Recruitment Tips, Employer Trends, and Hiring Insights from CareerBuilder

Survey Results

Over a Third of Workers Wish They Had Majored in Something Different in College

Does that headline sound like it was ripped straight from The Onion to anyone else?

Sadly (or perhaps somewhat comforting to know, if you’re among this group), it’s no joke: Findings from CareerBuilder’s most recent survey suggest that 36 percent of workers with college degrees said they wish they had chosen a different major in college.

The survey of over 2,000 workers with college degrees nationwide also found that:

  • 26 percent of workers said the market for jobs in their chosen field worsened from the time they entered college to when they graduated.
  • 19 percent of all workers with a college degree still have not found a job in their desired field.
  • 27 percent of workers who graduated from college at least 10 years ago still haven’t found a job related to their college major.
  • 21 percent spent at least three years finding an opportunity in their desired career path, and 12 percent spent at least 5.

Not that these findings should come as a surprise to anyone who’s read anything about the job market in the past few years…but what do they mean for employers?

Well, one thing these findings indicate is that future candidates may soon display more diverse skill sets, as workers start to take the initiative to round out their skills: According to the survey, 13 percent of workers plan to go back to school to make themselves more marketable.

Also, it highlights the need to consider workers’ transferable skills. As employers struggle to fill open positions, they may need to be more open to candidates they might not usually consider. Not to say that you maybereallyshouldafterall consider that history major for the engineering job…but certainly there are a lot of majors that cater to many different jobs.  Not to mention that, based on a recent poll of The Hiring Site readers, it seems that many of you feel that soft skills like good communication skills and a solid work ethic trump all other job candidate must-haves.

What do you think? Do you find that you’re seeing more candidates whose degrees are in an area other than the ones you traditionally require for certain positions? As you struggle to fill your open positions, are you more open to considering these candidates?

Mary Lorenz

About Mary Lorenz

Mary is a copywriter for CareerBuilder, specializing in B2B marketing and corporate recruiting best practices and social media. In addition to creating copy for corporate advertising and marketing campaigns, she researches and writes about employee attraction, engagement and retention. Whenever possible, she makes references to pop culture. Sometimes, those references are even relevant. A New Orleans native, Mary now lives in Chicago, right down the street from the best sushi place in the city. It's awesome.
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This is what happens when students begin college without a plan of action. College is only a valuable resource when students have taken the time to plan ahead.

Imagine walking into a hardware store with no idea what tools you'll need. You can't ask for help because the first thing the store help wants to know is, "What kind of tool do you need and what are you going to use it for?"

College is the same. The typical college graduate gets out of school with $20k in debt. What kind of degree do you need and what are you gonna use it for?

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Some great points. I agree with your recommendation to companies to be more open minded in what candidates they will consider. Fall out of the recent economic downturn is that some jobs have disappeared. Many workers are willing to be more flexible in pay and job choice, but the employers are reluctant to consider them if they haven't done the specific job. It's more important to have employees with the right work ethic, attitude and willingness to learn than it is to find someone with a given number of years doing the job.

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This is what happens when students begin college without a plan of action. College is only a valuable resource when students have taken the time to plan ahead.

Imagine walking into a hardware store with no idea what tools you'll need. You can't ask for help because the first thing the store help wants to know is, "What kind of tool do you need and what are you going to use it for?"

College is the same. The typical college graduate gets out of school with $20k in debt. What kind of degree do you need and what are you gonna use it for?

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Some great points. I agree with your recommendation to companies to be more open minded in what candidates they will consider. Fall out of the recent economic downturn is that some jobs have disappeared. Many workers are willing to be more flexible in pay and job choice, but the employers are reluctant to consider them if they haven't done the specific job. It's more important to have employees with the right work ethic, attitude and willingness to learn than it is to find someone with a given number of years doing the job.

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It's not too surprising to hear the results from this survey, especially if the employees are younger. As for candidates, I have noticed more that are out side of what we normally consider... now whether this is due to the economy and people are having to look in new places, or if these candidates are truly interested in a career they're not completely qualified for I don't know, but it's very interesting to look into.

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