Reference Sources. Books on the market that may be available through your local library or career counseling office also suggest various occupations related to specific majors. The following are only a few of the many good books on the market: The College Board Guide to 150 Popular College Majors, College Majors and Careers: A Resource Guide for Effective Life Planning both by Paul Phifer, and Kaplans What to Study: 101 Fields in a Flash. All of these books list possible job titles within the academic major.
The Occupational Thesaurus is another good resource, which essentially lists job title possibilities under general categories. If you want to become an advertising execu-tive and want to know more specific positions in the field, you can then go to the Occupational Thesaurus, which lists scores of jobs under that title. Under "Advertising," there are more than twenty associated job titles listed, including manufacturer's representative and customer relations specialist. If advertising was a suggested job title for you, this source adds some depth by suggesting a number of different occupations within that field.
Each job title deserves your consideration. Like removing the layers of an onion, the search for job titles can go on and on! As you spend time doing this activity, you are actually learning more about the value of your degree. What's important in your search at this point is not to become critical or selective but rather to develop as long a list of possibilities as you can. Every source used will help you add new and potentially exciting jobs to your growing list.
Want Ads. It has been well publicized that newspaper want ads represent only about 10 to 15 percent of the current job market. However, with the current high state of employment as this book goes to press, the percentage of jobs advertised in the newspapers and on-line is rising dramatically, so don't ignore this source.
If you are able to be mobile in your job search, you may want to search the classified sections of newspapers in other cities. This is now possible online. A good source for this search is the site called www.looksmart.com. Using the keywords newspaper classifieds will lead you to a site where you can search by state alphabetically. Its an excellent source for want ads.
Remember, because want ads are written for what an organization hopes to find, you don't have to meet absolutely every criterion. However, if certain requirements are stated as absolute minimums and you cannot meet them, it's best not to waste your time.
A recent examination of the Boston Sunday Globe (www.boston.com) reveals the following possible occupations for a liberal arts major with some computer skills and limited work experience. (This is only a partial list of what was available.)
- Admissions representative
- Technical writer
- Salesperson
- Personnel trainee
- Compliance director
- G.E.D. examiner
- Assistant principal gifts writer
- Direct mail researcher
- Public relations officer
- Associate publicist
The Sunday want ads exercise is important because these jobs are out in the marketplace. They truly exist, and people with your qualifications are being sought to apply. What's more, many of these advertisements describe the duties and responsibilities of the job advertised and give you a beginning sense of the challenges and opportunities such a position presents. Some will indicate salary, and that will be helpful as well. This information will better define the jobs for you and provide some good material for possible interviews in that field.
State personnel offices are larger, less casual operations, but the principles are the same. State jobs are advertised, and the office can tell you what advertising mechanisms they use-which newspapers, what websites, and when jobs are posted. The personnel offices themselves are worth a visit, if you are close enough. In addition to all the current job postings, many state personnel offices have "spec sheets," which are detailed job specifications of all the positions they are apt to advertise. You could pick up a spec sheet for every job related to your area of interest and keep them in a file for later reference when such a job is advertised.
