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I had this moment in the library where someone said, “If you are not CS or engineering, good luck getting a decent job,” and the whole table just nodded. I walked back to my dorm thinking: is that actually true, or are we all just repeating the same fear story?

Short answer: no, it is not true. Non-technical majors have a huge range of entry-level jobs that pay well, teach real skills, and can lead into startups, product roles, or even your own company. The trick is matching what you studied with what companies actually need: communication, structure, research, sales, storytelling, and empathy for users and customers.

Start with what companies really hire for, not what majors they like

I realized during a lecture that employers do not wake up thinking, “I must hire three Psychology majors and two English majors.” They wake up thinking, “I need someone who can talk to customers, close deals, keep projects on track, write clearly, and not ghost meetings.”

Once you see that, the question is not “What can an English major do?” but “Where does strong writing + communication + research show up in entry-level roles?”

Here are the skill buckets most non-technical students already have, often without giving themselves credit:

• Writing and communication: essays, presentations, seminar discussions, tutoring.
• Research and analysis: literature reviews, lab reports, policy briefs, senior theses.
• Organization and project work: group projects, clubs, student government, event planning.
• People and empathy: counseling-type classes, RA work, team leadership, volunteering.
• Language and culture: international students, language majors, study abroad.

Entry-level jobs for non-technical majors are basically “Where can you turn writing, research, people skills, or organizing chaos into money?”

Everything in the rest of this article plugs directly into that question.

Customer Success & Account Management

Customer success is the campus version of being the friend who explains how a new app works to everyone else. You help paying customers actually get value from a product, keep them happy, and stop them from canceling.

What you actually do

• Onboard new customers and walk them through the product on calls or Zoom.
• Answer “How do I do X?” questions by email, chat, or ticketing tools.
• Spot patterns: which features confuse people, where they get stuck.
• Work with sales and product teams to keep key customers happy.
• Sometimes manage a “book of business” of small or mid-size customers.

If you can explain a confusing reading to your friend without sounding arrogant, you are already halfway to being good at customer success.

Good majors for this

• Psychology
• Communications
• Education
• English
• Sociology
• Any language or international relations major

Typical titles to search

• Customer Success Representative
• Customer Success Manager (Associate or Junior)
• Account Coordinator
• Client Services Associate
• Customer Experience Specialist

Campus-friendly ways to prepare

• Work part-time in support at a campus startup or local software company.
• Help run support for a student club product (like a hackathon registration system).
• Take one basic “intro to databases” or “excel for business” course to be less scared of tools.

Sales & Business Development

Sales is the job everyone claims to hate and then quietly discovers is where the money and growth are. In startups, it is also one of the fastest ways to understand customers and learn how businesses actually work.

What you actually do

• Reach out to potential customers by email, phone, or LinkedIn.
• Book meetings for senior sales reps or founders.
• Learn how to explain what your product does in simple, clear language.
• Track your leads and meetings in a customer relationship tool (like HubSpot or Salesforce).
• Work tightly with marketing to follow up on leads from events, content, or ads.

Sales is just structured conversation with a scorecard. The score is revenue.

Good majors for this

• Business or Economics
• Political Science
• History
• Communications
• Theater or Performing Arts
• Any major where you talk, present, or debate a lot

Typical titles to search

• Sales Development Representative (SDR)
• Business Development Representative (BDR)
• Inside Sales Representative
• Partnerships Associate (for some startup roles)

Campus-friendly ways to prepare

• Do fundraising or sponsorship outreach for a club or conference.
• Sell something real: tutoring, secondhand textbooks, prints, or digital art.
• Join a student club that competes in case competitions or model UN.

Marketing, Content, and Social Roles

Think of this as the professional version of running a student club Instagram, except the stakes are higher and someone actually tracks the numbers.

What you actually do

• Write blog posts, emails, landing page copy, social media posts.
• Help plan and schedule content on platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok.
• Support campaigns: giveaways, webinars, campus events, newsletters.
• Study basic metrics: views, clicks, sign-ups, conversions.
• Sometimes work with design and video teams to publish content.

If you have ever tried to get people to show up to an event on a rainy Thursday night, you already know more about marketing than you think.

