Many students know what they want to do right out of high school. But others want to attend college without necessarily locking themselves into a single profession or industry. If that’s your case, then a liberal arts degree could be just the ticket. There are plenty of jobs for liberal arts majors, so you can pursue various careers in the future.
Not sure where to start? Here is a breakdown of the best jobs for liberal arts majors, from the entry-level to the managerial level.
Article Navigation: What is Liberal Arts? | What is Liberal Arts Education? | What can I do with a Liberal Arts Degree? | Make the Most of Your Liberal Arts Degree | Where Do Liberal Arts Graduates Work? | Licensing & Certification | Professional Organizations & Resources | FAQs | Start Your Career Today!
What is Liberal Arts?
“Liberal arts” encompasses a wide range of subjects and topics. A liberal arts major, therefore, can include majors or classes like:
While the liberal arts frequently contrast with STEM, they’re not separate from “harder” subjects like mathematics and computer programming. Indeed, some liberal arts degrees include courses in those topics.
What is a Liberal Arts Major?
Above all else, a liberal arts major is any major that focuses on liberal arts topics like those mentioned above. For example, if you get a psychology degree, that degree technically counts as a liberal arts major.
However, you can also get a liberal arts degree that doesn’t focus on one subject. You can earn a well-rounded, generalized degree that equips you for various career pathways.
What is Liberal Arts Education?
A liberal arts education is well-rounded and focuses on technological topics. It also avoids subjects that use a lot of math, like physics or astronomy. Instead, a liberal arts education emphasizes the social sciences like history, sociology, artistic endeavors, and more.
The emphasis of liberal arts is on the human element rather than raw numbers. It’s a perfect degree for those more communication-minded as opposed to mathematically-minded.
You may wish to pursue a liberal arts education if you seek broad professional opportunities or if you want to open your career options as wide as possible.
What Do You Learn in a Liberal Arts Bachelor’s Program?
Depending on your bachelor’s program of choice, you’ll learn a variety of topics such as:
- Psychology
- History
- Writing
- Communication
- Foreign languages and more
Many liberal arts bachelor’s programs allow you to concentrate on one or more topics or take classes representing your interests.
Continuing Education
Given a liberal arts degree’s lack of specificity, graduates often have to pursue continuing education to acquire competitive positions. For instance, you may choose a master’s program in a more specialized field after a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts.
Alternatively, you may need to complete a certification or licensing program to acquire a specific position, like a high school teacher. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
For many, a liberal arts education prepares them to continue learning throughout their lives. Liberal arts education equips students with different skills they can leverage to get jobs in many industries, not just one or two.
What can I do with a Liberal Arts Degree?
In fact, you’ll find many career options. Depending on the degree level you choose and your ambitions, you can work in several different industries.
Entry-Level Jobs for Liberal Arts Majors
Liberal arts majors may pursue a variety of entry-level jobs. Here is a liberal arts degree jobs list for those just entering the job market:
- Translators
- English as a second language teachers (or any other language they speak fluently)
- Help desk professionals
- Sales associates for any number of retail corporations
- Project supervisors or managers depending on their work experience
- Web developers. Many liberal arts skills are advantageous in a programming context. Note that you may need to acquire certain programming language certifications to acquire such a job.
- Hospitality professionals working for a hotel, restaurant, or entertainment experience
- Copywriter for advertising agencies or as a freelancer
- And more
Many liberal arts major entry-level jobs lead to long-term careers or positions. However, it’s also true that liberal arts majors, in part due to their career flexibility, may experience some career stagnation.
Liberal arts degrees contrast in this way with STEM degrees. For instance, earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering will likely acquire an entry-level position in the engineering industry. Then you’ll move up in that industry to become a manager, supervisor, or another engineering professional.
Your liberal arts entry-level job doesn’t need to determine the direction for the rest of your career. Keep this in mind when looking into initial jobs post-graduation.
Jobs Directly Related to a Liberal Arts Degree
Because this degree is so well-rounded, it unlocks many different liberal arts bachelor’s degree jobs that you can pursue.
Writer/Editor
Annual Salary: $69,510
Projected Growth: 4% growth until 2030
Education & Experience Needed: Bachelor’s degree + some experience
If you have a liberal arts degree, you probably have some experience in writing or proofreading. Such skills equip you to be a writer or editor for a business, advertising agency, or journalist organization.
Writing and editing are widespread skills, but they’re tough to do well. You can work as an editor or a writer on a team. Or you’ll work as a journalist, in which case you’ll write solo articles for magazines, news websites, etc. You can alternatively work as a freelance writer, such as a copywriter.
