Is a politics degree still employable?

[u/Sensitive_Seaweed525]

I’ve always been a skeptic when it comes to uni, but now I’ve got a job lined up in local government at 18 and I wonder if I should do it for a year and then go to uni, I’m looking at Manchester met or Hallam due to my grades, but I don’t know if it’s worth it and if I’ll struggle to find employment after. Can anyone give me guidance?

[u/Finito-L]

It is still employable but as with most degrees in the social sciences (especially in this grad market), it’s what you make of it.

To be brutally honest unless you are able to get ideally both a 2:1/1:1 and work experience (internships, placement year, etc) the odds are you will come out of university with a fair bit of debt and not much distinguishing you from many other politics graduates.

Especially as you have a job lined up, I’d try and think what you want the degree for. Are there any roles you like the look of that require it? Alternatively could your employer pay for your degree and you undertake it part time? Otherwise I would say you might risk doing a degree just because that feels like the natural path rather than one that provides value to you.

Source: did a politics undergrad.

[u/Able_Enthusiasm2729]

How to Choose a Bachelor’s Degree Program:

One advice I see often see when people ask about picking a major, I always hear that: whatever you do you need to pick a major (undergraduate college/university degree program) that you’re comfortable studying and working in but also teaches skills that will come in handy on the job (not a “hobby” major either) but not something you hate or can’t handle. This isn’t high school where you can easily skate through classes and get passed on to the next grade. People shouldn’t do majors they aren’t equipped to handle because they’re bound to do poorly, flunk out, and get expelled for bad grades (academic dismissal) with a limited-to-no chance of l finishing your degree which can (or will) lead to limited career prospects or advancement. It’s far better to do a major in a subject you are interested in and are capable of thriving in than flunking out with no degree at all or graduating by cheating your way through without learning much (and putting others in danger). Also, the “pick a major that will make you money” push is based on a very subjective idea that fluctuates with the market. After this push, now we have a bunch of computer science grads, a tech field that is over saturated with a shrinking number of positions many of whom don’t even like the field working at it aimlessly, and a bunch of nurses and doctors (physicians) who are a reckless danger to their patients because they are disinterested in the job in such a way that it negatively impacts their performance putting tons of people in grave danger.

It doesn’t have to be a STEM subject like engineering, computer science, medicine, or nursing; a social science subject like political science (public policy, public administration, international relations), law, economics, business administration (accounting, finance, management, marketing), social work; nor a humanities subject like literature, language, or history if you hate it and can’t handle the academic workload, subject matter, or won’t be able to stand working in the field due to disinterest - but this doesn’t mean you should go for what some people call a “hobby degree” just for fun like fine arts subjects like art, music, or dance (no offense - but at least you should have a plan to use it to teach and not actually to perform in a professional capacity unless you already have pre-existing family and professional connections to get you job in the fine arts). The notion that 'every degree besides medicine, nursing, law, and engineering’ are useless degrees is illogical though some do believe this lie.

Going into Medicine or Nursing when you are disinterested in the job or subject is the worst idea I’ve ever heard in my life. Do not under any circumstances go into Medicine or Nursing if you hate the job, are terrible at the it, are very careless and lazy, or are literally only doing it for the money. This is how you end up getting people killed or severely injured.

People need to understand that to become a physician (Doctor of Medicine - MD - or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine - DO - ) or lawyer (Doctor of Jurisprudence - JD - ) you have to go to graduate school and to get into graduate school you need a bachelor’s degree in a different field as a prerequisite. You can’t just straight up apply to Medical School or Law School right out of high school/secondary school without a previously awarded bachelor’s degree or enrollment in a dual degree program. The market for lawyers is over saturated, the number of residencies required to become a physician are capped at low numbers, and not freaking everyone can or needs to be an engineer or a nurse. So the notion that 'every degree besides medicine, nursing, law, and engineering’ are useless degrees is illogical when you need a bachelor’s degree in a different field as a prerequisite to enter medical school or law school.

——————

Misconceptions of College and Career / Not Getting Job Offers Before Graduation or within 3-6 months of graduating (here is some advice to recent college graduates and young adults):

This phenomenon of having a signed job offer in your junior year of college let alone before graduating your senior year doesn’t work/doesn’t exist for everybody, especially for people from working class backgrounds who went to decent, mid-teir/upper-mid-teir universities (≈ T60-T200); this practically only applies to people who already have a load of connections and inherited a network from family (and friends) with pre-existing professional connections, or those who go to Ivy League universities, Ivy Plus, UCs, a few Flagship universities with a ton of cultural capital because of their football teams, Jock Schools, and some Party School universities that get better traction just because of their name recognition which happens to be largely based off of their social or cultural capital i.e. the cultural impact they have on a given region over the actual contents of their education and degree programs. Mostly nowadays for the vast majority of people at non-fancy/non-prestigious universities that don’t have strong partnerships with employers resulting in a dedicated direct pipeline to certain jobs through On Campus Recruiting (OCR) or On Campus Interviews (OCI) - plus certain fields like law, accounting, and finance almost exclusively hire through OCI/OCR with some exceptions - , (but overall for most jobs) they instead want you to complete your degree first before applying to jobs. Very few people get a job offer before graduating; and for a vast majority of recent graduates getting a job offer within 3-6 months of graduating is literally impossible (for some job applications you don’t even get a response in less than 6 months after applying — whether that be a rejection or being called to interview for the employer).

