Your college major doesn’t really matter, says CEO and ex-Google employee

05 Mar 2018

Year upon year countless students spend days, weeks, months, even years, stressing about the best major for them to choose. Often, many of their anxieties stem from fear about future careers: Will I be employable when I graduate? Do I want to work in a sector related to this major? Will I enjoy studying this? Will I enjoy working in this industry?

But former Google employee Liz Wessel, who is now CEO and co-founder of WayUp, wishes to dispel those worries. Wessel told Business Insider that graduates’ college majors are often not directly related to their career.

She said:

“Aside from a few very limited number of professions, it’s actually funny, it’s more often than not that you’ll see that people go into jobs that are really outside of their major.”

So, instead of worrying, maybe it would be a wise move to just pick something you are passionate about, she argued.

Before scoring a role at Google as a fresh graduate, Wessel majored in Political Science, Math and Japanese – not subjects overly related to her position at Google nor her career as a CEO.

It should go without saying there are multiple jobs for which you must have a certain major to qualify. If there is a specific career you have your eye on, it is always worth checking what credentials you need before picking a major.

But in general? Don’t overthink it, Wessel said. Choose something which will make your remaining time as a student fulfilling and enjoyable for you.

A CEO and former Googler explains why your college major really doesn’t matter when searching for a job after #college "Stop worrying, pick a major you love, and start pursuing the experiences that will give you a boost in your job search."https://t.co/WQudlbjDS8 pic.twitter.com/SIcnnDfKOB

— boj (@bojapp) February 28, 2018

Time spent outside of class can be just as important as time spent studying, Wessel said, explaining how experience and other interests can be just as relevant as your studies.

“Unless you literally spent all of your free time during the semester, during the summer, during winter break sitting on a couch, you probably have work experience,” Wessel told The Business Insider. “You can turn any opportunity into something you can talk about in an interview.”

All I’m saying is, if you’re gonna go to college major in something that you actually love and will enjoy. That’s a lot of money to spend on something you don’t really care about.

— lilo❤️ (@ItsJayGoldie) February 12, 2018

Anything can be relevant if you utilise the experience. It all shapes you as a person, which is going to be of interest to an employer.

Even a job such as working in Starbucks can be relevant to almost all career paths in some way.

“People who’ve been baristas at Starbucks have such unbelievable work ethic at the end,” Wessel said. “They have great customer service skills. They learn how to upsell. They sometimes learn how to market the drinks – I know they market them well to me.”

It is important to remember, Wessel claimed, that you can study many different disciplines without choosing to major in them. The skills necessary for many jobs can be acquired through many different ways so calm down, follow your passion, work hard and you could just find your way to a career path meant for you.