Management Perspective – Liberal Arts

The age-old debate is raging louder than ever. Should higher education graduates come out of school with a prescribed set of skills (technical or business specific) or a broad based education such as a liberal arts degree? This is a tough call because education is expensive and nobody wants to waste money on something that won’t bring a return on investment, right?

As a graduate of Carleton College and the recipient of a liberal arts education, you might guess I’m biased, but the reality is, the only thing that matters is what the student gets out of their education – and there isn’t just one right way to be successful. No degree will teach someone everything they need to know coming out of school. However, there are some things that will set a first time job seeker apart:

Can they think for themselves? Can they write well and express their ideas verbally? Can they evaluate and solve problems? Are they interested in continuing to learn, to excel at the job and move up?

Here, at d.trio, we have graduates from both sides – focused and broad-based majors – from business and psychology degrees, to liberal arts, communications and more. The thing they have in common is a 4-year degree. The variety of skill sets makes us stronger. You don’t have to have a marketing degree to work at d.trio, but you do have to be willing to learn and think like a marketer. And we all do.

-Megan