Good majors for this

• English, Media Studies, Journalism
• Marketing, Business
• Communications
• Film, Art, Design (especially for content and creative roles)

Typical titles to search

• Marketing Coordinator
• Content Marketing Assistant
• Social Media Coordinator
• Digital Marketing Associate
• Communications Assistant

Campus-friendly ways to prepare

• Run or improve the social media for a club, society, or campus project.
• Start a small newsletter, blog, or TikTok about a niche you care about.
• Take an online course on basic ads or email marketing tools.

Operations & Project Coordination

Every campus group has that one person who actually books the room, updates the spreadsheet, and remembers to order pizza. Operations is that, but paid.

What you actually do

• Keep projects on schedule: timelines, tasks, follow-ups.
• Coordinate between teams: marketing, product, sales, HR.
• Help maintain process documents, checklists, and simple dashboards.
• Run team meetings: agendas, notes, action items.
• Sometimes handle logistics like vendor communication or event planning.

If you are the friend with the shared calendar and color-coded Notion board, operations is your natural habitat.

Good majors for this

• Business, Management
• Public Policy, Public Administration
• Any social science with research projects
• Anyone who has actually organized real events

Typical titles to search

• Operations Coordinator
• Project Coordinator
• Program Assistant
• Office Coordinator or Administrative Coordinator (in smaller startups, this often overlaps with ops)

Campus-friendly ways to prepare

• Lead logistics for a conference, hackathon, or large event.
• Run operations for a club: budgets, schedules, membership systems.
• Get comfortable with tools like spreadsheets, Notion, Trello, or Asana.

Product-adjacent roles for non-technical majors

You might not write code, but you can sit very close to product teams and influence what gets built. These roles live at the edge of tech and real users.

User Research & UX Research Assistant

You help teams understand user behavior by running interviews, surveys, and usability tests.

• Plan and run interviews with users.
• Take notes, synthesize themes, prepare insights for designers and product managers.
• Help design surveys and analyze basic data (often with simple tools).

Good majors: Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Design, Education.

Search for: “User Research Assistant”, “UX Research Intern”, “Research Coordinator (product or UX)”.

Product Operations / Product Coordinator

Not full product management, but you help keep product work organized.

• Collect and sort feature requests, bugs, and feedback.
• Maintain simple documentation: feature specs, release notes.
• Support communication between support, sales, and product teams.

Good majors: Business, any social science, communications.

Search for: “Product Operations Associate”, “Product Coordinator”, “Product Analyst (junior)” where technical skills are “nice to have” not mandatory.

HR, Recruiting, and People Ops

People-focused roles often welcome non-technical majors because you need empathy, communication, and organization more than code.

What you actually do

• Help screen resumes and coordinate interviews.
• Communicate with candidates and hiring managers.
• Support onboarding: contracts, system access, welcome sessions.
• Assist with internal events, surveys, and training programs.

Recruiting is like college admissions, but for jobs. Same puzzle: Who fits, and how do we explain it clearly?

Good majors for this

• Psychology
• Human Resources or Management
• Sociology
• Communications

Typical titles to search

• Recruiting Coordinator
• Talent Acquisition Coordinator
• HR Assistant
• People Operations Assistant

Campus-friendly ways to prepare

• Help run recruitment for a club, society, or campus program.
• Work as an RA or orientation leader.
• Take at least one class that covers basic organizational behavior or HR.

Entry-level jobs that love strong writing and analysis

If your main weapon is writing or analysis, do not hide it. Aim straight at roles where writing is the job, not a side quest.

Content Writing & Copywriting

You use words to explain, persuade, or teach.

• Write blog posts, guides, and case studies.
• Draft website copy, ads, and scripts.
• Help maintain knowledge bases and help center articles.

Good majors: English, Journalism, History, Philosophy, any humanities major with serious writing.

Search for: “Content Writer”, “Junior Copywriter”, “Content Specialist”, “Editorial Assistant”.

Research Assistant & Analyst roles

Not only in academia. Many firms hire juniors to support research and analysis.

• Collect and clean data (often more Excel than advanced statistics).
• Prepare slide decks and memos summarizing findings.
• Help with competitive research, market sizing, or policy research.

Good majors: Economics, Political Science, International Relations, Public Policy, Sociology, Statistics minors.

