Your major is major: It doesn’t hurt to go to the “right” colleges, especially the Ivy League ones your parents attended, if you want to make sure you’ll be able to get a job when you graduate.
But new research by three experts at Northeastern University in Boston shows that your college major, rather than the college or university you attend, may be just the ticket into–or out of–a financially sound and rewarding professional life.
The findings of Paul Harrington and Neeta Fogg, both professors of economics, and Thomas Harrington, professor of psychology, are reported in their new book, “The College Majors Handbook: With Real Career Paths and Payoffs” (Jist, $24.95).
And what did they find? According to Paul Harrington, here’s the best-paying major, regardless of your alma mater:
“The highest salary goes to the undergraduate who majored in chemical engineering and who can expect to earn $75,600 a year. Remember, that figure is not the starting salary–it refers to the average annual earnings.”
And there’s the lowest: “College graduates who majored in social work average only $37,800 a year.” When I commented on the paltry pay for such highly educated professionals, the economist replied wryly, “They do God’s work….”
A leader leads: What does it take to take the lead?
That’s the subject of an important seminar to be given nationwide by the American Management Association based in New York–an organization that really knows the ins and outs of climbing the corporate ladder.
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“You’ll learn how to develop your unique leadership style for maximum impact,” its catalog promises.
Leadership training programs are plentiful, but what interested me about the two-day session is that included in its list of “how you will benefit” from the course are such on-target things as: “Understand what a leader is and is not; discover your own unique leadership style; take on your first position with greater confidence; get noticed by learning how to look and talk like a leader; and reduce the anxiety and stress that come with being a leader.”
And most important of all: “Protect yourself against the pitfalls of intra-organizational politics.”
Seminars will be given in Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, California, Texas, Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C. For information call 1-800-262-9699.
Mentoring the mentor: One of the challenges that plagues even the best of mentors is how to end the relationship in a positive, helpful way. Many mentors dread saying farewell, but “preparing to say goodbye to a protege is among the most overlooked yet richly satisfying elements of successful mentoring,” according to W. Brad Johnson and Charles R. Ridley, authors of “The Elements of Mentoring” (Palgrave MacMillan, $21.95). “Quite often, only the most seasoned mentors carefully honor endings.”
The authors’ “key components” of what to do: “Say goodbye and explicitly acknowledge the end of a mentorship; arrange a specific meeting and provide your protege with a personal narrative of the mentorship.”
And an extremely important recommendation: “Be sure to acknowledge intangible gifts you received and lessons you learned from the protege.”
After all, a mentorship is a two-way street.
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Carol Kleiman’s columns also appear in the Monday and Tuesday Business sections. Hear her on WBBM-AM 780 at 6:21 p.m. and 10:22 p.m. Mondays and at 11:20 A.M. Saturdays. Contact [email protected].