Your liberal arts degree also equips you to be an editor, in which case you will proofread, correct, or improve the writing of others. As you gain seniority in your organization, you could qualify for higher paid, higher responsibility positions.
Marketer
Annual Salary: $63,920
Projected Growth: 19% growth until 2030
Education & Experience Needed: Bachelor’s degree + 1-2 years’ experience for higher positions
If you have a mind for advertising, you can find ample work as a marketing professional. Marketers advertise the products and services of businesses in all industries. Depending on your classes, you could work as a digital marketer, traditional media advertiser, or another specialized professional.
Regardless, as a marketer, you’ll use various tools and advertising strategies to draw clients and customers to your employing organization. You will work on a team with other marketers unless you are a marketing manager, in which case you’ll supervise.
You may want to become a marketer if you like psychology and appealing to people in a business context. Liberal arts degrees prepare you for marketing by focusing on social sciences and the arts, which help produce compelling and engaging advertisements.
Teacher
Annual Salary: $61,820
Projected Growth: 5% growth until 2030
Education & Experience Needed: Bachelor’s degree + education certificate + 1-2 years of practice
For starters, you can become a teacher for a public or private school. Public school teaching positions are often easier to acquire. You don’t need a dedicated teaching degree (although this does help). Suppose you have a liberal arts bachelor’s degree. In that case, you can take a certification program and become licensed as a teacher in your state of residence.
Private schools may have stricter requirements, such as requiring an education degree. With a liberal arts degree, you can work as an elementary, middle, or high school teacher. You may be qualified to teach English, math, science, or some other subject depending on your course prerequisites, personal experience, or completed certifications.
A teacher can be a great career path, resulting in excellent career stability. However, many teachers aren’t compensated very well compared to how long they work.
Translator
Annual Salary: $49,110
Projected Growth: 20% growth until 2030
Education & Experience Needed: Bachelor’s degree + possible certification
Translators work in business contexts by operating as conversational intermediaries between two parties. For example, maybe you’ll work with a lawyer translating their information to a client who primarily speaks Spanish and vice versa.
You can become a translator with a liberal arts degree, provided you can fluently speak at least one other language aside from English. To be competitive for various jobs, you should earn a certificate as a translator or a certificate for fluency in a second language. Such a certificate will prove that you know how to translate properly.
You can also take certain translating courses or specialize in your liberal arts degree in another language, like Spanish, French, German, Chinese, etc. You can find work in many places as a translator, especially for businesses or social work programs.
Jobs Where a Liberal Arts Degree Would Be Useful
Your liberal arts degree may prepare you for an even wider array of careers or professional opportunities.
Data Analyst
Annual Salary: $108,660
Projected Growth: 2% growth until 2030
Education & Experience Needed: Bachelor’s degree + certificate
Most don’t think of data analytics as a liberal arts professional path, but you can pursue this if you choose. Explore well-rounded mathematics courses. In addition, take a few extra certificate courses to learn about data management and statistics.
Data analysts look at large data sets for organizations, then come to important conclusions so executives can make wise business decisions. They need to know statistical principles, but your liberal arts degree will teach you to interpret and present data to employers.
Furthermore, data analysts are becoming important as time progresses and organizations gather more data about their target audiences.
PR Specialist
Annual Salary: $62,800
Projected Growth: 8% growth until 2030
Education & Experience Needed: Bachelor’s degree
Many businesses employ PR or public relations specialists. A liberal arts degree can equip you for such positions, thanks to classes on communication, marketing, and business topics.
If you work as a PR Specialist, you’ll put together press release statements for your employers and executives. You’ll also oversee advertising and marketing materials to ensure that target audiences get the appropriate messages and don’t make incorrect conclusions about your business.
PR specialists can work in teams or by themselves. As you gain experience, you can also lead teams of PR specialists and work as a manager.
Social Media Manager
Annual Salary: $62,800
Projected Growth: 8% growth until 2030
Education & Experience Needed: Bachelor’s degree optional
Almost all companies have social media profiles. They also employ social media managers to handle marketing, customer service tasks, etc., which take time and energy.
Suppose you have a passion for communicating with customers, savvy marketing, and making the most of digital tools. In that case, this job could be perfect for you. As a social media manager, you’ll launch digital marketing campaigns.
Social media managers earn decent salaries, and you don’t necessarily need a degree to work as one. However, you are a more competitive hiring choice if you acquire a certificate in social media management.
