What Can I Do with a PACS Degree?

"O.K, now that I have a degree in Peace and Conflict Studies, what can I do with it?"

Plenty! The costly nature of many disputes connected to social inequalities, public resource allocations, and diverse populations and workforces is creating employment opportunities for students trained in conflict analysis and management. For example, there are now well over 650 community mediation centers in the United States. State and local courts are increasingly offering alternative dispute resolution (ADR) programs such as mediation as an alternative to litigation. School systems are including peer mediation training in their curricula and increasing numbers of businesses and organizations are institutionalizing conflict management processes in their personnel policies. Professionals and policy-makers skilled in conflict management deal with disputes ranging from divorce and domestic disputes to international conflicts; from labor strikes and prison riots to environmental protests.

Your conflict management and peacebuilding skills can be utilized in a variety of fields -- our alumni and former students have found fulfilling work in mediation, human resources, law, social work and counseling, nonprofit management, social services, government, education and training, community organizing and activism, business, finance, and other fields. The skills and knowledge that you develop here will serve you well, whatever direction you choose.  Employers in many fields are specifically looking for employees with good communication, problem-solving and conflict management skills.

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Alumni talk about using skills learned from the Center for Applied Conflict Management (now SPCS) in your future profession (Note: Since this video was recorded, our name has changed to the School of Peace & Conflict Studies, and the name of the major changed to Peace & Conflict Studies. The curriculum has remained essentially the same.) 

CAREER RESOURCES

• Careers Using Conflict Management Skills
• Some Alumni Using Conflict Management in Their Jobs
• Academic & Professional Resources

"Focus 2" Major & Career Information

• Create an account in Focus 2 to reveal your best career fit and explore careers options

Match Majors to Careers

• What Can I do with this Major?  - Peace & Conflict Studies is not in this database, but searching for the terms can bring up some major with similar career opportunities, which might give some ideas on possible career paths

U.S. Department of Labor Websites

• Occupational Outlook Handbook - Learn about occupations including responsibilities, salaries, education required, and employment outlook
• Career One Stop - Explore careers, salary and benefits, training required, and employment seeker services by state
• O*Net - Occupational Information from the US Department of Labor

Ohio's In-Demand Careers

• In-Demand Careers - Learn about growing fields in the state of Ohio

Talk with Faculty, Family and Professionals

• Find out what a career is really like by speaking to someone in the field. Review the informational interviewing questions to ask and the list of possible people in your network to speak with.
• Talk with your professors who have a wealth of knowledge about their career fields. 
• Chat with family members about their work experiences and:
  • how they selected their careers
  • what they find rewarding/challenging
  • what skills they utilize
  • what their long-term goals are

"My Plan" Resources:

• Research Careers - Browse database, videos, top ten lists, and more
• Salary Calculator - Salaries by career and geographic area