What Can You Do With a Communication Degree?

Florida Tech December 18, 2013

Think the field of communication is a field in decline? Think again. Here, Pete the Panther explains to prospective communication students how and where this veritable degree still thrives out in the real world.

Let’s be honest. If you’re typing something along the lines of “what can you do with a strategic communication degree” into a search engine, you haven’t exactly got things nailed down career-wise yet. Hey, I don’t blame you. After all, the area of specialty/work industry combinations for a communication major are almost endless. The problem? Most high school students don’t know that. The even bigger problem? Most high school students think the complete opposite.

what can you do with a communication degree — With a communication degree, career possibilities are limited only to the number of lines you can write – or type.

Why the huge misconception? It could be any number of different things, but somewhere down the line the communication degree started losing credibility. It became all about the life-altering realm of science and the sci-fi-turned-real playground of engineering. Meanwhile people like you were left in the dust thinking, “Sure, I’m a good writer, but people still don’t make careers out of scribbling words…do they?”

The short answer? Yes – and in more ways than you can count on your writer’s bumped fingers. You see, the communication degree has a special hidden power. That power is the fact that – especially in this Internet dominated age – people will always be seeking new information. Whether it’s the latest update in the nation’s biggest news story, how the home team won last night’s big game or what’s on sale this week at the grocery store down the street, the public can’t help but need to know not only what’s going on in the world around them, but what’s going on this very second. This, eager readers, is where communication majors carve their niche.

Remember when we mentioned area of specialty/work industry combinations in the beginning of this post? Let’s take a second to explain that. Communication is unique in the way that many field-related positions can be found within a diverse number of work industries. For example, one of the most popular careers in communication is a public relations specialist, someone who is in charge of generating publicity for their employer and ensuring their employer is presented to the public in a positive light. Well, what company, university, website, pro sports team or political campaign (and there are a lot more) doesn’t want good publicity?

Here’s another example. You probably log in to Facebook or Twitter quite a bit, right? Have you ever “liked” your favorite restaurant or maybe a video game that’s coming out soon? Of course you have. Well after doing that you should have noticed that restaurant or video game had become part of your newsfeed, posting pictures and statuses just like every other user. Now, who do you think posts those statuses and pictures? Most likely it’s a former communication major, more specifically, a social media manager, or someone in charge of running their employer’s Facebook page. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there are people out their getting paid to facebook, and it’s because of their communication degree.

As you can see, there are a plethora of possibilities outside the traditional realms of journalism and print (where more great careers can be found) when it comes to “what can you do with a communication degree?” So what are you waiting for? Go forward and embark on your journey down the paths of this vast major. No longer should you be asking other people, “What can you do with a communication degree,” but asking yourself, “What will I do with my communication degree?”