With massive layoffs making headlines and unemployment rates climbing higher each day, America will not be the land of opportunity for the class of 2009. Since the job market is in shambles, more University of Wisconsin students are padding their r?sum?s with supplemental majors. Although students who declare multiple majors are willing to put in the work, the university remains skeptical it is actually beneficial to students. Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Christopher Lee told The Badger Herald he believes adding an additional major or two is not a necessary to compete in the job market after college. Although Lee argues majors in similar subjects may simply be redundant, UW’s student body clearly does not feel the same way.

Although UW has put restrictions on multiple majors in the past, students can currently take on as many majors as they can handle. Last year, 32.7 percent of UW students declared two or more majors, while only 27.7 percent of students on campus had more than one major in 2002. Student interest in multiple majors is already an apparent trend, and these numbers are likely to increase in the future as a desolate job market forces students to bulk up their qualifications. Based on recent economic reports, the class of 2009 could use the r?sum? boost.

According to Time magazine, the companies surveyed by the National Association for Colleges and Employers this year plan to hire 22 percent fewer graduates in 2009 than in 2008. In addition, fewer companies are hiring full-time positions and instead are offering internships. This means even if 2009 graduates land an internship, they may be unpaid and won’t be assured a job when their internship is over. Not only that, but NACE reported that 8 percent of companies that offered graduates jobs in the fall will have to withdraw their offers due to cutbacks. As graduates enter the job pool with little or no career experience, an additional major may very well be the reason students keep their jobs, even if they have already gotten one.

But the competition for jobs will not only be between recent graduates. The Department of Labor reported unemployment rates for February at 12.5 million nationwide. More and more professionals have been laid off as the recession deepens, leaving a larger number of qualified applicants competing for increasingly fewer jobs. Since many employees who have been laid off have comparable qualifications to recent college graduates, a student with multiple majors may have a much more level playing field to compete with existing job candidates as well.

As this year’s graduation date moves steadily closer, the class of 2009 is quickly realizing finding a job will be a very daunting task. Even if different majors overlap, it cannot possibly hurt, especially given the fierce competition for jobs in today’s market, for students to pad their degrees slightly to distinguish themselves from the hordes of potential applicants.

Although the assistant dean confidently asserted employers will ultimately choose the candidate they want working at their company and not the one with the most majors, it is difficult to imagine multiple majors would not be beneficial during preliminary screenings before the interview process. Graduating with multiple majors may make a student appear more hardworking to potential employers as they sort through rival r?sum?s this spring. Plus, additional majors will make graduates more versatile within the job market as far as their qualifications go. In a stable economy, multiple majors might cancel each other out. But in the current recession, an additional major could just be the extra bump graduates need.

Casey Skeens ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in French and English.