Tag: college major

Types of Entry-Level Jobs for Design Majors

Design majors are known for their creativity and diverse skills, qualities that make them employable in many professional industries. If you’re a design major and you’ve already taken on a design internship, then you have some idea of where you degree can take you and how you can turn your major into a rewarding career. From designing websites and graphics to assisting in the planning of Fashion Week, you have a range of opportunities ahead of you.

Here are some of the most common entry-level jobs for design majors:

Graphic designer

As a graphic designer, you could be employed by a nonprofit organization, a huge advertising firm or a media company. As part of your role, you’ll be involved in the process of preparing, coordinating and creating materials for everything from a logo to a branding campaign. This involves coming up with an initial idea, presenting it to the client and then delivering the finished product. In addition to being able to design and present your ideas, you’ll also need to regularly update your knowledge by keeping up to date on design and media trends and taking additional classes and workshops. This is a great position for someone who wants to maximize their creative skills while helping companies bring their brands to life.

UX designer

A UX designer is responsible for helping customers navigate an app or product easily by ensuring the navigation process is as hassle-free and exciting as possible. From designing the look and feel of a company’s website to developing a design that thoroughly reflects a product’s goals, a UX designer is in charge of all of the elements that go into creating a great user experience. In this position, you’ll use your expertise to optimize a potential customer’s experience by dialing up its functionality, ease of use and aesthetics to the highest possible degree. This is a perfect role for someone interested in the more technical and digital side of design.

Fashion designer

As a fashion designer, your creativity and sense of style will be put to use as you work with a clothing brand to design clothes for their customers. Your day-to-day tasks will consist of sketching designs, coordinating with manufacturers and working through the technical aspects of clothing design. You’ll also need to stay on top of current fashion trends both in the U.S. and abroad to ensure that your designs are both marketable and on-brand. This is a wonderful role for someone who is interested in fashion and knowledgeable about how to turn great designs into a stunning collection.

Personal stylist

If you’re a shopaholic with a design major under your (wonderfully chic) belt, an entry-level job as a personal stylist could be a dream come true. As a stylist, you’ll assist clients in finding exactly what they’re looking for and what fits with their personal style. This position is usually found in-house at a clothing boutique or department store and will connect with you clients from every walk of life, including business professionals for Fortune 500 companies and celebrities. This is a great position for someone interested in working directly with clients and who enjoys helping people look their best.

Teacher

Majoring in design can also prepare you for an entry-level teaching position such as a high school design or art teacher. You can even run design courses and workshops at a community college or at a private institution. This is a great opportunity for someone who is interested in sharing their knowledge with others and passionate about helping students learn all about the various elements of design.

A design major offers you a great chance to develop a broad range of skills that will make you marketable in design-related fields and beyond. In order to determine what position is best for you, take some time to assess your interests and then consider taking on an internship to find a career path that’s just right for you.

Next, learn more about this college major such as Types of Internships for Design Majors and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as 6 Things to Do in Your First Week at a New Job.

Career Opportunities for Architecture Majors

An architecture major is a great opportunity to develop both technical skills and creative ones. And because of the broad range of skills involved in this major, students studying architecture can find career opportunities in many industries including interior design, urban planning and construction management.

Here are some of the many fields where you can use your architecture degree:

Architecture

The most obvious career option for architecture majors is also the most popular one. By working as an architect, you’ll be designing buildings for a range of clients including large corporations. The key to finding a specific type of architecture that fits your personality is to ask yourself what kind of buildings you’d like to design. Whether the answer is giant skyscrapers or single-family homes, identifying the types of structures (and clients) you’d like to work with will help you find a role at an architecture firm that fits your style.

Interior Design

Another popular field for architecture majors is interior design. This involves coming up with designs that maximize the efficiency and style of interior spaces. A designer breathes beauty and life into a space, while also making sure the designs are safe and functional. Just like with architecture, working in interior design is all about find out what types of spaces are most appealing to you and focusing your energies there.

Construction

Whether working to build a room, a patio or a cute little cafe, architecture majors can start a career in construction management where they will be involved in coordinating building processes. This can include everything from preparing contracts to tracking the progress of craftsmen to ensuring that the right materials are available for each project. This is a great role for someone who is interested in the management aspect of construction.

