Our View: Career Choices
April 15, 2015
Summary: According to an analytic list of the best and worst jobs, some of the best jobs fall only in math and sciences. For many students who came to study majors that don’t relate to those subjects, finding a good job out of college doesn’t seem hopeful, but that doesn’t mean we should give up.
On Tuesday, Careercast.com came out with its latest annual rankings of the best and worst jobs. The website is known for its analyzing 200 jobs and their work environment, stress levels, hiring outlook and average pay, then combining them to create an overall score for the jobs of 2015. More importantly, looking at the top 10 best jobs there is a common theme: most included math- and science-related careers like actuary, mathematician, statistician or data scientist. Additionally, most or all featured 6-figure salaries.
In contrast, looking at the worst jobs, you have lumberjack, cook, taxi driver and yes; Three of the worst 10 jobs were newspaper reporter, broadcaster and photojournalist. These jobs had the worst net growth, most stress and struggle to get a $50,000 a year salary.
Aside from the fact that some of us may be in for a rude awakening after graduation, it seems the best growth in America is through sciences and math, subjects that many of us college students have a terrible history with it.
A Bachelor of Science can’t exactly fix everything. But this is where a potentially fun job and low salaries conflict with a less-than-thrilling job with good pay. For most students coming out of college, the most important thing is money, especially when your loans start to defer and you find yourself without a good job.
Obviously, with this newspaper and the staff members of other student media on campus, these rankings are quite revealing. As students, we face the same worries that every other student seeking a degree does. It’s our belief that, despite rankings telling us otherwise, we look at the skills, real-world experience and, most importantly, the overall value of a Kent State education, and know there is hope.