Personal Brand Stereotypes #8: Choose Your Major Wisely
April 14, 2008 at 11:16 am | In Career Development, Personal Branding | 9 CommentsTags: accounting, college, finance, major, management, marketing
The number one most important factor to employers selecting entry-level candidates is their major (44%). I think it’s pretty obvious why this carries the most weight. If you are a finance major applying for an entry-level position in marketing, it may be challenging to convince them that your experience and learnings can apply to that position. I always say that you need to discover your brand during college because you have the most amount of choices, including which major you select, what classes to enroll in and what organizations you participate in. If you select a major based on what your parents or peers want you to do, then at some point you will be caught in a chokehold. You may not even be chosen to interview for a job just based on your major. Today I want to discuss how major’s are stereotyped.
The Series:
- #1 – Tall people are basketball players
- #2 – Glasses make you look smart
- #3 – Men who wear pink are homosexual
- #4 – The hippie phenomenon
- #5 – Only punks wear mohawks
- #6 – Ageism puts Gen-Y in danger
- #7 – A nice car means you’re successful
My Experience at School
I attended Bentley College (now it’s just called Bentley *bad branding alert*) and there were two types of people. In your right corner, there was people who could crunch numbers and in your left corner there were people who had creativity. All the football and hockey players would be management or marketing majors, typically because they were either lazy or only got into the school because of their athletic talents. Sophomore year was when everyone picked a major, right after they took an accounting class. That single class would depict your future at Bentley. Most people did poorly and would attach themselves to marketing or management as a result.
Those who succeeded would typically stay in accounting, finance or economics based on their skill level and what their parents wanted them to do. These classes were far more difficult at college, especially because Bentley was originally an accounting school.
Scott Bradley Takes the Mic
“As a serial entrepreneur, when I came into Boston College I knew that I wanted to be in an entrepreneurial major and initially chose finance. When I found out that most finance jobs entail sitting behind a desk crunching numbers all day I was far from flattered. Because of my creative abilities I decided to switch to a marketing major because I could leverage my creative talents, and be able to blend them with my entrepreneurial skills of continually producing top line sales. While the marketing department in a corporation is always seen as the “unnecessary organization that spends money frivolously” I have come to see the entity as the organization that keeps everyone in the company secured in their job. If it wasn’t for the marketing department and their efforts to continually bring in new business and maintain relationships with current clients…the company wouldn’t be around for very long!”
- Thanks Scott
Analysis
When someone tells you they are an accountant, you may think they are boring and have no social skills. If you speak to a marketing person, you may position them as creative, a liar or a salesperson. If they are in finance, you automatically assume they are good with money and if they are a management major, you would ask yourself “you just got out of college, you can’t be a manager anyways.” Again, the major you choose does impact how people perceive you and may or may not help you get the job you’re looking for.
Coming Up Next
Are you Jewish? Well I am and I know that there is a major stereotype with our last names. Sure the name Schawbel doesn’t sound very Jewish, but what about Goldstein or Goldberg. How about all Jews having big noses? We may have fun with this one at my expense. The next part in this series will examine how we already know who is Jewish in society by a name or by physical appearance.
9 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Book: Me 2.0
Subscribe
Blog Syndication
Personal Branding Magazine
2008 Personal Brand Awards
Dan Schawbel
My Social Networks
Standing
-
Recent Comments
-
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
Dan!
Great article! Thanks for allowing me to help you with this post!
Comment by Scott Bradley — April 14, 2008 #
Dan, I agree that people will stereotype you based on your major when looking for entry-level jobs, but as you build experience they will then stereotype you based on that, whether or not it’s related to your major.
Comment by Amanda Linehan — April 14, 2008 #
The question you didn’t address is: “How do I deal with the stereotype if I am outside it?” For instance, “How can I sell my training in accounting or finance as an asset in a marketing job?” (If in fact, it can be an asset). And “How can I let people know that just because I’m a bean-counter, that doesn’t mean that I’m boring.” In a person to person encounter they will know soon enough but first you have to make it to that stage.
Comment by Recruiting Animal — April 14, 2008 #
Dan, I strongly disagree with your point that 44% of employers consider a college major the most important things when they hire a college graduate. For my Masters dissertation, I surveyed 552 hiring managers for what they looked for in college graduates, and only 7 (not 7%, 7 respondents) said that a graduate’s college major is critical to their hiring decision. They really look for communications skills, the ability to manage time, creativity and the ability to work as part of a team. Specific job skills were ranked 8th place out of 9 skills by the hiring manager.
Sure, if you’re just the kind of graduate who took no initiative and only learned what they taught you, your major matters a lot. But if you’re curious, and make an effort to learn, it doesn’t matter at all.
And, of course, if you want to work in a big companies and fit neatly into one of their slots, your major could matter a lot there too.
But smart hiring managers are open to hiring grads with many different majors.
I studied Homeric Greek, and it has been great for me in interviews. People are intrigued, and they ask why–which gives me the perfect opportunity to really impress them with the real reasons I studied the classics. And I had absolutely no trouble getting the job I wanted… in Marketing.
Comment by Katie Konrath — April 14, 2008 #
@ Katie – thanks for shining more light on this topic, I appreciate it. I wasn’t just making that up though and if you click on the % you will get the CollegeGrad.com research report. I do see you’ve done your homework as well, which is great.
Getting a job in a different major is challenging.
@RecruitingAnimal – the first impression is the most important and if you can convey trust, the “major” piece won’t be as important. You do need the skills to back up what you say though. In every situation if the product isn’t there, the marketing won’t be effective.
Comment by Dan Schawbel — April 14, 2008 #
Dan…I have been following your work and your series with interest. I am looking forward to your next post, on being Jewish and the sterotypical attitudes toward people of Jewish ancestry. As with most stereotypes, much opinion is based on rumour and innuendo…and loose facts. Will be nice to hear everyone’s views (and yours) on the challenges this can present to your personal brand..and particularly when defining your target audience!
Comment by Luke — April 15, 2008 #
[...] #8 – Choose your major wisely [...]
Pingback by Personal Brand Stereotypes #9: Jews Have Big Noses and Bald Spots « Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel — April 15, 2008 #
A little stereotyping is necessary. Can you see the confusion of a candidate with a Marketing major applying for a position as an Electrical Engineer? It’s happened more than a few times.
Comment by jrandom42 — April 16, 2008 #
Interesting post (even if I’m seeing it a month late).
The concept of personal branding is relatively new to me, but on his blog, Dr. Tantillo just did a post last Friday for recent college graduates. He reprints the text of Steve Job’s speech to Stanford in 2005 and emphasizes the importance of knowing what your personal brand is before you a pick a major. Maybe I should have dropped out of college rather than major in English and regret it?
Anyway, here’s the post – http://drinkingoatmealstout.com/2008/04/07/start-thinking-about-your-personal-brand-early-even-in-college/
Comment by eleanor — May 18, 2008 #