Hear the Podcast: Real Talk on using skills from a humanities degree

Ian Hartlen studied philosophy and political theory in university. What good was that? He told Career Buzz listeners that his education helped him become “a good writer, speaker and thinker, skills that are under-represented in the workplace.” Listen to the podcast (Oct. 21, 2015) to hear how Ian is using those strengths in a career he loves at The Learning Partnership where he’s just launched the Real Talk app to help high school students learn about real careers from the people in them.

How do the clues apply to you? I hear lots of people corner students who are studying humanities with the question, “what are you going to do with that degree?” It discourages them because it’s usually an unanswerable question at the time. Next time you’re tempted to ask it, instead, consider encouraging that student by taking a page out of Ian’s playbook, with something like, “That’s great, you’re working hard at building skills in writing, speaking and thinking. Those are important and under-represented skills in the workplace.”

Hear the whole interview also featuring Linda Morgan, and Julie Einarson who spoke at the recent Your Workplace conference.