“What are you going to do with your communications degree?” A lot of things.
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“What will you do with your degree?”, “There’s no money in a communication degree”, and other variations of these statements are probably familiar phrases and questions that communication students have heard. In a world that’s built and revolves around money, some courses, particularly those in humanities and social studies, are often looked down upon as compared to other courses, such as business and medicine. The running idea is that a communications degree is easy, has no money in it, or a course for people who don’t know what they want in life. But a communications degree is a valuable asset to have in life. Strong and effective communication skills are key to succeeding in just about any industry.
Communication majors learn to work effectively with many different methods and mediums, a valuable skill you’d be surprised that a lot of people in the “real world” can’t do well. A degree in communications opens the doors to many possible careers, opportunities, experiences, and yes, money. So, if you’re a COM student thinking of what to do next or thinking of taking the course in college, here are some potential fields you can enter.
SOCIAL MEDIA
While social media is something many people know, being good at it is not a skill shared by everyone. This is where a career in social media can come in as you can leverage your skills to properly navigate all the available platforms to your advantage. You can work with brands and become a social media manager.
You run their accounts, develop their digital strategy, communicate with your audience, and so much more. All those brands that you see go viral with their social media content can thank their communications graduate employees for thinking of their campaigns. A career in social media combines the best of written, audio, and visual media and skills to build a lasting digital audience.
PR
Public relations lives and dies by how well you can convince the audience of your stance or idea. This is a task that communications degree holders are uniquely equipped to handle. PR is for the girlies who love managing the sharing of information between individuals or organizations and the general public. It’s a job that touches upon many tasks, from writing press releases to working with the media, analyzing trends, and more. PR is all about relationship building and setting the scene on your terms.
MARKETING AND ADVERTISING
If you ever envisioned yourself being part of a team behind the campaigns, brands, and executions that get you to add to cart and then some, a career in marketing and advertising is for you. It serves as a key part of any business as professionals in this field use their talents to effectively promote products, services, and more. Like with many areas in communication, marketing and advertising can be done as a freelance gig, in-house with the brand, or through a 3rd party company.
WRITING/JOURNALISM
No matter what job you get, being a good writer will always be important. It holds especially true for communications degree holders. As such, a job in writing or journalism might be calling your name. Live out Andy Sachs’ dream job and become a writer for a magazine, website, publication, or newspaper. And the kind of writing you decide to make your beat can range from entertainment, lifestyle, sports, or hard news.
Either way, this field will have you being in constant contact with news and information as you make your pieces. Pro-tip, if you ever saw yourself communicating with stars and celebrities, this is the job to have. If that isn’t your cup of tea, you can also bring your writing to other mediums, such as copywriting, book authoring, publishing, editing, and more.
MEDIA PRODUCTION
The media you consume daily is made by a specific group of people. It’s a group you can belong to if you decide to embark on a career in the production of media in TV, film, social media, radio, and more. Want to direct movies? Produce TV shows? Write scripts? Film videos? Organize and plan events? This field is for you. Media professionals are the backbone of the production world as you surround yourself with the behind-the-scenes magic. Like with many jobs, succeeding in media production will take a lot of time and effort, but the results are always worth it.
ON-CAM/VOICE TALENT
While there is a stereotype that students take up a communication degree to become a celebrity, it is an actual possibility. After spending years honing your interpersonal skills and effectively communicating with other people, you can parlay those talents into acting in movies and TV, hosting events, modeling, being a news anchor, and even doing voiceovers for commercials and other projects.
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