Urban planning

An architecture major can also specialize in urban planning, where you make the best use of community land by coordinating, developing, analyzing and reviewing resources. As an urban planner, you’ll work alongside public officials and community members to help an area adapt to evolving problems, goals and economies. It involves not just systematic planning, but also creativity, two key factors that emerge from an education as an architect.

Business

The general skill set you’ll acquire as an architecture major transfers well into many fields of business. These industries require just as much of planning, conceptualization, communication and attention-to-detail as jobs in architecture and design. As a result, architecture majors can sometimes find themselves in the roles of project managers or directors, working to build companies rather than the buildings that house them.

Education

Your degree in architecture can also be put to use in education, whether this is through teaching high school math or conducting a seminar on the basics of interior design at a community college or private institution. Your architecture major can also put you on the road to earning an advanced degree, making you eligible for a teaching career in a university setting.

A major in architecture puts you in the running for some incredibly satisfying career opportunities. The best way to find out which one is right for you is to pick a field that interests you and then find an internship that will give you the hands-on experience you need to make your decision.

Next, learn more about this college major such as 6 Things to Do in Your First Week at a New Job and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as Why Do You Want to Work Here?

Types of Internships for Architecture Majors

If you’re majoring in architecture and want to know what it’s like to work as an architect on a day-to-day basis, there’s no better way of finding out than by doing an architecture internship. In fact, this field has a lot of great internships to choose from, each of which will offer you significant insights into what it’s like to work in the field.

Some of the best internships for architecture majors include:

Architectural model making intern

From scaling drawings to assisting with prototypes, an architectural model-making intern assists in the making of architectural models. In addition to being creative and requiring attention to detail, this role will give a hands-on understanding of how modeling works and why it’s such a crucial part of architecture.

Property development intern

A property development intern gains experience in the field by researching development sites, visiting prospective ones and interviewing potential clients in order to assist in the writing of business plans. Because this role is so cross-functional, you’ll learn how to work with architects and contractors, while managing development projects.

Design intern

A design internship is one of the most diverse internships you can take on since, depending on the design firm you choose, this can be focused on including interior, landscape or stage and set design. While the responsibilities vary depending on the type of design internship, they may include assisting with client presentations, participating in design teams, or even developing and visualizing concepts.

3-D rendering and interior design intern

If you’re interested in broadening your knowledge of interior design, a 3D rendering & interior design internship gives you the experience you need to make it in this profession. During your internship, you’ll participate in client presentations, update resources and communicate with vendors, or even in create quality 3D-visualizations.

Transportation intern

As a transportation intern, you’ll learn more about what keeps your city or nation going. By becoming a transportation intern, you’ll be taking on projects that teach you how to apply new technical tools, analyze data and make presentations. Best of all, you’ll be getting some deep insights into how transportations systems work and applying skills from your major to help make those systems even more effective.

Architectural design intern

An architectural design internship familiarizes you with the a-day-in-the-life of an architectural firm. You’ll get an around-the-clock view of the office, with your duties ranging from assisting higher-ups in aspects of architectural design to making client presentations and working with a construction team. You may also assist with general logistics and research out-of-state rules pertaining to design and construction.

Urban planning intern

An interest in the optimal use of land and community welfare translates well into an urban planning internship. As an urban planning intern, you may work for a public department or private firm, where your responsibilities will range from assisting in field investigations/ surveys to reviewing site plans.

By taking on an internship related to your architecture major, you’ll be able to figure out what career path you want to focus on after graduation. And with so many great options, from design to urban planning, you’ll be sure to find something that works for you.

Next, learn more about this college major such as Career Opportunities for Architecture Majors and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as What is a Chronological Resume?

Types of Entry-Level Jobs for Architecture Majors

Graduating with an architecture degree is an incredible accomplishment and one that opens doors to a lot of fantastic opportunities in the world of architecture and beyond. If you’ve already had a paid or unpaid internship in the field, then you have some idea of what to expect once you enter the workforce as a full-time employee. Even if you don’t, there are many great job opportunities that you should consider as you embark on your career path.

Here are some of the best entry-level jobs for architecture majors.

