Thinking Beyond Your Major

"Thinking Beyond Your Major" By Richard Murdocco, '10

When it comes to starting your career, you may find that you need to go beyond your academic major. By considering your unique strengths and ways to apply them, you’ll make yourself open to more employment prospects and opportunities for personal growth.

When students or recent graduates identify themselves in interviews, they often say something along the lines of, "Hello! My name is George Humphrey. I am a student at Stony Brook University majoring in INSERT MAJOR HERE.”

Leading off with your major sets an expectation for the interviewer that you fit the archetype of only that field. While some professions require a relatively static skill set, others have more broad qualifications. Is there an opening for a research analyst at a large firm, but you studied Earth Science? You may be able to apply what you’ve learned as an undergraduate to fit that position.

As I had written last time, one of the perks of identifying your strongest skill is using it to your advantage in a variety of different professions. Are you a mathematics major who writes well? Or maybe you study Economics, but have a host of public speaking gigs under your belt. Excellent - you're a double threat in the job market. Use those valuable skills - and your unique academic background - to your advantage. 

If you are struggling to find a job that your academic background is tailor-made for, consider other opportunities that will allow you to put your skills to work. Often, rather than seeking the most qualified candidate on paper, companies look for an individual who fits in with company culture and who offers something unique to their institution.

Speaking from personal experience, my studies in both undergraduate at Fordham and graduate school at Stony Brook focused on land use, real estate development and the interrelationship between economic growth and environmental impacts. Despite having this rather specialized academic background, I now work in the ever-changing field of marketing for a financial institution. My background in government is helpful, but my ability to write is even more valuable. By identifying my skill and thinking beyond my major, I was able to jump into a field in which I never thought I'd be working. Each day, I use my education in policy to solve marketing challenges while applying the lessons learned in my undergraduate studies to give a different perspective on finding solutions.

Remember, though - that is my story. As a student or recent graduate, you must go out into the world and create your own story. What is your unique skill? Once you answer that question, ask yourself, "Am I thinking big enough?"

Always push yourself to think bigger. Thinking beyond your major requires an open mindedness that can pay big dividends as you progress throughout your career. Who knows - maybe one day you'll be a philosophy major who helps a firm with financial forecasting, or a regional planner who works as a marketer.

Richard Murdocco is a digital marketing analyst for Teachers Federal Credit Union. He graduated from Fordham University with his BA in Political Science and Urban Studies, and his MA in Public Policy from SUNY Stony Brook in 2010. 

Professionally, Richard worked for the New York City Mayor's Office of Capital Project Development under the Bloomberg Administration, the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, and Community Development Corporation of Long Island as a grant writer. His website, The Foggiest Idea, is a dedicated resource for land use and development information geared towards Long Islanders. 

Follow Richard Murdocco on Twitter @TheFoggiestIdea, visit thefoggiestidea.org or email him at Rich@TheFoggiestIdea.org. You can check out his work weekly for the Long Island Press.

Identifying Your Defining Skill

"Identifying Your Defining Skill" By Richard Murdocco,  '10

By design, a degree defines your set of skills in the job marketplace. Or does it?

“Bachelor of Arts in Political Science” would denote that one should be studying the geopolitical relationships in South America rather than, for example, engaging in project management for a marketing campaign.

What goes unspoken is the variety of skills hidden behind that categorization emblazoned on the degree—the writing, research, or body of work that earned it. As a job-seeking graduate, it is your job to convey that the skills learned earning a particular degree can be almost universally applied to most jobs in the market. It’s up to you to find your unique asset and capitalize on it.

In my example, I graduated from Fordham University with a BA in Political Science and Urban Studies, and then I went to Stony Brook for my Masters in Public Policy in 2010. With that academic background, it would be a natural progression to work in government, or a tangentially-related field. Currently, I am employed with Teachers Federal Credit Union, where I am an Analyst in their Marketing Department after holding positions in two different non-profits on Long Island. The jump from urban design (which was the focus of my MAPP degree) to marketing was unexpected, but makes sense thanks to a common skill needed in both fields— writing. Thanks to a focus in my unique skill, writing, (and the amount of writing required for the MAPP program), my Stony Brook degree has helped me bridge the gap between the policy and marketing professions. Land use is a specialized niche, but writing is nearly universal.

The importance of identifying your unique asset came to me when I met with New York State Assemblyman Carl Marcellino to discuss the job hunting process. He asked me early in the meeting “What do you have to offer?” I answered quickly, “I graduated from Stony Brook with my Masters in—” he stopped me immediately. “You and everyone else these days has a degree. What can you do? Why are you useful? What can you bring to the table?” He proceeded to tell me a story about how he got his first job out of college. “Typing. That was my skill. What’s yours?”

Between graduation and employment, I started a website called The Foggiest Idea, which helped put my Stony Brook degree to work by taking complex land use/development issues on Long Island and making them approachable to the public. The site helped hone my writing, and it allowed me to use the skill professionally. Despite working outside of the policy field, I still write on local issues regularly to keep my policy skills (and writing) sharp. In my day-to-day job, I use my writing to draft anything from copy to press materials. My unique asset has helped me in each job I've held and will continue to do so in the future.

The lesson for any graduate is so simple it’s easy to miss. Instead of selling yourself based on academic achievement, it is more helpful to convey to the prospective employers what skill you can offer and which of their needs you can fill. Identify your skill and nurture it; market yourself with it and embrace it.

Everyone may have a degree, but everyone doesn't know how to use the skills they have learned earning that degree to their fullest potential. Use it to your advantage.

Richard Murdocco is a digital marketing analyst for Teachers Federal Credit Union. He graduated from Fordham University with his BA in Political Science and Urban Studies, and his MA in Public Policy from SUNY Stony Brook in 2010.

Professionally, Richard worked for the New York City Mayor's Office of Capital Project Development under the Bloomberg Administration, the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, and Community Development Corporation of Long Island as a grant writer. His website, The Foggiest Idea, is a dedicated resource for land use and development information geared towards Long Islanders. 

Follow Richard Murdocco on Twitter @TheFoggiestIdea, visit thefoggiestidea.org or email him at Rich@TheFoggiestIdea.org. You can check out his work weekly for Long Island Business News.