Communication Studies

Home Degrees Courses Faculty/Staff Students News Research Links Advising

CST Home  

Communication Studies Advising

Career Options

Wondering what you can do with a Communication Studies degree?  Past UW La Crosse grads in Communication Studies have taken jobs as human resources recruiters, public relations coordinators, sales managers, grant coordinators, admissions counselors, marketing assistants, account representatives, television anchors, and many more. Check out the Job Titles link for more of our graduates' job titles.

Advising Home
Advising FAQs
Prospective Students
Enrolled Students
Major/Minor
Career Options
Registration Info
UWL Home
CLS Home
   
Review all the information provided here, and take a look at what our alumni are doing. Take advantage of all the resources available to you through Career Services. The Center is the best resource for assistance with career planning, assessments, internships, job market information, job search services, and alumni services.  Finally, be sure to check our Department News page for announcements and upcoming events.

Which Line Of Work Is For You?

Do a self-assessment to map out your personality style and top ten career options you might consider based on your career motivations. 

Look through the resources listed in this web site, and use all the resources available to you at UW La Crosse's Career Services. The Center is the best resource for assistance with career planning, assessments, internships, job market information, job search services, and alumni services. Career Services offers individual counseling as well as a wide variety of workshops.

We also invite you to talk with your department advisor or any faculty member you wish concerning employment opportunities, graduate schools, etc.  

Consider Doing An Internship

Why do an internship? An internship can give you experience before you graduate and well as help you decide on a career. You can receive up to six credits in Communication Studies for completing an internship. Some students even complete two or three internships before graduating. In order to receive credit for an internship, you must first register with Career Services. Career Services posts internships available for credit or you can find your own internship through networking. Once you've obtained an internship, you need to find a faculty supervisor and got through the department's internship approval process.

Internship instructions: Once you've obtained an internship, complete the following instructions to receive academic credit. 

Job Search Strategies

Use the resources available to you through UW La Crosse's Career Services Center.

As early as your junior year, attend job search workshops.  Learn how to research companies, promote your skills and experience, and identify the hidden job market. The Career Services Center offers several workshops throughout each quarter to help students with every topic you can think of:

  • Job Search Strategies

  • Resume writing

  • Cover letter writing
  • Interviewing techniques
  • Developing an internship
  • Getting into graduate school

Attend career fairs and other events. Several career fairs and other events are offered throughout the year to help students and alumni research employers and job opportunities.  Check the Career Services web page for more details. 

During your junior or senior year, register with the Career Services to take full advantage of internship searches, job search services, including on-campus interviews and career fairs.

Also participate in on-campus recruiting. Business, industry and government organizations recruit during fall and spring semesters.

Here are several other Job Search Strategies

  • Contact agencies, companies or organizations you would like to work for and see if they're hiring
  • Check with the state employment opportunity office
  • Talk with parents and others about job possibilities in their companies
  • Check local newspaper classified ads--especially on Sunday
  • Consider volunteer or internship positions (these sometimes lead to paid positions)
  • Call employment/temporary placement agencies
  • Check the Internet for job posting web sites--see Career Services.

Salary Comparison Sites

Check out these salary comparison sites (Ref. U.S. News & World Report, 11/6/00, p64).

  • Salary.com  The broadest salary-comparison site.  Its Salary Wizard allows you to pick a job category and a region and to quickly find median salaries by position.  There's also news on compensation and benefit trends.

  • SalaryExpert.com  A free comprehensive salary site offering salary, benefits and cost-of-living information. Find salaries quickly by selecting Job Title and Zip.

  • WageWeb  Designed for human-resources professionals, who pay $169 to $219 annually for detailed salary data, the site lets others surf salaries on a national basis for free. Information is current, drawn from surveys of its members, making it a good bench-marking tool.

  • NationJob  This data-base for job seekers allows you to search by salary level. 

Considering Graduate School?

This link gives you great information about things to consider about graduate school in Communication Studies:

Everything you wanted to know about grad school

Many departments also require applicants to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE)

Communication Studies Department
346 Center for the Arts
Phone: 608.785.8519
Fax: 608.785.6719
Email: cstdept@uwlax.edu

Office Hours: 8am to 4pm Monday-Friday