Assistant urban designer

If you’re interested in urban planning, working as an assistant urban designer is the perfect way to get started. There are openings at both public and private companies, and you will gain exposure to a range of responsibilities including surveying land, expanding or renovating a facility to meet present-day needs or even developing a transportation network. You will also likely be making presentations to community leaders and the public to raise awareness about plans for an upcoming project.

Assistant city planner

As an assistant city planner, you’ll be contributing to the process of determining the best use of the city’s land and resources. From gathering community input to preparing reports, drafting legislations, constructing new public housing and conserving the environment, there’s a lot you can learn in this position. And as you move through your career, you may go on to specialize in environmental or urban design, transportation planning or in other facets of city planning.

Junior architectural designer

This entry-level position offers a great start for aspiring architects. Your responsibilities will include ensuring the feasibility of building designs by using computer aided drafting, and working on different aspects of design with the principal architect and design team.

Project architect

As a project architect, you’ll make sure the project is completed on time and to the satisfaction of the client. You’ll also coordinate with your team, communicate with clients, work with designs and come up with an estimate of the budget.

Residential architect

If you’re employed as a residential architect, you’ll specialize in designing and building residential properties. Because of the differences between commercial and residential architecture, you may have more flexibility with your projects and could be self-employed, work for an architectural or construction company or be a real estate developer.

Graphic designer

The skills you’ve gained from your architecture major can be used in graphic design, helping an advertiser, public relations firm or small business communicate their message to the public.

Because of the varied skills gained during your major, graduating with a degree in architecture will allow you to apply your planning, problem-solving and design skills in a range of environments, giving you the opportunity to explore several opportunities and find the best fit for you.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How to Write a Resume That Stands Out and find answers to common interview questions such as Would You Describe Yourself as a Leader or a Follower?

Types of Internships for Business Majors

One of the best things about being a business major is that makes you a competitive candidate in almost any professional field. But with some many fields to choose from, how do you decide what career path to take? An internship is a great way to figure this out, while also gaining significant hands-on experience.

Here are some of the most common internships for business majors:

Product marketing internship

If you’re interested in marketing and want to learn more about this field, a product marketing internship can offer you the chance to learn a lot about the field while also picking up some new skills. During this internship you’ll be learning the basics of marketing by gathering data on market trends, analyzing and interpreting product feedback and studying the marketing strategies of competitors. This is a great chance to learn how to market a product and to understand the challenges of selling a product in a competitive marketplace.

Sales and marketing internship

A sales and marketing internship is usually a role that you’ll encounter at smaller companies and startups where these roles are sometimes combined. This type of internship gives you experience with marketing but also focuses on selling a product directly to a consumer. From observing sales calls made by managers to preparing presentations for clients and assisting with new and ongoing campaigns, this internship will give you with insights on the ups and downs of a career in sales and marketing.

Business management internship

From project management to analysis of sales, there’s a lot to learn in a business management internship. Among other things, you’ll assist with developing tools, conducting analyses and discussing business strategy with the team. But your role doesn’t end there. In fact, because this type of internship relates to the broader needs of a business in general, you’ll be getting an overview of what’s involved in running a business and getting a real hands-on field for everything from finance to operations.

Business consulting internship

Whether as part of a marketing, human resources, management or accounting team, business consulting interns assist business consultants in gathering data or materials for analysis and recommendations. As a business consulting intern, you’ll be sharpening your problem-solving skills and knowledge of business models, while also making an impact to the organization.

Management consulting internship

Whether you’re a management consulting intern for a consulting firm or for a financial services organization, during this internship you’ll gain a deeper understanding of how to research, compile and present information. You’ll also assist in implementing changes to the project or team structure. This is a great internship for someone who is interested in going into management consulting after graduation.

Business development internship

As a business development intern, you’ll assist in market research and partnership development. You’ll also help to build business relationships with clients and partners and contribute to the overall growth of the organization. During this internship, you’ll learn about all the factors involved in building a successful business and get a feeling for how to run a business of your own.

Business majors are among the most sought-after candidates in any professional field. But with so many options to choose from, picking a career might seem a bit overwhelming. By taking on one or more of these internships during your time in college, you’ll be able to pick up some great skills and find a career path that’s just right for you.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as Ultimate Guide to Dealing with Multiple Internship Offers and find answers to common interview questions such as How to Answer: What Type of Environment Do You Prefer?.

