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Is my major too specific to get a good job in the future?

I am going into wildlife and conservation biology at URI and I am worried that there wont be that many jobs available to me once I get my degree. I know that there are always jobs for environmentalist majors in general - but maybe my major just isnt practical. #struggle #environmental-science

environmental-science struggle
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Marina’s Answer

Shea,

First, ask yourself why did you choose this major? Did you have a future specific job in mind that appealed to you and felt that this would be the best major to find a position in that field?


If you're having doubts at to your future marketability with this specific major, I suggest that you do some research as to potential career tracks in your field of studies. Your school's academic department for your major, and the career offices would be a good resource for this.


You may also want to do an online research on the jobs that you may see yourself doing in the future and find out what career track and educational background, the people in those fields have.


Also keep in mind, that sometimes, your major doesn't necessarily dictate your future career. For example, I majored in Chemical Engineering, but have been doing environmental work for most my career. I currently work in government doing similar work to colleagues whom have different academic backgrounds than I do.


So don't despair and give up yet, just take the time to really focus on the future demands and requirements of your ideal career. Best of luck!

Thank you comment icon Great advice. It's inspiring to not be limited by early choices. Alex Warshavsky
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Alex’s Answer

Hi Shea,

It's great to hear you thinking about your future. I think most people have doubts about choice of their career early in life. It takes some time to figure out what you want to do and whether you will like the job when you get there.

I don't know much about environmental science, so my advice is generic, and hopefully helpful to you and others that might read this.

There're many ways to end up in a job. One thing that's important to realize is that your major isn't as limited as you think. Starting out on many jobs and especially internships requires ability to learn and present yourself as a person capable of becoming useful to a company or organization. Showing passion for a job via a cover letter or an interview conversation means quite a lot. Good communication skills and being positive helps quite a bit as well. If you can make a good case for why you're intersted in a job, you can always reason how your experience and school background will help.

In my personal experience being open to options really helps. I was in college and wanted to do a job as a programmer. I ended up learning on the job after presenting myself as a quick learner and interested in the company that I joined. It was scary and stressful at first but I pulled through. I had to do this multiple times in my career as every job requires a lot of learning and adjusting.

Alex recommends the following next steps:

Look at job postings and figure out the jobs that sound good to you
See what each job requires and look for common patterns -- what skills are most useful
Take an online class or read a book to learn what's needed for those jobs
Make it clear on your resume or cover letter that you're making effort to learn and will continue doing so when you start the job
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