Ina Teves, Organizational Development Consultant

Ina Teves is an organizational development consultant with a change management firm dedicated to making a difference wherever it goes by journeying with the client through the entire process of organizational transformation. Email your questions to ina.b.teves@gmail.com.

Should I select my graduate course based on the
most in-demand jobs?

Q: Dear Ms Ina,

Good day!

I am planning to take my master's degree next year and I'm confused as to what course to take.

I am a graduate of Bachelor of Library and Information Science but none of my previous jobs, even my current job, is related to this course.  Hence, I like to shift to a different field. I want to take MBA but since there are so many electives, I find it hard to decide which track I should follow. Based on your expertise, which do you think is in demand in the job market today?

Thank you for taking time reading my mail.  I hope to hear from you soon.

Dear Rodaline,

Very much in the news now are call center jobs, nursing jobs, IT jobs, but it’s not so much what is in demand today, but what you really want to do.  The market is fickle – I have aunts who were on the first wave of nurses in the US and uncles who rode the crest of global demands for Filipino seamen.  Some are still nurses and seamen and some have retired after putting their nephews and nieces through university.

What do you really want to do?  There must be a reason why you took Library Science.  It’s a very special field especially now that information technology has made classification and retrieval very easy.  IT will render many traditional library jobs obsolete. Try to find out how IT will change the way a library works and see where you could contribute. 

If your MS has too many electives to choose from and you do not know which ones are for you, try doing two things:

First, go through the elective list and cross out what appeals to you least, until you are left with the maximum number of electives you should take.  Look at what remains and ask yourself, if you really do like what’s left and whether you would stand out or perform in such an area. 

Second, go through the same elective list.  Check all the ones you like best.  You may compare two at a time and check the one you like better until you hit the maximum number of electives required. Now take a look at the two lists.  Do they tell you something about where you should and shouldn’t be?