One-third of college-educated workers do not have jobs related to their major, according to a CareerBuilder.com survey, a statistic some St. Thomas students said wasn’t surprising.

The survey, conducted in 2013, polled more than 2,000 full-time workers, and 47 percent of respondents said their first job was unrelated to their major, while 32 percent said they never found a job relating to their major.

Amber Bieneck Thom, a graduate student studying counseling and psychology and an intern at St. Thomas’ Career Development Center, said these statistics are not unexpected.

“It’s kind of something related to the prevalence of the liberal arts education these days and that students are getting a lot of experiences in college in a lot of different areas,” Bieneck Thom said. “They end up with a certain major … but the job market is still recovering, so the jobs that they’re finding might not be specifically related to what they majored in in college.”

The study also showed 64 percent of workers with a job outside their major are still satisfied with their college major.

Bieneck Thom said different experiences—even if they are outside of a student’s major—help people figure out what jobs they might like to hold.

“One of the ways we learn what we like is by doing,” Bieneck Thom said. “You might start out in a job uncertain about what it’s going be or whether you’re going like it and find out you really do love it and are happy with it.”

Lauren Nevanen, a communication and journalism major who graduated in 2011, has not found a job related to her major. Nevanen works as a market insights specialist at a technology company called Concur Technologies, Inc.

Nevanen said she was babysitting the children of a Concur employee, and he offered her an internship, which she took.

“I just kind of fell into it, and the internship turned into a job about six months later,” she said.

Nevanen said she enjoys her job but also wants to do something related to her field.

“My job is great. I love who I work with, and like what I do,” Nevanen said. “I think there’s always a sense of, ‘Oh, I want to do something related to my field.’”

Junior Jenny Murtha is a double major in secondary education and English with minors in communication and journalism and Catholic studies in an effort to open more doors for herself to teach in different fields.

“I think you get the opportunity to teach in a lot of different fields, whether that’s in the classroom or whether that’s elsewhere,” Murtha said. “I think right now the main thing is just like variety in some things that I’m learning.”

Bieneck Thom said the Career Development Center helps students figure out what jobs are good fits for them. Students take assessment tests to help determine their interests and skill-set, and talk to employees about what they look for in a job.

“We also have discussions with students about what kinds of things they like in the workplace environment and what they want to be doing,” Bieneck Thom said.

Senior Michael Duncombe said he chose to major in philosophy because he believes it is applicable to many fields and because he enjoys the classes.

“If I’m going to pay $32,000 a year, I’m going to take classes that I love,” Duncombe said. “I feel like every single organization, business, company, everything revolves around philosophy.”

Duncombe said eventually he wants to work with kids but isn’t worried about finding a specific kind of job.

“Philosophy is every job; every job takes some sort of philosophy,” Duncombe said.

Grace Pastoor can be reached at past6138@stthomas.edu.