Types of Entry-Level Jobs for Communications Majors

Being a communications major means learning all about the best ways to communicate effectively and help brands get their message across. And because these skills can be applied to multiple industries, communications majors are in high demand in almost every industry. If you’ve already learned about the most popular types of internships for communications majors, then you might be wondering what comes next. Are there just as many opportunities after graduation? The answer is yes.

Here are some of the best entry-level jobs for communications majors:

Marketing coordinator

As a marketing coordinator, you’ll develop marketing materials and assist with both internal and external communications. You’ll also help coordinate timelines and goals for the executive team and assist with their implementation. This is a job that requires a sound knowledge of marketing models, and even better communication and leadership skills.

Client services representative

A client services representative acts as an intermediary for the company and its clients, assisting the client with transactions, setting up meetings and ensuring customer satisfaction. In this position, you’ll be communicating with the client on behalf of the company, relaying important messages and ensuring a smooth working relationship.

Public relations assistant

As a public relations assistant, you’ll coordinate and review press releases, and help organize publicity events, campaigns and presentations geared towards maintaining a positive image for a company or brand. You might work on multiple projects, or in multiple capacities, often in a fast-paced environment that keeps you on your toes.

Editorial assistant

As an editorial assistant, you’ll coordinate editorial timelines ensuring that workflow between writers and editors is smooth and efficient. As part of your tasks, you’ll be communicating with writers to provide their assignments and following up to ensure that they submit on time. In smaller companies, you might also take on writing tasks, utilizing both your writing and administrative abilities.

Associate brand manager

As an associate brand manager, you’ll conduct initial market research and position the product you’re promoting in relation to similar products on the market. You’ll also develop marketing strategies aimed to increase the brand’s reach to its target audience. This position requires a solid understanding of the brand you’re promoting and its value in the marketplace.

Social media coordinator

As a social media coordinator, you’ll do more than just post to Facebook and Instagram. You’ll also interact with the brand’s online community, analyze the reach of different kinds of media and optimize social media campaigns for individual platforms. As the digital voice of the brand, you’ll be helping social media managers engage the brand’s audience effectively and learning how to capitalize on media trends along the way.

Irrespective of the field they choose to work in, communications majors play an important role in maintaining relationships between businesses and consumers, communicating with those audiences and presenting information. They get the message out there, resolve problems and analyze feedback. With all of those skills at their fingertips, it’s no wonder that communications majors are so sought after in workforce.

Next, learn more about this college major such as What is a Communications Major and is it Right for Me? and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as Tell Me About an Accomplishment That You’re Most Proud Of.

Types of Entry-Level Jobs for Computer Science Majors

If you’re a computer science major who is interested in pursuing a tech-based career, you might be wondering about the best options for entry-level jobs. Depending on your interests and familiarity with the various industry verticals, there are many options to choose from and each one involves a combination of challenging and exciting projects.

Here are the various roles you can pursue to kickstart your career.

Front-End Engineer

Front-End engineers make the interfaces we all love and use daily. If you like to see immediate, “tangible” results from your code and have a flair for design, then being a front-end engineer may be the role for you. As a front-end engineer, you’ll typically be working on the very front of the page. In a nutshell, you’ll be taking mockups given to you by the designer and turning them into web pages; implementing designs, prototyping and writing code that translates directly into what users see on the screen. The code you’ll be writing for this job is almost exclusively HTML/CSS and JavaScript, and it requires a strong ability to write cleanly in order to ensure long-term maintainability and future fast iterating. Deep knowledge of CSS and other front-end frameworks such as jQuery are a must.

Back-End Engineer

If you enjoy learning how to optimize read times on large data sets, crafting large data structures like an architect would a building, or making sure that your app has the best search function around, you may have a calling in back-end development. Back-end engineers are most concerned with what goes on behind the scenes — the business logic, data storage and retrieval, and key features that happen on the server. Knowing your SQL commands and relationships, familiarity with appropriate back-end languages such as Java, C++, Ruby, Python or JavaScript, knowledge of systems architecture and understanding of the hurdles of building applications at scale are helpful for this role.

