Which jobs can I get with my degree?

Does my degree decide which jobs I can get?

Less than you might think. In 2013, New York Fed economists Jaison Abel and Richard Deitz found that just over a quarter of US college graduates worked in a job directly related to their major. Employers also look past the subject: in NACE's Job Outlook 2026 survey, 70% of employers said they use skills-based hiring.

• Some jobs need a specific degree or license, such as nursing, law, engineering or teaching in many countries. Check the required items.
• Many others accept a range of degrees and say so: "a degree in business, economics or a related field".
• Your projects, internships and part-time work widen the list further.

How do you turn a field of study into skills employers search for?

Go course by course and project by project, and write down what you did, not what the course was called. "Statistics" becomes regression, survey design and Excel; "History" becomes research, source checking and long-form writing.

• Methods: research, analysis, design, testing, writing, presenting.
• Tools: software, programming languages, lab equipment, data tools.
• Subject knowledge an industry pays for: health, energy, finance, law, education.
• Skills from outside class: customer service, sales, training others, organizing events.

How do you find job titles that fit your skills?

Search postings by skill instead of by title, and note which titles keep coming up. Then read ten postings for each title to see what the job really asks for.

• Search a skill plus "graduate" or "entry level", such as "data analysis graduate" or "research assistant entry level".
• Note the titles employers use for first jobs: Analyst, Associate, Coordinator, Assistant, Trainee.
• Look up graduates of your program on LinkedIn and see where their first jobs were.
• Ask your career center where past graduates of your program went.

Which search words find entry-level jobs?

The title, plus the words your market uses for a first job. In the US and Canada, try "new grad", "entry level", "junior" and "co-op"; in the UK and Ireland, "graduate scheme" or "graduate programme"; elsewhere, words like Stage, Tirocinio, Praktikum or Berufseinstieg.

• Use the job board's filters for internships, entry-level roles and part-time work.
• Many graduate programs recruit months before they start, so check their deadlines early.
• Save one search per title, so new postings come to you.

How do you tell whether a posting is right for a first job?

Read the requirements. An entry-level job asks for a degree, some skills and a willingness to learn, and lists the rest as preferred. A junior title that asks for five years of experience or more is not really entry level.

• Good signs: junior, graduate, trainee, associate, entry level, intern.
• Warning signs: senior, lead, manager, "5+ years".
• Check the pay against a junior salary for the role, where you can find one.

How does JobMentis suggest job titles from your degree?

Tell JobMentis it is your first job search, and in your account, under Job search, it suggests up to 8 entry-level job titles from your degree, your projects, your internships or student jobs and what you enjoy, and says why each one fits you.

• Each title comes with the words to paste into a job board, such as its graduate or junior version.
• Where JobMentis has the data, a title shows the entry-level median salary for your country. Those figures come from JobMentis data, never from AI.
• If JobMentis cannot read your degree and has nothing else to go on, it shows no titles rather than guessing.
• Add a title as a target in one click.

Entry-level postings

Should you apply if you don't meet every requirement?

Apply when you meet the required items. On an entry-level posting, the preferred list describes the ideal hire, and employers rarely expect a graduate to have all of it. Cover every required item, show the preferred ones you have, and say how you would learn the rest.

What is the difference between required and preferred on a job posting?

Required items, often under "requirements", "must have" or "you have", are the ones an employer screens on: a degree in a field, a language, a work permit, sometimes a license. Preferred items, under "nice to have", "a plus" or "bonus", describe the ideal hire. An entry-level employer expects to teach many of them, especially tools, software and internal processes.

A junior posting asks for 1 to 2 years of experience. Should I still apply?

Usually, yes, if you meet the other required items. On an entry-level posting, a year or two of experience is often a wish rather than a filter, and internships, co-ops, part-time work and projects count toward it. When a junior title asks for five years or more, the title and the requirements disagree, and your time is usually better spent on another posting.

The posting asks for a degree in a "related field". Does mine count?

Often, yes. "A related field" usually means the employer cares more about the skills than the subject. If your courses or projects used the methods the job lists, say so on your resume and in your cover letter, and apply.

When you add a posting to the JobMentis job tracker during a first job search, it sorts the requirements into Required, Preferred and Often learned on the job, and shows a must-have that only asks for a year or two of experience as preferred, with a note that says why.