Humanities/Social Science Degrees and Employment

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It's cliche to say that humanities/social science degrees are useless in finding a job, but I'd like to amend the statement and see what other people here think.

Humanities/social science degrees are useless IF your social skills suck. If you have good social skills, you can major in these subjects and still get a good job. If you have bad social skills (like many Aspies), you're as bad off or worse as someone with no college whatsoever.

On the other hand, when it comes to something like engineering or computer science, your social skills are irrelevant. You'll get a decent job because these fields are so in-demand. But when it comes to the "soft" sciences or liberal arts, the people who are good at networking get ahead and stand out. GPA or the quality of the school attended is largely irrelevant.

I'll give a perfect example in my own life. I have a master's in political science. Okay, criticize me all you want and say I deserve to be unemployed/underemployed, BUT I know someone else who only has a bachelor's in history from a very obscure university and yet he has a good-paying job. What's the difference? He has connections. I don't. He's outgoing. I'm not.

So no, degrees in non-technical, non-business fiels are NOT useless for NTs, but they are useless for individuals with AS.

It depends on the skills you have too. For example, I was a teaching assistant and that helped me get internships that used those skills. I have a part-time job in my field, but yeah, definitely have to think about how much social-skills are emphasized when getting a non-technical degree. It's something that I didn't realize until I was actually in one of my internships.

Colleges and universities claim that it does not matter what subject you study, because all of their majors produce people with good creative and critical thinking skills, the ability to communicate effectively, and to work as part of a team. Many modern business claim that they need employees with good "soft skills", by which they mean communication skills, team-working, and creative and critical thinking --at least for employees that work in offices. At first glance, there appears to be a good fit between what universities produce, and what employers want. In my experience, however, to be successful in the typical modern workplace you have to be good at playing office politics and (social) networking, rather than actually getting the job done and done right. This is especially true of large, well established organisations (including government and academic institutions). It is possible that employers are more willing to overlook the autistic traits of people who have a degree in a technical field that there is high demand for (STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Unfortunately, I suspect that even in those fields you still have to deal with the usual office politics. (Dilbert < http://www.dilbert.com/ > is reality.)

In general, the average income increases, and the unemployment rate decreases, as the level of completed education increases (for example, see the first chart in this blog entry < http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/11/ ... employment > ), but there is a lot of variation around those averages.

On the one hand, I have known people with degrees in the social sciences and humanities who have gone on to lucrative careers in marketing and finance. These are bright, articulate people, who are not on the autistic spectrum. (The following article is an example of these sorts of mountebanks: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 88556.html .)

On the other hand, are people who are "underemployed". When I saw the table in this blog entry, http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/ ... lege/27634 , two questions immediately sprang to mind. First, what subject did these underemployed people study at university? Second, how many of them are on the spectrum?

Many years ago, I attended a seminar about networking and job hunting, put on by my university’s career services. One of the suggestions the presenter made was to call people you knew (even if only vaguely), invite them out to lunch, and ask them if they knew of anyone who was hiring in your field, or if they could recommend someone else who might be able to help. At that time, I did not know about autism/ Asperger's, but I had a vague sense that something was not right with me, especially when it came to communication and interpersonal interactions. Moreover, I knew there was no way in hell I could do what that career counsellor was suggesting.

I found my current job advertised on my employer’s website. It was one of about six dozen identical positions that were available at that time. At least a couple of hundred people also applied for those positions, but about one-third to one-half of them did not bother to show up for the assessment and interview. About a quarter to a third of the remainder were eliminated, either because they did not pass the assessment exercise (which was a basic simulation of the job), or because they did not bring the correct documents with them. Pretty much all of the rest of us were hired. This particular job seems to attract a lot of strange people because of the solitary, highly structured and repetitive nature of the work, and the "unsociable" hours (i.e. night shift), so to some extent I blend in. Moreover, management generally leaves me alone because I meet their processing targets and I do not screw around. In this way, it is (fortunately for me) unlike most office jobs. The catch is, the job is a very low level position. I really don't see much of a future for myself. C'est la vie.

I agree. I was told the same thing by the college I went to, that no matter what I majored in, I would gain critical thinking skills, etc, that would be useful. Well, I did gain critical thinking skills. If there was a job that required critical thinking, I'd ace it. But like you mentioned, I find that most workplaces don't care about that. An analytical person seems like the nightmare of most hiring managers. This was a comment to one of the articles you linked:

"The “liberal arts” people have too many ideas of their own and the fact that they chose those subjects reflect a mindset that these are not people who will accept or conform to the prevailing social order, or worse, question and condemn it. These are not good order takers. "

And that is exactly the kind of person that college trained me to be. Oddly enough?

What's hard is that not all Aspies are talented, or even good, at the highly technical fields. Personally, I'm not good with technology and math. I'm okay at some science, but my talents are in the liberal arts. So even if I could go back and do it over, it would be hard to consciously major in something I was worse at, just to possibly get a job in an uncertain future. What really sucks is that the things I'm good at all involve heavy networking skills in order to be a career. I still don't have a clue how to reconcile that.

Before I knew about Aspergers, I honestly thought that pursuing courses in the Humanities would turn me into a more well rounded person, and that it would teach me about how the world worked. I also had a slightly misguided notion that it was intelligence (abstract or instrumental) rather than social prowess that allowed you to progress in the world.

So here I am after graduating with a First Class bachelors degree, working the night shift at a local supermarket.

Now that does make me sound more bitter than I really am, as the job I'm in does give me loads of free time and, most importantly, doesn't involve dealing with people.

I do regret not doing a more skills oriented degree, rather than the highly theoretical one that I did, even though I did a lot of good work there and am still very proud of what I achieved. Also, if I hadn't done the degree that I may not be in the position I am now re; the book I'm in the process of formulating.

I think in the absence of a meaningful 'real world' aparatus that actually values Humanities degrees, most graduates will either stroll into marketing or management, and these kinds of degrees may even fade away in the shadow of more tailored marketing and management degrees.

@ Pineapple - The quote you mention really does sum it up. I can only really talk about the UK (as that's where I am) but I really do think it has something to do with our place in the global economy. The zeitgeist (if we can really talk about such a thing) is conservatism; that things may change but only within the possibilities that already exist. Okay, that may not strictly be conservatism but I can't think of a better word off the top of my head. It's to do with our roles in the developed world as Consumers, above all. Critical and original thinking are the thorns in the side of a well-functioning consumer society. Sadly there is no institution other than Humanities degrees that has the capacity to teach people about this stuff, therefore leading to a more conservative and consumerist graduate body.

Yep, this is me exactly. I don't know what else I would have majored in...English and History are the other things I considered, but those would have put me in the exact same situation lol.

I hear you all. I have a postgrad degree in social work. I think it's my lack of family/social connections, and general anxiety around networking (it is more exhausting than wage slavery!! !) that keeps me severely underemployed.

I've actually thought about posting that link on this site somewhere, but it looks like you beat me to the punch. Personally, I'm graduating with an Econ degree, and I'm currently trying to get into the electricians union. My dad's a paver, and he says he's worked with people who have degrees in teaching and criminal justice (among others). My old preschool teacher left teaching to become a carpenter.