A degree in communications can lead you down a variety of paths. The interdisciplinary major allows you to take classes that give you a background in how people think, interact and persuade others. You may take classes in psychology, sociology, business management or writing, and there is a large array of jobs available for graduates with communications degrees.
According to College Recruiter, more career opportunities are available for students who graduate with a communications degree than for students with any other degree. Below are five entry-level positions for communications majors that give them an idea of the direction their careers could take.
Advertising
Many entry-level advertising jobs involve sales. If you have a communications degree, you should be skilled at motivating business owners to increase their visibility and profits through advertising. Your work will involve not only selling the advertisement space, but also coming up with creative copy or engaging images to entice customers. If you’re not sure that a career in sales is for you, you can express your interest in the more creative or editorial side of the business, moving into one of those areas after you have gained some experience.
Customer Service
Just about every company needs a team to provide an interface with its customers. In a customer service position, you will provide support and guidance to clients via telephone, by email or in person. You will use the interpersonal skills that you gained in college to help customers get the most out of their interactions with your company, helping to represent the brand and improve customer loyalty.
Marketing and Public Relations
Marketing involves creating campaigns that disseminate a brand’s message and draw customers in. Marketing may involve optimizing websites for search engines, writing blog posts, managing social media interactions or analyzing sales data. Public relations is similar to marketing in that it involves crafting a desired image surrounding a company or brand. An entry-level public relations job may involve writing press releases, speaking at events and responding to press inquiries.
Freelance Writing
Companies need writers to create copy for their websites and marketing materials, come up with compelling articles that establish them as experts in their field and talk them up to the public. A freelance writer can work for multiple companies at once. Freelance writers must use their communications skills to pitch their services to new companies as well as to transform a company’s vision into appropriate and captivating verbiage.
Team Leaders
A communications degree can help you break into a company at a higher level than some other entry-level positions. Instead of doing data entry, you can lead the analytics department of a company. Instead of working on a project, you may be hired to manage it. Many communications degrees involve a focus on business management and interpersonal skills, giving you the experience necessary to coordinate tasks and people in an organized and effective manner.
Many people equate communications with journalism. However, a communications degree is versatile in almost every industry. Communications majors learn about the psychology behind words and actions, gaining the skills to express a specific message in interactions with others. This makes a communications degree versatile in just about every industry. Any time a company needs to communicate a missive, it can rely on your expertise if you graduated with a communications degree.