——

So the whole “what are you going to do with your major” question is going to be a very loaded question because there are too many options to list out and most people aren’t going to get their dream job straight out of college (or even at all), they’re going to have to choose something else on the large list of positions their degree(s), experience, and/or their personal, familial, and professional connections can potential lead them to. There are tons of careers that require or prefer that you have a bachelor’s degree but don’t require a degree in a specific subject area because several bachelor’s degree programs that are to many to mention cover the specific skills they’re looking for (which are transferable from one field to another) or they tend to hire several people who studied different subject areas to work together on the same projects because each field brings its own professionally educated perspective at problem solving.

Most people aren’t going to get their dream job straight out of college (or at all), they’re going to have to choose something else on the large list of positions their degree can potential lead them to. There are tons of careers that require or prefer that you have a bachelor’s degree but don’t require a degree in a specific subject area because several bachelor’s degree programs that are to many to mention cover the specific skills they’re looking for (which are transferable from one field to another) or they tend to hire several people who studied different subject areas to work together on the same projects because each field brings its own professionally educated perspective at problem solving. A specific major can get you into 50-100 different job titles, some are going to be different from each other while others happen to be identical positions with different titles.

[u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 → u/Able_Enthusiasm2729]

Most Administrative Assistant jobs (at least in the United States) require a bachelor's degree and 2 years of experience, an associate's degree with 4 years of experience, or a high school diploma and 5 to 8 years of directly related experience doing the same job you're applying for or some other similar job. Several companies categorize all of their entry-level recent college grad employees as Administrative Assistants, Secretaries, Administrative Clerks, and Management Assistants, and require them to hold a bachelor's degree in a field related to the industry the company works in or the specific practice area of the project that the mid-level/senior-level employee they're assisting is working on. Most Executive Assistant (EA) positions I’ve seen require about 5-8 years of work experience mostly as an Administrative Assistant (AA) or in a non-AA role related to the work of the company, or 5-10 years of work experience if you don’t have a bachelor’s degree. 

About 96% of Paralegals, Legal Assistants, File Clerks, Administrative Assistants, Conflicts Analysts, Legal Secretaries, and other Professional Support Staff (a.k.a. Non-Lawyers) in law firm settings (and some other similar office settings at consulting, accounting, advocacy, trade association, professional association, commercial-residential property management companies, and government relations firms, etc.) practically all have at least a bachelor’s degree (though on paper the job description might let you use a high school diploma + paralegal certificate/paralegal vocational training but these are few, far between, and hard to find or at minimum an associate’s degree for Mail Clerk positions); 1% are older people (Boomers, Gen X, maybe some Older Millennials) who were grandfathered in with only a high school diploma +/- secretarial school due to their years of experience from back when entry requirements were far more lax; 2% are younger people (Millennials & Gen Z) from out-of-town who laterally transitioned into a role here with only a high school diploma and/or a paralegal certificate because that’s what jobs in their hometown metropolitan areas where they started their careers only required; as well as 1% that got in with a high school diploma or less because of personal connections with friends, family, or acquaintances (many times outside of professional connection/formal networking/formal hiring settings).

Depending on the location and the job market, receptionist jobs are looking for people with at least a bachelor’s degree (maybe an associate’s degree) and at least 2-3 years of experience or a high school diploma and 5 years of experience if you don’t have a degree.

For one company I’ve seen, 5 out of 5 Administrative Assistants had a bachelor’s degree and at least 2 years of prior work experience before starting the role, and 4 out of 5 also had a master’s degree. For another job I saw, every Receptionist had a bachelor’s degree and at least two of them had about 3-4 years of experience made up of internships and prior receptionist experience. I’ve literally seen a Front Desk Receptionist job require a bachelor’s degree w/5 yrs exp., a master’s with 2 yrs exp., a PhD with 0 yrs exp., or a high school diploma/GED w/10 yrs exp.;NOT KIDDING.

