It goes without saying that a college major has a significant impact on the future career a person will have. Pick the right major and you start your career path out on the right foot immediately after graduation. Pick the wrong major it and might take years to get on the right path.
This being the case, it goes without saying that one of the ways to ensure career success in the future is to be do your home work to help ensure you can pick the right college major when it comes time to make a decision.
Here are a few tips to help get started on the process whether it be for you specifically or a friend or family member.
Look Inside
There are actually many underemployed people today who simply cannot find success in the field that they are employed in simply because it really was not something that “called” them. In many cases, external factors were the biggest determiners of what a student picked as a college major. So while the student may have had dreams of being a philosophy major, instead they chose something that their parents pushed them to pick, something they thought would make them the most money when they graduate, or what’s in vogue at the time, amongst a host of other reasons.
What people fail to realize is that by picking something that they simply had no interest in, or had any special talent in they risk going down a path that might have little reward. Considering the fact that they had little to no real interest or inclination to the major they were chose, they did not excel in it as much as they would have if they simply liked the college major they selected.
Look Forward
Another way to ensure future failure that is hinged on studies is to pick a college major that one assumes would still be viable once they finish their studies. Consider the fact that the fortunes of hot businesses today might have changed and no longer be viable down the road. This can be especially true in the areas of pop culture, fashion and bleeding edge technology.
There are actually ways to ascertain what particular careers may be viable in the years that college students actually graduate and move to the job market to secure their spots. Certain fields, particularly those linked to the basic needs and necessities of living, are sure to not go out of business anytime soon, and selecting a college major that is in line with this could very well pay off for the long haul.
Look Around
For some people, a successful career necessitates taking a long, hard look at where they currently are, and where they might find the most success in the years to come. The sheer number of businesses and companies today has forced many enterprising individuals to bring their business savvy outside of the major city urban areas to smaller communities. So if you have your sites only set on silicon valley for example, that might be hard to find success and live affordably. But you might find alternative paths in smaller urban areas. The skills of your desired major maybe more in demand in those locations because of less competition.
Look Online
There is actually a treasure trove of online resources that could help students today who are not certain of what college major would be best for them, and it’s all a matter of trying to figure out which particular resource would suit them well in this matter.
BigFuture helps students track their way to progress by helping them build a road map. This resource even helps students determine if a single major would help them get on their feet, or if an additional major is required, and also if post graduate studies would solidify their hold on success.
TestQ gives studies a somewhat familiar way to determine their career path: a quiz. While taking yet another quiz to determine what college major would be best may not exactly appeal to some, this is one quiz that students would definitely be glad they took once they fit into the ideal college major that is suited to them and their future.
For the more analytically minded, there is this resource from BestColleges.com, which identifies the best specific quantitative values presented in easy-to-read graphs, making full use of the preference of some students for a highly organized way of selection.