Guest blog by Lizzie Weakley
So, you got a degree in the liberal arts but now you think you want to enter the business world: what do you do? A liberal arts degree is actually very diversified, and teaches some skills that other degrees might not. If you have a liberal arts masters, you may not see how it can connect to the CEO position you aspire to, but here are some ways it can.
1. You learned to make connections with people in power. Most college advisers are only seen when necessary, but when you are a liberal arts major you see your adviser constantly. Most colleges have small departments in the liberal arts, so the professors there multi-task. This leads to better connections with them, and a better ability to connect with people in power. Your boss or clients will remember you better from this relationship, which is key to any business track.
2. You learned interpersonal skills in almost every course you took. Most of your courses had a group project, which means every year you worked with a group of people who were often strangers. You learned to work on a team, what works and doesn’t when working with a team of diverse people, and how to get the job done. This is an excellent skill in the business world.
3. You’ve studied things outside of your topic of interest. You may hate math or science, but you were required to take at least one course in each. When you can do this and pass, it means you are able to acquire new knowledge and put it to use in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time. You need this in business, and those classes have given you the confidence to know you can.
4. You have a passion for and commitment to learning. Most primary and secondary schools cut the liberal arts first, which means you may not have had good programs for them. You loved the topic, so you did your own studying. That American history master’s degree says a lot about your passion to learn and if you’ve reached a masters level, you have perseverance that will help in business.
You may have spent the last 4 years or more specializing in a liberal art area of study, but you are definitely up to learning a new set of skills. You can apply almost any liberal art degree to business, so get out there and try.