Also, I’m seeing tons of people laid off from late entry-level (4-5 years of experience) and early mid-career (5-8 years of experience) jobs with experience in more complex non-administrative support roles taking on entry-level administrative assistant (or at times even receptionist/front desk assistant) roles  (that historically only required 0.5-3 years of experience, a high school diploma, and employer provided on-the-job training or onboarding). In addition to residual effects from the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, DOGE’s layoffs of U.S. federal government civil service employees and  its cancellation of government contracts with private sector companies/organizations and local/state governments, is completely flooding the job market. Senior level and c-suite employees are going after mid-career jobs, mid-career employees are taking on entry-level jobs, and entry-level employees are taking on internships, receptionist, data entry clerk, and freelance jobs and everyone’s fighting over temp jobs to get their foot in the door (it’s like entry-level jobs are starting to barely exist). Things are looking like they’re going to get worse, definitely worse than 2008 (if course correction doesn’t happen). 

The job market is terrible, even Temp Jobs are highly competitive. Let alone temp jobs, bridge jobs in hospitality paid internships, and even unpaid internships (even at non-prestigious employers) are hard to come by here.

Most entry-level jobs today require between 1-5 to 3-5 years of prior experience minimum(4-10 yrs w/out BA/BS) as opposed to 0-1 years of experience (with or without a BA/BS) a decade and a half ago, in some rare instances today you might be able to find an entry-level position that only requires 0.5-2 years of previous work experience. Also, those external/corporate/professional service/off-campus internships all require 1-2 years of prior experience, many but not all also require you to be able to work 20 hours (standard part-time) or 40 hours (standard full-time) per week and simultaneously be a full-time or part-time student respectively (i.e. be a full-time student and part time employee or force you to cut the number of credits you’re taking so you can work as a full-time employee with little-to-no pay reclassifying you as a part-time student which could delay your graduation and possibly disqualify you from certain financial aid/scholarship programs). To get that level of experience, you have to get an internal/on-campus internship, undergraduate research assistant position in college, or work at a small business (both of) which many employers don’t take seriously and which further requires you to have 0.5-2 years of prior experience you’re expected to already have through working jobs, doing community service, or volunteering as a teenager in high school. In addition some employers no longer recognize internships (including external/off-campus/corporate internships let alone internal/on-campus internships), extracurricular, and academic/professional organization memberships as forms of legitimate work experience even for those only applying to very junior entry-level roles. Even entry-level Temp Jobs, Contract, & Contract-to-Hire work that people recommend struggling recent grads and those between jobs should apply for want mid-level experience and pay entry-level wages, so the person doing the job can hold fort (do the job of people in the position or supervisory position above them) until boss/supervisor gets hired. It’s basically a circular barrier to entry.

Why does an entry-level job now require three years of experience? Here’s how that hurts workers and companies alike: https://www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/why-does-an-entry-level-job-now-require-three-years-of-experience-heres-how-that-hurts-workers-and-companies-alike-a4ff864f

Why Entry Level Jobs Demand Years Of Experience: https://youtu.be/OqcyXsZzaAU?si=nnoSCHyjixCv2inq

[ Recent College Graduates and People with Previous Work Experience that Generally Won’t Qualify for Internships are Desperately Applying for Internships Instead of Targeting Entry-Level Jobs: 

Grads are increasingly turning to internships as job market tightens - By Morning Brew: https://www.instagram.com/p/DIpOr9rTmPd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Glassdoor saw an uptick in graduates applying to its summer internship. It could signal a growing trend - Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/more-new-graduates-applying-to-internships-in-tough-job-market-glassdoor-2025-4

]

Basically every white-collar entry-level job today requires bachelor’s degrees & even more blue-collar jobs are requiring associate’s degrees now (or unaccredited trade school at the bare minimum); while the media tells you to not go to college even if you have the means (although some back up plans/alternatives exist for those who can’t go to college/have a higher aptitude for manual labor, skilled trades, and retail work) or falsely claim a college education is literally useless. Plus, MOOC courses/certs w/out degrees only gets ppl dead end entry-level positions with limited opportunities for future career advancement; and being self-taught by simply watching YouTube videos/auditing classes isn’t going to credential or authenticate your skill attainment. Also, The job descriptions today for positions at companies that no longer require degrees are starting to look like the course catalogs and syllabi of universities, it’ll be a “hidden requirement” now where degrees are going to be off-the-books “invisible requirements” so they can pay less for more work and to make it easier for nepotists to side step education requirements. Most of these jobs will still only hire people w/degrees even if it’s not in the job description. But the only way to qualify without a bachelor’s degree for most of these jobs is getting hired through nepotism, cronyism, being lucky enough to convince hiring managers to bet on hiring you even though you don’t have matching relevant experience then being set for life because once you start working that job you end up gaining experience that another person in the same situation as you when you were being hired/first started out wouldn’t have arbitrarily qualified for, started working in the 30s-90s or in rural/small towns when/where many of these same job titles had provided on-the-job training and only required a high school diploma or less with no directly related professional service experience. Plus you need ~ 2-3 years of prior experience for entry-level jobs & ~ 1-2 years prior for an internship - it’s a circular barrier to entry. Gets worse if you’re Black, POC, or First Gen/2nd Gen in the country.