A candidate’s college major alone won’t indicate if they’re qualified for a role – but it can help streamline the pool of candidates. That’s why we ask the recruiters on our platform if specific majors are relevant to their role, in addition to asking them to weigh the importance of factors like GPA, previous internships, school prestige, and specific skills. The data helps us match their job opportunities with the best student candidates, but it also gives us a look into the most commonly requested – AKA in-demand – college majors.
According to data collected from the recruiters that use our platform, the most in-demand majors are largely quantitative ones – business management and operations, marketing, computer science, engineering and statistics top the list. Similar to our list of the most in-demand skills, which included data analysis and programming languages, areas of study that cover business and engineering are in high demand.
The data shows that recruiters prioritize analytical majors when hiring entry-level candidates – but liberal arts majors aren’t completely shut out, either.
Both political science & government and psychology cracked the top 10 of most requested majors by recruiters, which is unsurprising given the versatile career paths many students in these areas of study have if they choose not to go on directly to graduate school. Psychology is the fourth most commonly studied major overall according to the American Psychological Association, and students studying psychology often find themselves in people-centric roles such as sales, human resources, customer service, or account management. Similarly, those studying political science might find themselves good fits for analyst, legislative, or research roles.
Majors are just one small factor that can be used to screen which candidates might be a good fit for a role, and is best analyzed alongside skills, internship experiences, and involvement on campus. However, it’s clear that the recruiters on our platform are looking for candidates with strong quantitative skills, as well as versatile majors that provide a foundation for several kinds of career paths.
Want to reach talented entry-level candidates with these majors? Reach out to our team here to find out how we can help.
