Traditional Degrees Nontraditional Jobs
By Rebecca Miller
Even before the Great Recession of 2008 began, many people with traditional degrees in industries like business, education, biology and math were faced with the dilemma of extinct careers. With new developments in technology and changes in industry, many positions have fallen to the wayside with their out of date job duties and unprofitable ventures. Remi Denson was one of these victims of career-extinction. When Remi decided to pursue her bachelor’s degree in journalism, she had aspirations of being a writer, editor and/or reporter at a major magazine or newspaper. But when the economy tanked right before graduation, her options of being a professional journalist were limited.
Remi's Story
With traditional journalism jobs almost nonexistent, Remi had to look elsewhere to put her researching, writing and editing skills to work. She was lucky, almost immediately after receiving her degree, Remi found a job at a publishing company as an online editorial assistant. Her job was to find news stories relevant to the company’s online magazines and then aggregate them into fast-fact story tidbits. It wasn’t the in-depth, heavy-journalistic career she’d hoped for, but she got to write and edit, and she had a job in a majority jobless economy, so she couldn’t complain.
Three months into her first real gig, publishing got hit by economic woes and Remi was laid off. She was disappointed and even more so fearful as she wondered what relevant jobs were left for aspiring journalist like herself. Remi quickly found out not many – so, she took as a job as an administrative assistant and hit the job boards daily in search of that diamond-in-the-ruff journalism gig.
After a few weeks of searching, Remi discovered there weren’t very many traditional journalism jobs, but there were several openings for online content managers, editors and writers. These nontraditional writing positions require many of the same skills, knowledge and attributes of traditional journalist including research, writing, editing, grammar and AP style skills. She was quick to apply and explore the world of online content/journalism.
After four months of searching, she landed an online content management position at a marketing firm. She was surprised to learn how many of her journalistic skills and experience were applicable to her position. Additionally, she was able to learn a slew of new expertise such as social media, writing for the web, SEO and HTML.
While many say journalism is dead, other beg to differ; arguing its just got a new face. As do many industries. Engineering, for instance, has taken on all sorts of new positions from biomedical engineers to computer software engineers. While health care professionals can now choose from more than just careers as doctors and nurses. Colleges, universities and trade schools now offer a slew of jobs that require minimal amounts of schooling including positions as X-ray technicians, lab technicians and physical therapist assistants. The business sector has to evolved many positions due to the economic shakedown. Business degree holders can now work as cost estimators, working out pre-project pricing or as logisticians in global commerce supply chain management.
Technology Changes the Game
Technology is a major culprit in the extinction and transformation of many careers. According to Yahoo Finance, jobs headed for annihilation due to technological advances include: bank tellers, file clerks, data entry, video stores and mail clerks, photo processors, travel agents and watch retailers. With the advent of internet radio, traditional radio jobs have also fallen victim to technological advances.
The New York Times recently released an article projecting that “while video didn’t end up killing the radio star, this time the Internet might just succeed.” The article shared a variety of applications and new automobile-friendly internet radio features that may kill traditional radio as we know it. But, according to the news source, broadcasters and radio executives are taking note and striking back. Clear Channel Radio, for instance, has developed its own app to stream its more than 750 stations. Iheartradio steams “live broadcasts from thousands of stations to handsets and through them, to cars,” The Times reported. Jacobs Media has created more than 130 similar applications that cover stations and shows from across the country. Jacobs’s apps also feature photos and may eventually offer new forms of phone and radio dashboard advertising.
In marketing, technology has also required marketing executives to up their strategies and skills. Gone are the days were marketers could rely on print, radio and television ads to promote their brands. Now, internet marketing skills is a must have for marketing mavens. And this skill set is nothing short. Marketing gurus must understand and know how to utilize pay-per-click advertising, SEO, content marketing, ad space, social media, email marketing and beyond. Additionally, marketers must keep up with fads and changes within the digital marketing space. Hubspot recently released a blog declaring Ben & Jerry’s denouncement of email marketing in favor of social media. The online marketing blog projected that many other companies will mostly like soon follow suit. It’s vital that markers stay up-to-date on major changes such as this within their industries.
Radio and marketing professionals can tackle industry technological takeovers by simply keeping their skills up-to-date. Several colleges, universities and trade schools offer online and campus-based certificate programs that allow degree holding professionals to update their knowledge and resume. Certificate programs can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to complete and offer professionals refreshers in the basics and training in new technology. Overall, certificate programs keep professionals on point and current in today’s constantly changing industries.
Surviving the Job Market
Surviving the unstable market doesn’t necessarily require changing careers completely. It just means exploring alternative options within your field. With the emergence of new technologies and the changes in many fields’ infrastructures, new positions are being created. The key is focusing on your skills, knowledge and experience as means to find jobs, instead of only looking for specific job titles.
Write down all of your skills, knowledge and experience in a bullet point format, much like you’d see in a job positing. Make sure your resume reflects these attributes and then search through job postings requiring the skills you possess. Consider a variety of industries if your qualifications can be used in multiple fields.