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Professor working with Students by the river

Climbing Skills


Employers rate the importance of candidate qualities/skills

(1 = not important to 5 = extremely important)

Communication skills (oral and written) 4.69
Honesty/integrity 4.59
Teamwork skills (works well with others) 4.54
Interpersonal skills (relates well to others) 4.50
Strong work ethic 4.46
Motivation/initiative 4.42
Flexibility/adaptability 4.41
Analytical skills 4.36
Computer skills 4.21
Organizational skills 4.05
Detail oriented 4.00
Leadership skills 3.97
Self-confidence 3.95
Friendly/outgoing personality 3.85
Well mannered/polite 3.82
Tactfulness 3.75
GPA of 3.00 or better 3.68
Creativity 3.59
Sense of humor 3.25
Entrepreneurial skills/ risk taker 3.23

 

Connection to Careers

" What can I DO with a Humanities Degree? "

Judging the value of a degree in the humanities can be challenging. We can readily perceive the value of engineering-the bridge, we hope, continues to bear weight-or of accounting-the books, we trust, reconcile at the end of the year. But how do we measure the value of studying the works of Jane Austen, or reading the philosophical treatises of Jacques Derrida, or learning the history of the Ottoman Empire? How can we measure the value such knowledge has once students leave the university to make their way in the world? After all, as practical skills, understanding literary tropes, or the centrality of binary thinking to Western metaphysics, or the role of the Turks in the spread of Islam, do not seem-at first blush-to have as much ready application in life after college as the skills learned in business, pharmacy or stream restoration courses. Yet even if the skills acquired in the pursuit of a B.A. in the humanities seem the least tangible and therefore the most difficult to sell to potential employers, they are nevertheless not only some of the most ennobling and life-affirming skills, but also some of the most marketable skills a person can acquire.