Tuesday, 19 August 2014

Anthropology... what kind of job will you get with that?

Hands up if you have ever told someone what you are studying and have been hit with the response..."Anthropology... what kind of job will you get with that?"

I can't even count the amount of times I've been asked that.. my friends Dad once told me I would be better off busking on Cuba Street than trying to get a career with an anthropology degree (if he ever heard me sing he would take that comment back immediately).

Anthropology is #1 on the Forbes 'Most Useless College Majors' list, it's #5 on Complex.com's list of 'Most Worthless College Degrees', it's listed at #3 on Yahoo's 'Don't bother Earning these Five Degrees' list and Prince Charles made the '10 Celebrities who got Shit Degrees' list for his anthropology degree. So yeah. We are reminded all the time of how 'useless' our degree is.

Whether you are choosing courses for your first year of study, you're in your third year of your Anth major or you're halfway through your Master's degree, you've probably started to ask yourself "What job can I get?" Many people who study anthropology go on to pursue postgraduate degrees and eventually their PhD's, working as academics - teaching in Universities and conducting their own research. But if that route isn't for you.. there are endless possibilities for job opportunities with an Anthropology degree.

Because the anthsisters know just how frickin' awesome an anthropology degree is, we have decided to contact our fellow anthropology degree holders who are out in the workforce to explain what they do, why an anthropology degree is rad, and to give you an answer to that question you are asked all the time.

So before you start freaking out thinking you have chosen (or are about to choose) the most 'worthless' degree.. start by reading about our first anthropologist in the workplace, Caitlin.



Caitlin has a BA in Anthropology and Geography and a BA (hons) in Anthropology. She studied at the University of Canterbury for her undergraduate degree and did her Honours year at Victoria University of Wellington last year with the anthsisters and a number of other amazing people. Caitlin talks to Tayla about why she decided to study Anthropology and how it's been valuable for her in her new job.

What made you decide to study Anthropology? 
I really enjoyed cultural and human geography at secondary school, and liked the sound of Anthropology as it was like Geo without the more physical environment focus that I didn’t enjoy so much.