Search for: “Research Assistant”, “Junior Analyst”, “Policy Analyst (entry-level)”, “Market Research Assistant”.

Service jobs that translate well to startups

There are entry-level roles that look simple on the surface but teach you habits that founders love: resilience, customer focus, calm under pressure.

Technical Support (without being fully technical)

You do first-line troubleshooting and help users figure out what went wrong.

• Answer questions about product setup and basic bugs.
• Follow scripts and documentation to guide users through fixes.
• Flag deeper problems to engineers, with clear notes and steps to reproduce.

Majors: Any, as long as you are not scared to read instructions and be patient.

Search for: “Customer Support Specialist”, “Technical Support Representative”, “Support Associate”.

Office & Admin Coordinator roles

These can be startup gold if the company is small, because you end up doing a bit of everything.

• Support scheduling and calendars for leaders.
• Help with basic finance tasks (invoices, reimbursements).
• Coordinate visitors, events, and office logistics.

Majors: Literally anything; what matters is reliability and organization.

Search for: “Office Coordinator”, “Administrative Assistant”, “Executive Assistant (junior)”.

How these jobs actually stack up: pay, growth, and learning

Here is a rough comparison of some common entry-level roles for non-technical majors. Numbers are very rough and vary by city and company size, but they give a sense of relative positioning.

Role Type	Typical Entry Title	Pay Level (relative)	Learning Speed	Pathways After 3-5 Years
Sales / Business Dev	SDR / BDR	Base: medium, total: medium to high (commissions)	Fast	Account Executive, Sales Manager, Founder, Growth roles
Customer Success	CS Rep / CSM (Junior)	Medium	Fast	Senior CSM, Account Manager, Product roles, Sales
Marketing / Content	Marketing Coordinator	Low to medium	Medium	Marketing Manager, Content Lead, Brand, Growth
Operations / Project	Ops Coordinator	Medium	Medium to fast	Ops Manager, Program Manager, Product Ops, Chief of Staff
HR / Recruiting	Recruiting Coordinator	Medium	Medium	Recruiter, HRBP, People Ops Lead
Research / Analyst	Research Assistant / Analyst	Medium	Medium	Senior Analyst, Policy roles, Strategy
Support	Support Specialist	Low to medium	Medium	Customer Success, Ops, Product Support

The “best” entry-level job is not the one with the highest starting salary. It is the one that teaches skills that compound and open doors.

How to choose the right path for your major

If you are not careful, it is easy to drift into “anything that will hire me” mode. That is how a lot of people end up stuck in roles that do not build skills they care about.

Here is a more deliberate way to think about it.

Step 1: Map your major to skill buckets

Ask yourself, very bluntly:

• Am I better at writing, talking, listening, or organizing?
• Do I prefer deep solo work or constant interaction?
• Do I enjoy being measured with clear numbers (sales, growth) or more qualitative feedback (writing, people)?

Then connect:

If you like…	Look at…
Persuading and debating	Sales, Business Development, Marketing
Explaining and teaching	Customer Success, User Research, Content
Writing and editing	Content, Copywriting, Communications, Research roles
Planning and organizing	Operations, Project Coordination, Event roles
Listening and supporting people	HR, Recruiting, Customer Success, Counseling-adjacent roles

Step 2: Filter by learning environment, not just job title

Within the same job title, experience can be totally different. A “Customer Success Manager” at a 20-person startup will live a different life from a “Customer Success Manager” at a giant company.

Ask in interviews:

• How big is the team I will be on?
• Who will I work with every day?
• What did the last person in this role go on to do?
• How will my performance be measured in the first 6-12 months?

If they cannot answer these clearly, that is a red flag, even if the role sounds shiny.

Step 3: Be honest about your risk tolerance

Startups can let you learn faster but with more chaos. Larger companies offer more structure but sometimes slower growth.

Neither is “correct.” If you are supporting family or carrying heavy debt, taking the larger, more predictable offer can be smarter, even if the startup sounds cooler.

How non-technical students can stand out in applications

This is where a lot of non-technical majors quietly sabotage themselves. The approach of sending the same generic resume to 80 “entry-level” jobs and hoping is a bad approach. It works for almost no one.

Better approach: treat each job type like a mini major. Learn its language, then speak it.

Translate your campus experience into job language

Take a simple example: “Secretary of Debate Club.”

