In the not so distant past, a college degree made you a professional. A Bachelor's degree opened every door you would ever need to have a fruitful career. This is not the case anymore. In the present day, you need a Bachelor's degree to be a manager at Target. The necessity of education to succeed in a career in America is increasing rapidly. No longer can a person simply come out of college with a four year degree and have the privilege of turning down several jobs and getting the perfect one. More and more employers are requiring that you have a Master's degree or a PhD in order to work in a professional setting for them. More and more a Bachelor's degree is becoming less valuable in the workplace. Quite simply when you put that you have a 4 year college degree on a resume it's not even that much of an asset any more. When you go to apply for an entry-level job a lot of the people applying for that job will be in the same place you are and have the same degree. Some will even have a Masters Degree. The key to getting a good job is not just having a degree; in this day and age everyone has a degree. Simply having stellar grades wont guarantee you anything either. When applying for a job you have to have some unique talent, quality, or experience that you gained while at school in the process of obtaining your Bachelor's degree. This can be in a range of things, from research to starting some kind of club in college or having held any other type of leadership position. You have to show to your employer that you have the skills to complete the job. Some of these skills were obtained in getting your degree. But it isn't enough any more to have the degree you have to show you have the skills by obtaining your Bachelor's degree and then you have to show you have applied them to some meaningful activity or project. The most effective ways of showing this is to have some non-school related project that you have worked on and completed successfully. These projects will show that you can actually use the skills that you acquired when you got your degree. For instance if you got your degree in economics, it would be a good idea if you went to your economics professor and asked if you could be involved in his research projects. You could also start some kind of club related to your career, or you could simply try to find an internship (paid or unpaid) related to your field of study. These activities will give you a large advantage on your counterparts who are going to be competing for the same jobs. Having a Bachelor's degree doesn't guarantee you in anything in a career. It's your experience and what you've done with your education that employers care about and will pay for. So, if you think you can go to college for 4 years get your degree and have employers at your doorstep waiting to offer you a job then you have another think coming. |
