Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2013. The ranking of degrees with the most job prospects comes from a June 2013 Adecco report on Spain. Several titles in it, such as technical engineering degrees and Business Studies, belong to the pre-Bologna Spanish system and have since been replaced.
A few days ago we published the 3 most important decisions you’ll probably make in your life. Choosing which university degree to study is one of them because, although it isn’t irreversible, the truth is that we’re going to devote several years to it, years that some people make the most of and that for others are a waste of time.
As a rule, students tend to look first at the degrees that promise the best job prospects once they finish, but this requirement, important as it is, shouldn’t carry too much weight in our decision. After all, it’s a simple equation: the more job prospects a degree offers, the more students it attracts. The report Adecco produced this very month, June 2013, showed Business Administration and Management (ADE) and Industrial Engineering as the clear winners, followed by:
- Computer Engineering
- Industrial Technical Engineering
- Business Studies
- Economics
- Law
- Computer Technical Engineering
- Telecommunications Engineering
- Labour Relations
- Market Research and Techniques
- Medicine
- Pharmacy
- Chemistry
These would be the degrees with the best job prospects. That said, choosing a degree is no different from what we explained in our article How do you know what to do with your life?: besides job prospects, we need to identify our greatest talent, what our passion is, whether we’d have a way out as entrepreneurs if things take a turn in the future, and so on.
Some advice on choosing your university degree, and with it your working and professional future.
The first piece of advice may sound repetitive, but you should never forget it: “Think of something you’d be willing to do your whole life even if nobody paid you for it.” Now look for a degree where you can do that. That’s your passion.
Talk to professionals who are currently working in what you’re thinking of studying. That will help you get a more objective and realistic view of what the profession is actually like.
Now identify your greatest talent. Sometimes your talent coincides with your passion, but sometimes it doesn’t. What are you really good at? What is it that it would be hard to find someone better than you at?
Analyse yourself as if you were a company and do your own SWOT analysis. What are your biggest weaknesses and your biggest strengths?
If there are no jobs in your field in your city, would it be a problem for you to move, and to relocate permanently, at least at first?
And finally: are you interested in a degree with few openings but one you feel competent in, or would you rather have a degree with lots of job prospects where you’d be just one of many?
Choosing a degree is a very personal decision, so it’s usually hard to help someone make it. Each person has to make their own choice, probably their first important decision, and one that deserves careful thought and time.
Further reading
- 10 leaders give advice to university students
- The best advice ever given to university students
- 9 truths about life and business
Featured image: @Miguel A. García.🎈, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