HR Specialist
Annual Salary: $62,290
Projected Growth: 8% growth until 2030
Education & Experience Needed: Bachelor’s degree
Many liberal arts degrees include classes in topics like psychology, management, business contexts, and communications. Those are perfect skills for HR specialists and representatives.
Every business has a human resources department. You can work in those departments and handle businesses’ recruiting and onboarding processes. In addition, you can take care of customer service complaints, interpersonal issues, and more. HR professionals get paid reasonably well and have excellent benefits by and large.
You can grow your career by acquiring experience in the HR industry. Over time, you may be able to establish policies and organization-wide rules for other HR professionals to follow.
Mediator
Annual Salary: $49,410
Projected Growth: 6% growth until 2030
Education & Experience Needed: Bachelor’s/master’s degree
With a liberal arts degree, you could qualify to become a mediator. Mediators are legal professionals who mediate between two disputing parties during negotiations. You’ll work with parties to reach a legal agreement without the dispute going to court.
You don’t need a law degree to become a mediator, although it does help. So you might consider proceeding from your bachelor’s degree or master’s in liberal arts into law. But in any case, you’ll need to decide what area of mediation practice you want to focus on.
After acquiring your degree and deciding on your focus, you can complete mediation training and acquire certification. You can start a practice as a mediator or join a dispute resolution center (DRC). As part of a DRC, you’ll work with other mediation professionals. This is a great career path if you like working with people to achieve optimal solutions to problems.
Make the Most of Your Liberal Arts Degree
Do you want to make the most of your degree in liberal arts? You’ll want to practice a few smart strategies:
Intern
For starters, look for internship opportunities at places of employment near your school or hosted by your college. Internships provide valuable work experience you can leverage into paid positions after graduation.
Build a Portfolio
To work in a creative industry, like writing, advertising, or graphic design, build a portfolio of your best projects and initial work. Such a portfolio will help you get hired if you don’t have a long list of prior work experience on your resume.
Network
Networking is everything, especially in liberal arts jobs. Be friendly with everyone, and get the contact information of people who may offer you a job someday. Socialize with your professors and peers to find entry-level positions to get the ball rolling on your career.
Informational Interviews
If you’re unsure what career to pursue, ask someone in that industry to give you an informational interview. In one of these interviews, you can ask more about the position, its pay, its downsides, and other factors to determine whether it’s right for you.
Search Jobs Listings
Lastly, don’t hesitate to take advantage of job listing sites such as Indeed.com. These resources are great places to find your first – or later! – jobs once you have a liberal arts degree.
Where Do Liberal Arts Graduates Work?
Jobs for liberal arts majors are found in many different fields and industries. For example, they work in marketing and communications, education, research, and analytics. The sky’s the limit if you acquire a liberal arts degree. You can get most jobs aside from positions that require dedicated STEM credentials, like engineers, doctors, etc.
Licensing & Certification
You may need a license or certificate to acquire your ideal position if you have a liberal arts degree.
For example, teachers. If you have a LA degree and want to become an elementary school teacher, pursue certification after completing an educational training program. That certificate will take anywhere between one and two years to complete.
Similarly, you may need to acquire a data analytics certificate to work in data analysis. Your LA degree will qualify you for those positions. Still, the certificate program will give you the specific knowledge you need to succeed.
Keep this in mind when choosing liberal arts degree classes.
Professional Organizations & Resources
- American Anthropological Association
- (ASA) American Sociological Association
- National Art Education Association
- American Communication Association
- (SPJ) Society of Professional Journalists
- American Historical Association
- (NCTE) National Council of Teachers of English
- (APA) American Psychological Association
- (APSA) American Political Science Association
FAQs
What careers come from liberal arts?
There are many jobs for liberal arts majors in marketing, advertising, communication and writing, history, teaching, and other careers that come from liberal arts subjects.
What can a liberal arts degree be used for?
A liberal arts degree can be used for many careers, such as teaching, copywriting, advertising, human resources, and more.
Is a liberal arts degree worth it?
It can be, depending on your career ambitions. If you don’t have a specific career you want to pursue but instead want to have many different options, then it’s a good fit.
Start Your Career Today!
In conclusion, there are many different jobs for liberal arts majors. Should you acquire one of these degrees, you’ll find a dazzling array of professional paths open to you. Consider what you want to do for your career, then go for it!
But what if you don’t have a liberal arts degree yet? In that case, GetEducated.com online university lists can help you find the perfect online degree program for your needs. Check it out today!