Okay, so I keep hearing about how a college degree is necessary for most jobs, yet you do not have to major in something that relates to your future career. I think I'm missing part of the picture because that makes no sense. So yeah does anyone have an explanation/video/article article on how exactly your major helps with your career?
This is a question with many facets, and answers. Wrapped up in all of it is the way in which university education has changed over the past century or so. A university education used to prepare one to become a scholar, to study one's field in depth so one might teach, write, research, and generally contribute to the field and passing it on. Nowadays, it seems to function more as job training, and sadly as remedial education, covering what most of us should have learned in high school. A college degree is replacing a HS diploma as the baseline education credential in indicating that the recipient has had a well-rounded education and is prepared to enter the adult/career world.
I disagree with this state of affairs for a number of reasons, but it is the status quo, so let's press on. Exactly how your college major helps depends strongly on what your job is. The first, most superficial and most generic benefit of a college degree is that it checks that box for employers, as [MENTION=4050]ceecee[/MENTION]'s link describes, so you can get hired to begin with. Beyond that, there are some jobs where you really will benefit from the content learned in college. Good examples are jobs in STEM, business, languages (e.g. translation and interpreting), and teaching. You will learn the specifics on the job, but the foundation provided by your college coursework makes it possible for you to absorb that OJT quickly and become productive.
Other jobs seem much less dependent on the specific content learned in college: e.g. many administrative jobs, retail management, etc. Here actual experience doing similar work would be more beneficial. This may also be true for some of the jobs I listed above. In other words, employers expect you to have some foundation in the basics, whether that be math, coding, accounting, Spanish, etc., but a college major is not the only means of getting it. Unfortunately it is much easier for employers to evaluate the single entry of a college degree on your resume, than to parse through a handful of work, volunteer, and self-study activities that gained you the same knowledge and skills.
All of which brings us to another related issue: the tendency across the board to prefer certifications over qualifications. Pieces of paper attesting to this or that, rather than the demonstrated ability to DO this or that. Childcare providers, for example, used to need good references, experience, and a patient, caring disposition. Now they need umpteen certificates that, of course, they have to spend time and money collecting. (I wonder whether this preference for paper certifications is driven by the educational establishments who profit most directly from it?) This very much applies to many of those jobs that list "college degree required", with no clear link to the nature of the work being done.
