may have only ONE public relations person.  Those are not particularly good odds for getting a job.

 

So, the smart thing is for students to do their homework while they are in school and maybe test drive their careers while they are in school via either paid or unpaid internships.

 

Carol: The internships and other field work while still a student has a secondary perk: the student is able to actively network in the field and be known to professionals who are bound to have influence on a hiring decision once the student is in the job market.  Joining the student version of the professional organization also helps to start meeting people who can serve as mentors and champions to help with that first placement.