Employability of Liberal Arts and Humanities Students

This week I read a piece called “Writing Isn’t Sexy, But It Can Pay the Bills.” As someone who wants to write after completing my education, it was a little bit discouraging to read. Sure, it's nice to know that writing can pay the bills, but who wants to hear that it's not really a desirable job? Most college students take out a significant amount of debt to do something that they are passionate about. In fact, our entire lives we are told that the most important thing to do is find something you are passionate about and pour yourself into it. It is not often until after we graduate, however, that some of us find out our expensive passion is not considered an asset by many employers. So what do we young discouraged but passionate people do? Are we getting to a point where the only valued jobs are those requiring technical or STEM skills? To that point, many employers say they value qualities taught in a liberal arts education, but is that true?

“Four out of five employers prefer new college graduates who have an education grounded in the liberal arts” (Vito, 2021).

Furthermore, some liberal arts skills deemed important by employers include:

• creativity
• learning how to learn
• global perspectives
• preparing for jobs that do not yet exist

The liberal arts teach students how to think rather than be robots who simply convey information. Despite these acknowledged benefits, it seems that many humanities and liberal arts graduates fear for their future employability.

When people ask me what I’m studying and I say “anthropology with a minor in writing,” nine times out of ten the next question is “oh… what are you planning to do with that?” What would the common sense decision be for people like me who love writing, activism, and non-profit work? Drop it and get trained in something deemed more “practical?” It seems quite unfair that these humanities jobs like writing are not considered “sexy.” From my perspective, people who are interested in doing something for social action, to make a difference, are those who have the least chance of being valued in the workplace. Why should someone with genuine passion and skill have to fight for decent pay?

I guess it should be no shock that for most people, money comes above change. I believe the best thing to do is not to water down our own necessities by calling our own skills not “sexy.” Obviously it can be beneficial to be realistic, but I argue here that we can and should adopt some hopeful pessimism that lets us realize the reality of things while knowing that our skills are deeply important and inherently valuable.