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May 01, 2007
How to Turn a Degree Into a Job
May is graduation month on many college campuses -- a good time to consider the steps you, as a new college graduate, need to take to turn your degree into a job.
In 1965, the job market was good. I had just earned a degree in journalism and knew communication theory. I knew a job was my ticket to leading an independent life despite my cerebral palsy. But I had no idea what to do, other than keep taking state civil service exams with the hope of landing a “safe” state government job as a copywriter (the one concrete piece of advice my college advisor gave me).
At asktheheadhunter.com, Nick Corcodilos provides insight about how to turn a degree into a job, knowledge I wish I had when I received my diploma 42 years ago.
In “Liberal Arts Is Slang for Job Skills” on Nick’s site, Michele Menegay Marion writes:
“It seems that many Americans, fresh out of college, naturally expect that the degree they just paid thousands of dollars for will have immediate and obvious value in the job market.
“It isn't the specific degree or even the discipline you studied that will pay off during the development of your career: It's all the underlying skills you acquired. And with a liberal arts degree, those skills are considerable. The real challenge isn't just finding a job; it's deciding how to apply these very fundamental skills to the line of work you choose for yourself. But take note: Employers aren't going to figure it out for you. You have to figure it out for yourself.”
In “Making the Liberal Arts Degree Pay Off,” Nick further explains the challenge of applying the skills you learned in college to the job market:
“…Your advantage is that, with a liberal arts degree, you possess many fundamental skills and attributes that your competition may lack. (Those skills include defining problems and tasks; planning and executing research; organizing ideas and solutions; and writing and communicating.)
“And, perhaps most important, (you have) a well-honed ability to learn what you need to (learn) in order to accomplish a task.”
In addition to those skills, Nick says, liberal arts graduates tend to have these attributes: an open mind to new ideas and approaches, disciplined work habits and a critical eye and ear.
“These fundamentals can be applied to business,” Nick notes. “In fact, they're important advantages in the business world; however, they're useless unless you know what to do with them.”
As an about-to-graduate college student, I didn’t have an accurate picture of the skills required in the job market, I didn’t know how to ask for help from professors and career services and I didn’t know the right questions to ask them. I didn’t know how to make the right connections and how to follow up on those connections. I didn’t realize I had to do the work of finding a job myself.
As an about-to-graduate college student with a disability, I didn’t know to get past my perceived limitations in the minds of interviewers. I didn’t realize that job descriptions are usually just general guidelines which are often changed to accommodate a new hire’s strengths and weaknesses. I had not developed a “good answer” to this question in the minds of hiring managers: Given your limitations, how can you possibly do this job and become an asset instead of a liability to my team?
I was not prepared to discuss my situation with contacts in a way that made me seem confident and curious … and not like a supplicant.
Having worked so hard at school and finally getting to the finish line, I was expecting a celebration only to find that now I had to start the struggle all over again.
I thought about staying in school where I knew how to succeed and going for my master’s in journalism, but that would have put me on the teaching/research track, which I knew was not for me. It would have just delayed the struggles in the job market that I needed to tackle -- where I would gain my “real” education for knowing how to live independently despite my disabilities.
So I began the long process of translating what I had learned in school into skills and attributes needed in rural Wisconsin’s dairy industry (which attracted few college graduates at that time and which was outside the disability community).
Year after year, I identified what I needed to learn to become more valuable to my immediate supervisor and the company as a whole. That meant workshops in business communications, negotiating, supervision, strategic planning, visioning, project management, photography, budgeting, speechwriting, teambuilding etc. -- a whole new direction that I had not envisioned as a college student.
For a little more detail about my career path, see “You Can Make a Difference.”
Looking back, my learning after college was probably the best educational opportunity I’ve had.
Have you gone through a similar transformation? That’s our discussion topic for this week.
As a person with a disability, how have you transferred the skills and attributes you developed in school into qualities that are valuable to you as a job candidate?
Add your comments to this posting
Posted by Jim at May 1, 2007 05:23 PM
Comments
Having only been a graduate student with progressive MS I cannot totally relate to this question. However, as an adult disabled in the middle of life I have not faced the same issues as someone who has lived since youth with a disability. However, when dealing with employers I was given bad advice by job coaches who said that I did not need to talk about my disability.
When mobility is an issue, it is necessary to discuss it with employers so that it is a non-issue and they will discuss my/your ability to do the job.
I have 30 years worth of transferrable skills that it would appear I will be using to develop my own company with.
In my opinion there is nothing that a person with a disability cannot do if they choose to do it.
It comes down to deciding and doing.
Posted by: bmayse at May 3, 2007 02:05 PM
My 2 cents:
Yes, i feel there is just too many wrong job advices.
I found one great graduate jobs tips site. Most of the tips are free and straight to the point.
The URL is: Graduate Job Search Tips - Tonybeshara.com.
Peter
Posted by: Peter B at August 9, 2007 05:04 PM