Weak description:

• “Took notes in meetings and sent emails to members.”

Stronger description:

• “Organized weekly meetings for 30+ members, set agendas, and circulated summaries within 24 hours.”
• “Coordinated travel logistics and registration for 4 regional competitions per semester.”

Now it sounds like operations.

Another example: “Resident Assistant.”

Weak:

• “Planned events and supported residents.”

Stronger:

• “Managed a floor of 40 students, resolving conflicts and escalating serious issues to professional staff.”
• “Planned and promoted 2-3 educational or social events per month, tracking attendance and feedback.”

Now it reads like people ops or customer success.

Evidence beats adjectives

Instead of saying:

• “Strong communicator”
• “Hard-working, detail-oriented”

Show:

• “Presented weekly to a 20-person seminar on original research.”
• “Maintained error-free documentation for 100+ customers in a CRM tool.”

The moment you stop writing resumes like personality quizzes and start writing them like short case studies, things change.

Build a tiny portfolio, even for “business” roles

You do not need to be a designer to have proof of work.

Possible portfolio pieces:

• For marketing: screenshots and links of posts you wrote, newsletter issues, simple campaign recaps.
• For content: Google Docs of sample articles, blog posts, or case studies.
• For ops: screenshots of dashboards or process docs (with sensitive info removed).
• For sales/CS: simple scripts you wrote, email templates, or a short write-up of a “customer” project.

One or two strong pieces beat a 10-page PDF that no one will ever read.

What this looks like at a startup vs a large company

These roles change flavor depending on where you work.

At a small or early-stage startup

Pros:

• You will touch many parts of the business.
• You will talk directly with founders or senior leaders.
• You will see how decisions are made with incomplete information.

Cons:

• Less training and structure.
• Roles are fuzzy; your title might not match what you do.
• Job security and pay may be less stable.

Great if you:

• Learn best by doing.
• Are curious about starting your own company later.
• Do not mind some chaos.

At a larger or more established company

Pros:

• Clear training programs and ladders.
• Brand name on your resume that helps later.
• Often better benefits and more predictable hours.

Cons:

• You might be a small cog in a big system.
• Slower to get ownership or big responsibilities.

Great if you:

• Prefer structure and defined expectations.
• Want a safer financial starting point.
• Are not yet sure what path you want long-term.

If you want to end up in startups or build your own

If you are reading this on a student startup site, there is a decent chance you want more than just a paycheck. You probably want proximity to founders, new products, or the chance to build something yourself.

For that path, some role types are especially strong.

Sales or customer-facing roles in a tech company

Why they are powerful:

• You learn what real customers care about, not what a pitch deck says they care about.
• You hear objections and frustrations directly.
• You learn how revenue actually shows up, which is the heartbeat of any startup.

Operations roles that sit close to leadership

Titles like “Operations Associate” or “Chief of Staff (junior)” at a small company can give you:

• A wide view of finance, hiring, product, and strategy.
• Chances to own internal projects end to end.
• Mentorship from founders, if they are willing to teach.

Customer success in a product-focused startup

If your future goal is product management but you do not have a technical major:

• Customer success lets you see how people really use features.
• You can move closer to product by owning feedback loops and beta tests.
• Over time, you can transition into product operations or associate PM roles.

Common mistakes non-technical majors make (and how to fix them)

This is the part where I am not going to agree with the common “any experience is good experience” line. Some choices really are better than others.

Mistake 1: Avoiding sales and customer roles out of fear

There is this myth on campus that sales is “for people who could not get anything else.” That mindset quietly blocks students from the roles that teach the most about business, fast.

Fix:

• Talk to 2-3 people who actually work as SDRs, AEs, or CSMs.
• Shadow a sales or customer call if you can.
• Give yourself at least one sales-related internship or part-time experience before rejecting the whole field.

Mistake 2: Hiding your major and pretending to be something else

You do not need to pretend your Literature degree was “basically computer science” because you used Google Sheets once.

Fix:

• Own the strengths of your major: interpretation, writing, critical thinking.
• Then add one or two concrete, job-relevant skills through projects or short courses.

“hiding” feels weaker than “owning and adding.”

