Editor’s note: This article was first published in April 2011. Its outlook for Business Administration (ADE), green jobs and other fields reflects the Spanish job market of that time.
Through our article The 10 jobs of the future, we often get lots of questions about which degree to choose, which degree will have the best prospects or how to be sure you’re choosing the right degree and not making a mistake. Answering those questions is very complicated, because, as I have replied several times, choosing a degree is as personal as choosing a girlfriend, although in both cases you need to be clear that you have to like it and you have to see a future with it.
We also need to strike a balance between a degree we are passionate about and one that offers viable job prospects, adapted to the new times or to the era that is coming, something that nowadays can practically be predicted, even if we don’t know how long it will last. Above all, my advice will always be this: whatever degree you choose, try to make sure it gives you knowledge and practical skills that, if you can’t find a job, will help you start a business of your own.
Besides studying for a degree, don’t forget that nowadays any prestigious company will expect advanced English and computer skills.
One of the degrees that looks set to have the brightest future is undoubtedly ADE (Business Administration and Management), a university degree with a wide range of career paths: banking, teaching, auditing, management and so on. Admittedly, though, it currently has more graduates than openings.
If we divide degrees according to the needs of our society, we mustn’t forget that the future is green, and this is a priority for every government. In the following article you’ll find degrees focused on the environment, with professions that are already in demand:
Another concern for society is social services, which opens up new fields and future opportunities. In the following link we list the social services professions that will be in demand.
Then there are economics and finance, adapted to what companies need, without forgetting that every company has to be present in the new medium: the internet.
Medicine, obviously, has always been in demand and will continue to be. In fact, in Spain we need more of these professionals. In the following article we published a series of professions that Spain has to bring in from abroad, since supposedly they can’t be found in our country.
And finally, so you can picture the jobs of the future, we published an article explaining which professions will emerge in the very near future. In fact, although it may have seemed somewhat surreal to some, the first professionals in these jobs of the future are already being hired.
And remember: in most degrees, 70% of what you’re taught is just filler, and of the remaining 30% you’ll usually forget 20%. So at least try to make sure the 10% that stays in your memory can open the door both to a career and to the knowledge you need to start your own business or company.
