Make your university degree count, financially! Bermuda island students are readying their itineraries for the giant step of a first year in university, or returning to fully complete their degrees. Some may have already chosen a major, while some are ambivalent, taking a wait-and-see attitude.In local and US media reports, recent university graduates are reporting mixed results in obtaining appropriate jobs, often having to accept a position not related to their major, or a job with decent advancement paths. Student graduates in the US with significant education loans are facing a future job market that is indeterminate, and that may not generate sufficient excess savings to reduce those loans in an orderly manner. The prospect of carrying large student loan liabilities into middle age for these students is a serious concern. I have personally over the years seen this discouraging outcome on a very real basis.So many parents have sacrificed, saved and denied themselves in order to finance their children’s educational and career futures, quite possibly investing more than the cost of a modest home (upwards of more than $250,000 in a university education). After all, who does not want the best for their children? It can only be financially painful for these parents to see their sacrifices remain unfulfilled if their child(ren) is not able to realise their full job potential, instead working as a part-time coffee barista, and other temporary service positions. This is, unfortunately, a reality of our current job market.Individuals, recently graduated secondary school, focused on a university education (and their parents) are strongly advised to make the choice of degree just as important, if not more important than the choice of university. Forget the idealism, romanticism, and thoughts of saving the world. You will need to become hard-nosed and realistic in our new employment environment, with your best choice centred on the researched statistical ability to obtain a position in successful field on graduation, with the second most important criteria being salary and growth potential. No point picking a major with a high salary, if you will never obtain a job. Period. The majors that have the best chance of providing steady employment, advancement, spring boarding to other peripheral careers, and decent salaries will need to be further refined for the employment environment in Bermuda.A recent study by Georgetown University called ‘Hard Times: College Majors, Unemployment and Earnings: Not All College Degrees Are Created Equal’, reinforces this message. Just as education matters, so does the field of study, the research stated. The background material is real, culled from the American Community survey for the years 2010 and 2011 along with the US Census Bureau statistics. The material definitively points to consistently higher unemployment for college graduates in information systems, social sciences, fine arts (including film, video, graphic design, photography), humanities and liberal arts, such as English language, history, and religious studies. The website www.salary.com reinforces these poorer performing positions, adding communications (reporters, writers, marketing), psychology and counselling, nutrition, catering and some hospitality, and sociology.Even a law degree post-university will not guarantee one a fabulous job in this challenging, changing outsourcing-of-services employment environment. A serious discussion is under way currently in the US between law students, law professors and academics, seasoned employed and unemployed attorneys, debating the lifetime worth of a law degree. In the US, new attorneys are graduating with massive student loan debt (almost 50 percent unable to find a job) that may never be paid back given the numbers of unemployed lawyers, along with the drop in positions and starting salary ranges for those more fortunate.The Georgetown reports also notes that graduates with experience faired better overall, but this is an age-old issue, how do you gain experience, if you cannot find a job in your chosen field?Follow the money for finance and health services. The jobs with the lowest unemployment, and conversely higher earnings position potential are: nursing, elementary education teachers, chemistry, and finance.In order and reviewing the best job subcategories:Business: accounting (currently the most-in-demand position in the US), economics, finance, business marketing, computer sciences, business mathematics and insurance.Education: elementary, secondary, special needs and early childhood teachers.Engineering: general, chemical, electrical, civil, mechanical, industrial, all in demand.Health: nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy.Science-Life Physical: biology, biochemical, chemistry, geology and earth, physics, multi-disciplinary.Parents of students who are thinking of majoring in fine arts, or other degrees that earn low rates of return, or currently have very high unemployment rate, might want to take an educated role in helping their children approach a career today from a practical and basic approach.Students who are dead set against a practical degree will not be happy with me, but this is a concerned and kind reminder. Today’s job environment is one of the toughest ever. You aren’t competing against your friends or your fellow town or city populations; you are competing against the entire world in your age group. You must get real, be focused, think practically, and acquire the skills that employers want and will pay you for in order to position yourself to access the best possible position to become financially independent. After all there is nothing like being the master of your own destiny. Plus, your parents have invested time, money and love in seeing you off to success. You should see that their investment in you earns a decent rate of return, too.Then, if you want to branch out into other fields, such as non-profits and charitable work, you will have the saved resources to do so. There is no such thing today as a one-career path.Many individuals have transitioned successfully in more than five different careers during their lifetimes because they were open to being flexible as their employment options expanded and contracted. Chose a major that will provide many options and choices (accounting is one very good choice) as you move along life’s successful career path.If you plan to return to Bermuda, plan ahead now by determining now the career paths with the most options for financial success. Research our dominant industries: re/insurance, trust administration, accounting, law, personal banking, investment advisory services, fund management, services, healthcare, hospitality, and others. Employment agencies and human resource firms know these current demographics well. It is all up to you.Sources: 8 College Degrees with the Worst Return on Investment, ‘These Careers Might Make You Happy, But Fail the Tuition ROI Test’ By Dawn Dugan, Salary.com contributing writer.Anthony P Carnevale and Ban Cheah, ‘Hard Times: Collge Majors, Unemployment and Earnings’. Georgetown University 2013Martha Harris Myron JP CPA PFS CFP is a Bermudian journalist and a cross-border financial planning specialist with a focus on offshore financial perspectives for international citizens living, working, crossing borders, and straddling ponds in the North Atlantic Quadrangle: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, and the island of Bermuda, the premier international finance centre.President of Pondstraddler? Life™ Consultancy. www.pondstraddler.comPublications, Presentations and Seminars. info@marthamyron.com