Since I spent the last year researching how the workplace is changing, I've been having a lot more conversations with friends about their jobs or how their job search is going. Earlier this week, I spoke with a friend of mine who is currently going through the part of the job search feared by everyone who has ever studied something that does not lead straight into a job from college.
At Luther, he studied art and anthropology, and also was brave enough to spend several semesters in Africa for study abroad. Now he's interviewing for jobs and getting completely slammed by the question "How does your major apply to this job?" And he keeps getting stumped by that question, like almost everyone does in that sort of situation.
When he told me that, however, I was stunned. This is the age of the iPod, of Target, of Starbucks, of the Volkswagon Beetle, of Google, of UTube! This is a fantastic time to be an art or an anthropology major!
Why?
Because everything I've read suggests that companies are desperate for ways to make themselves stand out in a packed global market. Lowered international trade barriers have made products from all over the world available to be purchased anywhere in the world. Increased information on products and prices through the Internet has increased consumer knowledge of that availability. Low cost is not a competitive advantage anymore.
Today, if a company wants to stand out, they have do create something that captures the hearts and minds of their costumers. They need to to create something extraordinary that people have to have.
I think studying art and anthropology sets students up fantastically for the kind of innovation companies need now. They need artists to create sleek and iconic designs like the iPod and they need anthropologists to observe human behavior to see the potential for such a music player! And to find someone like my friend who has both in the same package... I'm surprised they're not drooling over him.
But I'm also sure that the reason he's not getting the job offers is that he's been so trained to believe having the right college major is essential to his success. He probably goes to every interview dead-set on convincing the hiring manager that he's just as good as a business major, while secretly not believing so himself.
He's probably even pushing forward the image of himself though--because companies aren't desperate for another carbon-copy businessman... they're desperate for someone who can add value to their company by better understanding their customers and designing new products and services to better meet customer needs.
And yet my friend keeps trudging to interview after interview, dressed in a carbon-copy business suit and handing out a resume that has been edited as much as possible to de-emphasize his radical college major choices. Such a pity.
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