Students Aided

Platform designed to guide and advise college majorsSophie MattsonTHE SANTA CLARAApril 3, 2014[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ne pressing question on any college student’s mind is often whether or not their major will lead to stable employment in the future. In response to this question, MajorsToCareers was built to help guide recent graduates in the right direction. MajorsToCareers, founded a year ago by Southern California mother Janice Partyka, allows college students and graduates to share their experiences in their majors and in the workforce. Partyka was inspired to create the website after hearing her children’s questions about where their majors would lead them. “It seemed to me that college-aged students need a way to connect to recent graduates and upperclassmen about what their majors lead to,” Partyka said. According to Partyka, upperclassmen or recent college graduates answer questions on the website about their major. Topics include how former students would rate their major, whether they would recommend studying a certain major to other students and what types of work opportunities they had. In order to protect the integrity of the website, Partyka said that students are not paid to contribute their experiences. “We take over a hundred occupations and we rate them on how much the market is growing in that field, on unemployment and salary,” Partyka said. “We (also) have what you would be doing on a day-to-day basis in a particular occupation, and what are the best cities for the occupation. We are trying to give people a more day-to-day view of occupations because what you do every day is probably going to determine how much you like your job.”[pullquote]We are trying to give people a more day-to-day view of occupations because what you do every day is probably going to determine how much you like your job.[/pullquote] Partyka has found that even more technically-based degrees vary in the way that they assist students in obtaining employment. “Even with computer science your occupation depends on what your focus is on,” Partyka said. “The unemployment rate for some computer science majors is high depending on what you specialize in. (In addition), if you are going to have a major like anthropology or English, it is really good to see what other kids are doing.” The Santa Clara Career Center, also available to students, is constantly looking for new ways to improve the career services they offer. “We just recently participated in a consulting project with a class on campus specifically about freshmen engagement and how to communicate with freshmen around career development and thinking about their major,” said Jennifer Ferrari, director of Arts and Sciences in the Career Center. “In general, we are often looking for the best ways to communicate and connect with students.” Partyka, who already has one contributor on her website from Santa Clara, would like more upperclassmen and graduates to contribute anecdotes about their occupational experiences. “Nobody has more recent information than the people who just graduated,” Partyka said. “Some people do really interesting things with their degrees that you would never think of.” Contact Sophie Mattson at smattson@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.