Full-Stack Engineer

Being a full-stack engineer involves working with a combination of both front-end and back-end technologies, and it’s the perfect role for someone who likes building complete products or features. In addition to being able to develop back-end processes to connect servers and databases, you’ll also be working on the user-facing application to ensure that the product delivers seamless experience from end to end. However, it’s important to note that given the scope of this position, many full-stack engineers are “jacks of all trades but masters of none,” so it’s worth considering whether you want to be an expert in a particular discipline or whether you’re more comfortable when you’re constantly learning new things.

Mobile Engineer

Due to the rising use of apps, mobile engineers are in great demand right now. And since pretty much everyone uses either an iPhone or Android device these days, being familiar with their respective development platforms is a great way to secure your spot for this role.
The best way to show that you have what it takes is by being able to show off some apps that you’ve built on your own. If you already know Java, Android may be the best place for you to start, but if you prefer the iOS ecosystem, you’ll need to start learning Swift and XCode.

DevOps Engineer

The role of a DevOps engineer often differs from company to company, but at its core, DevOps engineers are responsible for the system infrastructure and “keeping the lights on.” If you’re fascinated by networking, intrigued by how the various tools and languages your team uses work and love setting up new servers, DevOps may be for you. The DevOps movement expands on the traditional responsibilities of system administrators to bring as much automation to the job as possible, so DevOps engineers are actually a hybrid of programmers and sysadmins.

Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer

Building scalable software requires that many levels of quality be considered. The first component is that the software must work, but it also must be written according to best practices and in a fashion that will not break other components of the program being developed. As a QA Engineer, you’ll be writing tests and testing suites while also running tests. Familiarity with software best practices and writing comprehensive tests that cover all edge cases will help you land your first QA job.

Product Manager

An increasingly popular role for computer science majors, being a product manager involves identifying opportunities for new products and working with an engineering team to design and execute them. As a product manager, you’ll be responsible for creating a roadmap of the product as well as market testing the product and launching it. This is a great role for someone who is interested in working on the strategy side of product development and someone who is passionate about the user experience.

Being a computer science major opens up a lot of exciting doors and offers you the opportunity to continue building your skill set as a programmer and beyond. The best way to figure out which opportunity is best for you is by pursuing an internship and figuring out which career path most closely aligns with your interests.

Next, learn more about this college major such as What Is a Computer Science Major and Is It Right for Me? and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as 5 Technology Trends You Need to Know to Work in Any Industry.

* This article was written in partnership with the team at Outco.

What is an Advertising Major and is it Right for Me?

If you love figuring out what makes people tick and flexing your creative and analytical skills at the same time, then majoring in advertising could be perfect for you. At its simplest, advertising is about figuring out how to sell products and services to a specific demographic. You need to know who your audience is, their likes and dislikes and what will stand out to them above the plethora of other ads out there. Because of this, advertising requires an interesting mix of creative and quantitative skills.

Here’s are some things to keep in mind if you’re considering an advertising major.

What is an advertising major?

An advertising major blends creative fields like art and design with more quantitative subject areas like psychology. Your course work has both; you’ll take classes like advertising copywriting, graphic design, consumer behavior, advertising sales and advertising research.

Is it right for me?

If you’re still not sure if advertising is the way to go, here are some key questions to ask.

  • Do I like figuring people out and understanding what makes them tick?
  • Am I interested in sales? Do I like figuring out the best way to pitch and sell a product to consumers of any kind?
  • Do I like communicating and working with others? Do I consider my interpersonal skills to be a strong suit?
  • Am I able to take criticism and feedback from peers, professors and professionals well?
  • Do I look forward to interning during college and gaining valuable work experience in the field?
  • Am I able to think creatively as well as quantitatively, focusing on both creative campaign ideas and metrics?
  • Am I just as interested in the ads in magazines, on TV, and on Snapchat as the content itself?

Is an advertising major different from a marketing major?

You might also be wondering how an advertising major differs from a marketing major. While both fall under most schools’ communications departments, they are typically treated as entirely different majors.

What’s the biggest difference? Marketing is about every part of the process of creating and selling a product, from how the product is designed to how it’s packaged, sold and improved for further promotion. Advertising, in contrast, focuses mainly on promotion.

