Before committing to an undergraduate degree, do some research to make sure it is one that will best serve your overall career goals.
While individual strengths, interests and aptitudes should ultimately guide your course of study, it is well worth your while to investigate not only the future job outlook for your specific chosen career field, but also the ancillary careers for which your chosen degree will qualify you.
While graduates with degrees in business, finance, accounting, electrical engineering, communications and information technology will enter a lucrative job market in which companies anticipate to increase recruiting of new college graduates by 14.5 percent, other career prospects for graduates with other degrees will not be as fortunate.
Outlook for major occupational Groups
Between the two largest occupational groups in 2002---professional and service sector jobs -- will increase the fastest and add the most jobs through 2012. These major employment sectors are expected to provide more than half of the total job growth from over the next six years.Here are some more facts about the job growth in 2012 http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecopro.t05.htm
Regardless of current employment forecasts -- always subject to the stability of the economy as a whole -- academic and career experts recommend exploring non-traditional career avenues your chosen degree may afford.
While factoring future job prospects and alternative career options into your degree decision may mean taking more classes -- which means more time and money -- career experts advise it is well-worth the effort. In fact, combining your personal interests with the forecasted job market is a sure way to make the most of your schooling.
Diversify and Prosper
Integrating coursework from other disciplines into your chosen undergraduate degree will optimize future possibilities for employment in a variety of fields. This offers an additional level of job assurance to graduates that can help protect their job prospects even in times of economic downturn.
Broadening Horizons leads to Broadened Employment Prospects
While keeping your primary career goals and objectives at the forefront, it's a good idea to explore non-traditional career avenues applicable to your undergraduate degree. For example, liberal arts major intent on a research apprenticeship would do well to integrate a few courses in journalism, public relations and education to broaden their employment prospects in additional fields.
Your Current Career
If you plan to stick to your current career goal, you simply need to determine which degree is most in line with your career, Click here to read a good post on Degree to Career to broaden you knowledge to the next step. Since your past experience might count toward college credit, this option can also help you get your degree faster. For instance, a graduate with a bachelors degree in journalism desiring to teach, could trade the newsroom for the classroom within a year as a post-graduate by simply filling in the 20-plus hours of additional teaching coursework required to pass the state certification exam.
Many states offer content-area certification dependent on the amount of college hours completed in a subject, making the transition all the smoother.
Future Career Opportunities
Some degrees are more flexible than others. For instance, degrees in business administration, or education are often the fastest to earn and offer the most flexibility of application.
