5 College Majors That Can Help You Get a Job

Statistics majors tend to be highly sought-after graduates and are often hired into lucrative positions straight out of college, Wong says.

Companies from all sectors look for statistics experts, including pharmaceutical and insurance companies and Wall Street firms. Pharmaceutical companies are especially interested in biostatistics majors who can create models to test drugs. Wall Street turns to statistics experts for their quantitative skills and large-scale modeling. However, these positions often require a PhD.

“You need statistical analysis to do anything regarding research and to assess various alternatives, whether it’s in alternative energy or health care,” says Stephen Leeb, chief investment officer of Leeb Capital Management in New York.

The stimulus package that passed in February provides roughly $70 billion for the nation's energy sector; most of it is earmarked for green energy jobs and development.

More universities are starting to offer majors in environmental design and technology for students interested in entering the green sector, Wong says. Coursework focuses on new ways to generate power and includes engineering elements (e.g., how to improve a product’s efficiency) and applied science (e.g., how to reduce a carbon footprint). Jobs in the green sector include hybrid car engineering, solar panel production and sales, wind farm design, hydroelectric and geothermal power management and pollution control jobs among the nongreen sectors.

“Green-related jobs are certainly going to be a growing sector of the economy,” says Leeb. “We’re going to need to find alternative energies, either for environmental reasons or because energy fossil fuels are becoming shorter in supply.”

Companies in these industries will look for environmental, science or technology majors, but they’re also going to fill positions in accounting and sales to sell their products, says Trudy Steinfeld, the executive director at the New York University Wasserman Center for Career Development.

Demand for jobs in the traditional energy sector will also continue to grow, especially for petroleum geologists and engineers who can find better ways to extract the earth’s remaining fossil fuels, Kilmartin says.

Since early 2008, Wall Street has witnessed the end of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, as well as thousands of layoffs. Still, options remain for students who major in finance, Wong says.

The investment banks aren’t hiring to the levels that they hired two years ago, and those who can’t land a job on Wall Street should look into opportunities at smaller banks, says Sally Pinckard, the associate director of undergraduate career services in the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. Middle-market banks, community banks and credit unions are relatively unscathed after the market downturn and are hiring. Consulting firms are also hiring, she says.

Financial scandals that surfaced over the past year are creating demand for more auditors, LaTendresse says. That means promising job prospects for accounting majors.

Students should also think broadly about what other sectors they may apply their finance expertise, Pinckard says. Almost all sectors need financial analysts and chief financial officers, she says.