Does Studying Fine Art in College = Unemployment? Introducing LinkedIn’s New Field of Study Explorer

Today, LinkedIn launched a new feature called Field of Study, a simple way for people to search for LinkedIn members based on what they studied, and to see the careers that these members pursued. To put the tool to the test, LinkedIn started by examining the field of fine arts and whether studying the subject leads to unemployment, as some believe it does.

The tool shows you exactly how many LinkedIn members studied in that field, and then displays six interactive graphs. More than 294,000 members studied Fine and Studio Arts. You can view where they went to school, where they work, what they do, where they live, what their skills are and how you are connected to them. The graphs show that well-known companies, like Apple and the Art Institutes, often employ people who studied fine arts.

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Companies like Starbucks and Target also employ many people with fine arts backgrounds. At first, you might think these are barista or cashier jobs, but if you click on the companies, you can see these LinkedIn members are actually working as designers and artists.

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So, as the results of LinkedIn’s new Field of Study tool show, studying fine arts in college is not a path to unemployment. This tool will be extremely useful for students looking to discover where they belong in the professional world, be it in art, business, science, philosophy and beyond.

Mikaela Rakos

By Mikaela Rakos

Mikaela is both a writer and content curator for Dashburst, looking to discover and share the latest news, art, entertainment and more. When not tracking down new content to share with the world, you can find Mikaela spending quality time with her rescue dog.