This one's for all the comm majors out there that are just as sick of people belittling their choice of major as I am.
Enough is enough with the eye rolls and rude remarks about how I'm "too smart to be majoring in communication." To start, I'm not just a communication major. I'm a communication major specializing in public relations and minoring in journalism.
I'm learning about people and how to successfully build relationships with them that would benefit the company or client I'm working for on a large scale.
I'm learning about where exactly so many business corporations go wrong and how communication trained professionals come in and pick up the slack that the advertising and marketing teams let loose.
Here's some insight for anyone that thinks communication is a useless degree.
There are many career paths a communication major can go into, the four main ones being agency, corporate, government and non-profit. Within these different sectors, there are many roles a professional could concentrate in, here are just a few to prove that communication majors can and will find work post-grad.
Writer: To be an effective communication professional in this field you must first be an accomplished writer. As a writer, your role would be to take complex or controversial subject matter and prepare press releases, statements and speeches on behalf of the company or organization you are working for.
Strategic Advisor: Good advisors are a strategic resource for their company or client. A strategic advisor's job could include keeping everyone on their team up to date on current issues and trends on public opinion. Knowing what competitors are doing, how the public is feeling and how government officials may respond to your business's plan of action is crucial to the success of your business.
Marketing Communications Expert: Someone in this role might focus on the introduction of new products and support ongoing sales and marketing programs. Someone in this field of operation may schedule news conferences and host events to create interest and conversation about a product or service.
Crisis Manager: If you've ever seen or heard of the hit TV show, "Scandal," then you're familiar with the roles of a crisis manager. Though "Scandal" is most definitely an overdramatized version of the job, a crisis manager is a person or team that puts all the pieces back together when something big goes wrong. How well a company handles a situation or responses to an issue that's getting mass media attention could make or break the future for the company, take the BP oil spill for example.
Other sought out jobs in the communication field include media relations, employee communications, research and strategic planning and of course, social media.
As I'm sure many comm majors can agree with me, our major may be different than most, but that doesn't mean it's easy.
The fact that 27 million Americans say their biggest fear is public speaking, and public speaking is what communication majors do almost every day, is proof enough that this major isn't as easy as everyone thinks.
So, if you have ever ridiculed someone who is majoring in communication, you should take a couple communication classes and educate yourself on not only how to talk with people, but on what comm majors really study.
If you're a comm major and you aren't sure about your post-grad plans, I just gave you a bunch of options to look into and pick which is most interesting for you!
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