[Always *]

I find that's a bit of the problem with humanities and social sciences. I am also going to be graduating with a double major, sociology and religious studies. Seriously, even when I left history to take soc/religion instead I was basically thinking, you know, my degree is basically "useless" if I want to attribute it to 1 specific career path. If that's how you want to look at it you basically run out of options. It's not like people hire sociologists who's education in sociology never extended beyond the undergraduate level.

I always planned to continue my education by getting a college diploma or a masters in a more specialized area, and that's why I was ok with it because I loved the courses I take and I learn a lot about stuff I am interested in. I have always been interested in careers that relate to working with people such as law enforcement, social work, NGO's, foreign affairs and PR work, and from my point of view my degree gives me an amazing point of view here.

Take police work for example, yes, I could have just taken the police foundations diploma (offered all across Canada far as I know). Heck, I'd even be done school by now if I had!! But a lot of police forces prefer you get a different education because they want people with a variety of backgrounds instead of just a bunch of "robo-cops" who've done nothing but studying police work after leaving high school. They all give you the police training any how. So for me to be in a position where I understand the inner workings of many cultures, religions and social problems would be a positive factor there know what I mean?

There aren't many degrees that'll put you in a specific career path. Engineering and some BBA's maybe. But even for business, all the biz kids at my school seem to think they're all going to become CEO's or something, and it's like "sweetie, no...", even for them they'd often need to have an MBA to advance high and fast. Even the science kids are at a disadvantage for direct career related training. When was the last time you saw someone specifically looking for a person with an undergrad degree in biology or chemistry?

However, there are many that can be directly relevant at the undergrad level. Social work, journalism, health sciences, engineering etc. Yes, you'd likely start at an entry level but experience would allow you to be promoted. People rarely start at mid-high levels of work right out of university any how.

I'm not trying to devalue university degrees at all. I love my university experience, it has been amazing and my education has been such an amazing part of shaping my career choices. Even indirect ones can be useful, like I have volunteer and work experience in my chosen fields and that will help me when applying for jobs because now I can go to people and explain to them how my degree and work experience has helped shape my choice. I talk about work experience because, like I said, a lot of degrees don't position you for a specific field and the other experiences you can attest to will show the direction you plan to take your education. Like my resume shows my degree, my work experience which mostly includes social work, NGO's and PR work, and also includes language skills, travel experience and so on.... So now people can see the direction I have chosen before they even sit down with me.

I know that for some people other experience can be hard if they're working while in school, but most volunteer positions only require 2-5 hours a week, even 1 placement a semester would help or you can join a campus club or organization.

You don't need to be afraid of your degree being useless, if it is what you want to take then you should be taking it. You would hate it if you signed up for, I don't know, physics, if that's not something you like but did it just cause you were convinced it was the more employable option.

I know it sounds cliche but people "hire people not degrees" afterall. Yes, some degrees might be more commonly sought out for the education it provides someone. Like if an organization needs to hire a social worker they're not going to want to hire someone who's only background is in chemistry. But that's because chemists probably also don't have a social work related career experience either. I'm no social worker but I'd still be in a position to consider some social work related jobs due to my related background. Do you see where I am going with that?

My best advice to you is to start seeking out volunteer and/or work experience and/or campus clubs (preferably at the exec level, but general membership is also ok). That way you're showing direction and initiative in getting relevant experience. It'll be extremely useful I promise, especially if you are thinking about grad school, that way you can go back and be like "oh yeah, hey guess what... this is how I learned that X is what I want to do". And eventually you'll hit the point where you can tie your degree with your work experience and I feel like THAT"S more important then the degree itself--justifying why you did it and how you've managed to make it relevant in your work experience is a much stronger point than the education alone.

You can PM me if you need to talk more ok