With our world becoming more interconnected every day, the importance of skillful, ethical communication has never been greater. People who can send the right message at the right moment to the right audience are irreplaceable, because in that ability lies the power to inform and affect change.
When advising students on what to study, I always tell them it’s important to remember that they’re making a decision for the next 40-plus years, not just the first job after they graduate. A communication degree pairs the opportunity to make an instant impact with the career flexibility to achieve long-term success.
Here are some things students are well-equipped to do with any communication degree:
- Influence the conversation
The term “influencer” isn’t just reserved for people with large social media followings. As a communicator, your work will impact public dialogue in a thousand different ways.
Diederich College of Communication alumni appear on the sets of ESPN shows, in the editor’s booth for Emmy-nominated television series, in Broadway theaters and on Chicago’s Navy Pier, speaking in one way or another to millions of people. Their work draws crowds, inspires donations to nonprofits, makes its way into CEOs’ speeches, and is broadcast on television and movie screens. If you want to be seen and heard, comm is the place for you.
There are abundant opportunities to do this in the social media age. Prior to the advent of YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, only a select few working at the right employers could truly capture attention on a mass scale. Now, anybody can do it. A communication degree will teach you how.
- Be resilient to change
The average American worker holds an average of 12.4 different positions between ages 18 and 54. On average, people change careers at least three times during their lifetimes, either out of necessity or out of personal desire.
To navigate these transitions, employees need competencies that are transferrable across industries. Communication competencies, interpersonal skills, public speaking and creativity are among the most universally sought-after attributes. Pairing these with technical proficiencies like writing or video editing will give you an advantage in the job market.
Core communication skills also have the benefit of being resilient against artificial intelligence automation. The World Economic Forum lists “leadership and social influence” and “analytical thinking” among the top five skills sought after by employers globally. These lie at the heart of our curriculum. Communication is a way of looking at the world that makes its practitioners more able to connect people and ideas. That will always be in demand.
- Pursue a C-suite job
Communicators are increasingly thought of as business partners in major companies. Nearly half of chief communication officers report directly to CEOs as of 2025, up from 37 percent just a decade prior. Communicators regularly collaborate with different business units, maintain connections with key external stakeholder groups and advance the organization’s brand, which are all highly sought-after skills in the C-suite.
Mastering the art of effective, strategic communication will open more chances to grow both vertically up the org chart and horizontally across industries.
- Self-express
If artistic expression is important to you, a communication degree would be a good fit.
Putting together a feature film or writing a stage script is more than just conveying ideas to an audience; rather, it allows that audience to intimately know the person behind the work.
Students in the Diederich College of Communication can do this from day one of their college careers through their own radio shows, theatre productions and television programs. Marquette even partners with the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design to offer classes for students who are interested in visual arts.
- Make connections
Career success is often as much a function of who you know, not just what you can do. Communicators build strong networks because their jobs are inherently relational. Public relations professionals work with a variety of internal and external clients. General assignment reporters cover something different every day. Those experiences build subject matter expertise while also creating a diverse network that will only grow more valuable with time.
In 2025, more than half of American workers reported being hired through a personal connection. Any job that allows you to form an unusually high number of those relationships will compound the impact of your degree.
This is especially true at Marquette, where our alumni network stands at 115,000-strong. Our students get to take part in programs and experiences that allow for personalized engagement with those alumni, such as the Diederich Experience trips and the Selig – Jaffee Marquette Mentors program. These relationships form the basis of a successful, fulfilling postgraduation life.
