I graduated from the University of Michigan with a liberal arts degree and my only marketable skill being that I was a “people person”. Essentially being a people person means that you like sports, woman, drinking and aren’t good at math or science.
That’s from this somewhat entertaining and depressing overview of 10 things / people you can expect if you go into sales.
Ouch. I think I’ll need more than people skills.
Well I must be a #10 on the list because after getting my BA, over the next 10 years I made $1,023,000 in sales. Not too bad for a people person. Then I got my MBA and my annual dollars have decreased ever since. Go figure.
sounds like unemployed person… (or maybe dead-weight-loss employee)
I also graduated from the University of Michigan with a liberal arts degree.
Sorry to say, but it left me woefully unprepared for the workaday world. And my lack of salable skills led to several years of struggle during my twenties.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what went so badly wrong, and I’ve determined that the liberal arts education was the problem. My professors, although many were tops in their fields, had never worked outside of academia. So, they had no clue about the life that most of us students were about to enter.
I’ve become convinced that liberal arts students also need to learn some trade skills. As in, studying carpentry along with English literature, plumbing along with classical archaeology, electrical work along with physics. And let’s not forget work experience. Getting a job, any job, while you’re in school will go a long way toward bridging the vast divide between the classroom and the work world.
Martha – maybe it’s the way you applied your skills and experiences? It doesn’t sound like the degree is at fault. Only you can prepare yourself.