Planning for jobs or graduate school
Rather than think of a narrow band of job options solely within Political Science, try taking a functional approach.
- Most all industries and organizations are composed of at least seven or more functional areas:
- administration
- communications
- finance
- human resources
- marketing
- operations
- sales
- and even international research
- These organizations also rely on skills, rather than particular majors.
- You can gain many of these these skills by taking courses in specific areas: math, statistics, research, critical/analytical writing, economics, environmental, etc.
Be sure to take courses which you enjoy, but also take courses which will ensure you marketable job skills.
- Some obvious examples are courses in foreign language, statistics and research design, and computer skills which all provide identifiable skills that employers appreciate. For example, a former student once told me that her future employer was impressed by her ability to speak Chinese. Even though her new position didn't require that she know any foreign language at all, her employer commented that "If you can learn Chinese, then you can learn anything that you need for this job!"
- Don't close off other, less obvious, courses like geography (understanding of locational and spatial relations), English (ability to express ideas clearly and simply in written form), and communicative disorders (understanding of what physical and psychological conditions can interfere with a person's ability to communicate).
- In fact, when you think about it, almost any course can teach you something that will help you-- either because it will provide you with usable information or because it will make you a more interesting person.
- Many employers in the business field will tell you that they can teach an employee what he or she will need to know about how their firm works, but they can't teach employees how to be interesting, personable individuals who can deal with a wide range of people and challenges.
Also, remember that the job world is constantly changing in the face of advances in technology and science. These changes affect not only traditional occupations like medicine (the practice of medicine is vastly different today than it was even 10 years ago), but they also lead to the creation of whole new occupations and careers. The careers of "web page designer" or "network specialist" didn't even exist 20 years ago.
Links to more information on this site and elsewhere:
Career possibilities for Political Science majors
Career Planning Resources at the UW-Madison
Pre-Law Information
Thinking about Graduate School