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A liberal arts degree allows you to develop transferable skills in communication, problem solving, working with people, and researching and evaluating issues, all of which are valued by employers in all fields. |
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Why Liberal Arts?A Guide to Exploring Majors | Why Liberal Arts? | Career Counseling | Self Assessment
Almost every occupation requires strong analytical, communication, organizational, team
management skills in addition to the ability to solve problems, adapt to new situations and
work within the diverse global framework of the world today.
Your Ability to Learn: you can take information that is given, break it down, build on it,
create from it and produce a product or end result.
Transferable Skills to Ponder
(Hint: these may come in handy during an interview. Practice describing
the specific ways that you have been able to enhance these skills through things
such as student organizations, campus jobs, internships, class projects etc.)
- Ability to communicate
- Interpersonal skills
- Adaptability to change
- Critical & analytical thinking
- Problem-solving skills
- Global perspective
- Lifelong learners
- Ability to work in groups or individually
- An understanding of issues of diversity and conflict resolution
In addition to your broad liberal arts education, it is still wise to obtain:
- exposure to business courses; such as finance & accounting
- exposure to quantitative courses such as statistics, mathematics and
computer science
- internship or work experience before graduating
What Others Have to Say About the Value of Liberal Arts
"The Goldman Sachs partner confessed that because he has to
spend the better part of his days around a conference table with the same group
of people, he "damn well better like them." Those with liberal-arts degrees,
he's found, are much better company than your average business major, and
equally, if not more, competent."
Chronicle of Higher Education, 2005
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"In addition to all the engineering and business courses, I also studied
four years of psychology. . .I'm not being facetious when I say that these
were probably the most valuable courses of my college career. ..I've applied
more of these courses when dealing with the 'nuts' I've met in the corporate
world than all of the engineering courses in dealing with the nuts (and bolts)
of automobiles." (Engineer Lee Iaccoca's, autobiography)
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In a study done by Hobart and William Smith college 90 percent of CEOs
believe that critical thinking is derived from an education with a core
humanities curriculum and the ability to solve problems is derived from an
education specializing in Liberal Arts studies. (Fortune, 1997)
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David Masci found that "business executives ... value employees who are
taught how to think and are prepared to pursue a long-term career-rather than
being groomed for their first job" (1998). Roger E. Herman, a strategic business
futurist, in his article titled "Liberal Arts: The Key to the Future," found
that employers recognize the importance of Liberal Arts Curriculum that places
value in critical and creative writing, speaking, and critical thought. (2000)
These employers, Herman added, believe "too many of their employees have serious
difficulty constructing written sentences and producing quality memos, letters
and reports" (2000). In addition to writing skills, the ability to communicate
effectively is yet another area where students, and thereby employers, benefit
from traditional Liberal Arts education. (Herman, 2000)
Recognizing the importance of critical thinking and problem solving skills,
employers may look for "broad based candidate(s), rather than the one-field
specialist" (Herman, 2000). Herman believes that broad based candidates will
bring with them the ability to "think, collaborate, create, problem solve,
communicate and lead" (2000) and that the "demand will be high for individuals
who have learned how to learn, have a strong multidisciplinary education, and
are able to adapt easily to whatever comes their way" (Herman, 2000).
In the article "The Case for Liberal Arts," Roger E. Herman expands on his
thoughts on Liberal Arts education by recognizing that those students "who
specialized in accounting, engineering, computer science, pre-med, or theory
professional orientations during their college days are discovering that there
is something missing in their education" (2000). He believes that because they
did not attain the adequate "knowledge, skills, background, and insight that a
liberal arts education offers" (Herman, July 2000), Liberal Arts colleges and
universities will begin to offer Masters Degree programs in Liberal Arts,
itself. From his standpoint, Herman agrees that this is "logically the next step
in the process of learning for those who have been educated in a single
discipline" (July, 2000).
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"… computers and information technology have revolutionized business
organization and increased the demand for social science and humanities
graduates …
" First, there is an increased demand for people who can understand the
information generated by computer systems, analyze it, relate it to the world,
and act on it. These kinds of general intellectual abilities are the sorts that
are developed in humanities and social science programs. It is for this reason
that the use of computers has led to the growth in demand for people with those
degrees.
" Second, organizational structures have become flatter. Instead of multiple
layers of managers doing routine information processing, there are fewer layers
in the hierarchy, and employees are charged with analyzing and acting on the
greater volume of processed information available. There is a much greater
demand for people who can make critical and independent judgements, and those
capacities are cultivated in social science and humanities programs.
" Third, the new-style middle managers need greater interpersonal and
communication skills both to deal with clients and to work together in
self-directing teams. Humanities and social science programs can produce more
effective employees in this regard."
Robert C. Allen, SSHRC Report,
November, 1999.
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