Mistake 3: Aiming only at “glamour” roles

Everyone wants “strategy analyst” or “product manager” straight out of undergrad. Those roles often require experience you do not have yet.

Fix:

• Use entry-level roles to get into the building: sales, ops, success, support, marketing.
• Once inside, look for paths to rotate or transition over time.

Mistake 4: Underestimating how long the search takes

I have seen friends start applying two months before graduation and then panic when nothing happens.

Fix:

• Start experimenting with roles (through internships or part-time work) by your second or third year if you can.
• If you are late, commit to a structured search: targeted applications, networking, and learning each week.

Putting it all together for specific majors

To make this less abstract, here are quick sketches of how different majors can map to real entry-level roles.

English / Literature

Natural strengths: writing, editing, arguing from text, narrative.

Strong entry roles:

• Content Writer / Content Marketing Assistant
• Communications Assistant
• Customer Success (especially for complex or content-heavy products)
• Research Assistant in think tanks or consulting firms

Add-on skills that help:

• Learn basic SEO concepts and email marketing tools.
• Get comfortable with spreadsheets and simple analytics dashboards.

Psychology

Natural strengths: understanding behavior, empathy, statistics basics (in many programs).

Strong entry roles:

• Customer Success Representative
• User Research Assistant
• HR / Recruiting Coordinator
• Market Research Assistant

Add-on skills that help:

• Practice interview and survey design beyond your classes.
• Sharpen basic data analysis in Excel or similar.

Political Science / International Relations

Natural strengths: argument, research, large-scale systems thinking.

Strong entry roles:

• Sales / Business Development (especially in B2B or policy-adjacent areas)
• Research Assistant in policy or consulting
• Operations or Program Coordination in NGOs or startups

Add-on skills that help:

• Presentation and slide-making skills.
• Any exposure to budgeting or financial basics.

Sociology / Anthropology

Natural strengths: qualitative research, interviews, pattern spotting in complex groups.

Strong entry roles:

• User Research Assistant
• Customer Success and Support roles with strong user feedback components
• People Ops / HR roles focused on culture and engagement

Add-on skills that help:

• Turn fieldwork skills into user interview and survey skills.
• Practice translating complex findings into simple, visual summaries.

Business / Management (non-technical track)

Natural strengths: basic exposure to accounting, marketing, and org behavior.

Strong entry roles:

• Sales / Business Development
• Operations / Project Coordination
• Marketing Coordination
• Customer Success

Add-on skills that help:

• Deeper practice in at least one direction: sales, marketing, operations, or finance.
• Real projects so recruiters do not just see generic “business” on your resume.

How to experiment while still in university

You do not need to guess from your dorm room which of these jobs you will like. You can run small experiments.

Micro-internships and short projects

Look for:

• Short paid projects on platforms aimed at students and early talent.
• Helping a local business with social media or basic marketing.
• Part-time remote roles for support, tutoring, or content writing.

Even 4-6 weeks of focused work can tell you more than 10 hours of reading job descriptions.

Student organizations as test labs

Treat your club like a simulation:

• Take a “sales” role by handling sponsorship and fundraising.
• Take a “marketing” role by running promotion and communications.
• Take an “ops” role by organizing events and internal systems.

Then pay attention to which type of work feels energizing rather than draining.

Informational interviews

The name sounds formal, but this is just “coffee chats with people doing jobs you are curious about.”

Ask:

• What does a typical week look like for you?
• What surprised you about this job compared with what you expected?
• If you were a student in my major again, how would you prepare for this role?

People are often more honest in these conversations than in any official company presentation.

Final filter: what makes an entry-level job “best” for you

The label “best” needs unpacking. For non-technical majors, a strong first role usually scores well on four questions:

• Skill growth: Will I come out of this with abilities that are clearly more advanced than when I entered?
• Transferability: Do these skills transfer across companies and sectors?
• Contact with reality: Will I interact with customers, users, or real-world constraints?
• Mentorship and feedback: Is someone there to help me improve, not just survive?

If a customer success job at a mid-sized software company, a sales development role at a fast-growing startup, or an operations coordinator position under a sharp manager all score high on those four, they are strong candidates for “best first job” even if they do not sound glamorous on LinkedIn.

And if anyone at the library table repeats the “non-technical majors are doomed” line again, you will have a much more precise reply than just nervous laughter.