You’ve spent four years studying, working on projects and research papers, and even pulling the occasional all-nighter to get this far – and now, you’ve finally earned your degree. After so much work, completing your program is an exciting moment in your academic career. However, it’s hard to truly enjoy it when you’re already worried about what you’re going to do now that your education is complete.
Many students are unsure of where to go after college, but this list of the six most popular job titles in the world right now will give you a better idea of what you can do with that brand-new degree. You’ll be able to start looking for positions to apply for, and hopefully, you’ll land a new job that perfectly fits with your skills and career goals.
- Sales Associate
Base pay at this job starts at about $38,000, and is an ideal option for students who are graduating with degrees in Business, English, or Political Science. As a sales associate, you would be responsible for providing excellent customer service – helping people select and locate specific items and ringing up their purchases at a cash register.
You can find sales associate positions all over – grocery stores, electronics stores, and clothing stores are good places to start. You can also move on to things like advertising sales, car sales, and many other kinds of sales positions.
- Research Assistant
While the base pay for this position starts considerably lower, around $29,000, it will give students who studied Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering some solid, hands-on experience as they enter the workforce. You’ll be using the internet, surveys, legal documents, and other published research to gather specific information and then analyze the data to draw conclusions.
- Teaching Assistant
This is another one with a lower starting salary of $20,000, but will provide significant opportunities for engineering students – Electrical, Computer, or Mechanical. If you’re hoping to move on to a career in education, this is a great place to start. You’ll need to help teachers keep track of attendance, calculate grades, and even prepare for lessons.
- Intern
An intern will usually earn a base pay of $30,000 – however, this is a great way to put a degree in Psychology, Finance, or Economics to use. Interns can find positions in a wide variety of industries – it all depends on what you eventually want to do with your degree. This is an opportunity to learn more about the requirements of a role within a specific field or company.
- Administrative Assistant
If you graduated from a Business, Psychology, or Communications program, landing a job as an administrative assistant will usually net you a base pay of around $40,000. You’ll likely be working for multiple supervisors, providing office support like taking phone calls, creating presentations, word processing, and directing visitors.
- Account Manager
For students of Business, Marketing, and Communications, you can earn a salary of about $50,000 a year by getting a job as an account manager. You will be responsible for managing relationships with specific clients or groups of clients, to ensure they continue conducting business with the company you work for.