What can I do with an advertising degree?

Advertising majors can go into any number of fields within marketing and communications, including copywriting and product management. They can also be:

  • advertising account executives
  • web designers
  • campaign managers
  • media planners
  • sales representatives

What do people who majored in advertising earn?

Advertising majors typically start off in the $35,000-$45,000 range after graduating from college, but people working in the field of advertising can make well over $160,000 once they’re in managerial and executive positions.

Next, learn more about this college major such as Architecture and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How to Become a Confident Public Speaker.

What Types of Skills Are Best for a Religion Major?

Thinking of majoring in religion? The good news is that you don’t necessarily need to know everything about every religion (or even be religion, for that matter) to succeed in the major. Instead, here are four key skills that are must-haves if you want to thrive as a religion major.

Critical thinking skills

Religion majors need to be able to think about a broad swath of topics and how they affected and are affected by religion. In the area of religion, there is never a simple or straightforward problem or answer, and as a major, you must be willing to think about these different issues deeply.

Strong reading and writing skills

Religion majors spend a large amount of their time reading texts (both religious and nonreligious), and often those texts are either translated from another language and/or are difficult to read. The strongest religion majors are those who have a system for reading and interpreting those texts and being able to take cohesive, articulate notes on what they’ve read.

Additionally, evaluation in the religion major is often done through writing, so you must be able to communicate your thoughts clearly and concisely through various papers, reading responses and other assignments.

Communication and public speaking skills

In addition to your written work, you’ll also be in many smaller classes that require you to speak up more and present your ideas to peers and professors alike. The best religion majors are those who are thoughtful before they decide to speak but are also confident in their ideas and arguments when they’re presenting them.

Open-mindedness

If you’re a religion major, you will definitely run into moments where you don’t believe with a text, an argument or your peers. However, the major requires people who are open to hearing the thoughts and ideas of others, even if they aren’t in line with their own notions. By being open-minded, you’ll not only learn a lot more, but you’ll be a much stronger religion major in the long run.

Next, learn more about this college major such as What is a Religion Major and is it Right for Me? and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as Would You Describe Yourself as a Leader or a Follower?

Career Opportunities for Religion Majors

From studying ancient texts to understanding how religion shapes societies, being a religion major is a great opportunity to learn about the impact of various belief systems on our day-to-day lives. But when it comes to deciding on a career, what are the best ways for religion majors to apply their skills in the real world? For example, what career paths can you embark on with a religion major and where are you likely to be most successful?

Here are some of the most common career paths for religion majors.

Religion

Since many religion majors are passionate about one or more religious beliefs, a career as a religious functionary is a great way to apply theoretical knowledge in a practical way. By taking on a role as a minister, rabbi or another type of religious leader, you’ll able to guide followers in your chosen religion while also learning more about that religion and its impact on society.

Education

Another common career path for religion majors is education. From teaching elementary school students to high school students, you’ll be able to translate your knowledge of history and global studies into a teaching career that can span a variety of subjects and grade levels. You can also choose to get an advanced degree in order to teach at the college level.

Research

For religion majors who are interested in continuing along an academic path, a research-focused career can be another satisfying option. This includes research conducted for nonprofits and government agencies as well as academic research related to an advanced degree.

Law

With their strong critical thinking and communication skills, religion majors also make wonderful lawyers, paralegals and legislative aides. In these roles, you’ll be working with clients on their respective legal cases or even advocating for policy change in a number of legislative areas.

Social Work

Another field where religion majors thrive is social work. Focused on helping clients address specific issues including drug addiction and mental health concerns, social work is a wonderful opportunity to connect with others and to make an impact in the life of those who are working to overcome personal challenges.

With its focus on big-picture issues and human relationships, a religion major is a great way to build a strong skill set while gaining exposure to a broad range of ideas. These skills and knowledge can be applied to various careers including education, research and law. If you’re wondering what type of career is best for you, consider taking an internship in a field that interests you. This will help you develop your skill set while getting some exposure to a field you’re passionate about.

Next, learn more about this college major such as What is a Religion Major and is it Right for Me? and get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as Top 10 Things You Should Look for in an Internship.