Alumni Featured in “Forbes” Tout Transferable Skills They Developed in College
The article, which quotes David Gwyn ’11 and Spencer Liddic ’12, attests to the power of critical thinking and effective communication in any career field.By: Kristine Yahna Todaro Thursday, April 4, 2024 02:40 PM
David Gwyn '11 in his Welsh Valley Middle School classroom.What can you do with an English major? Plenty, it turns out, including work for JPMorgan Chase.
English major David Gwyn ’11 and finance major Spencer Liddic ’12 were recently interviewed for the Forbes article “Do College Majors Matter? Not As Much As You Think.” Both are former members of the College basketball team and Liddic will be inducted into the Muhlenberg Athletic Hall of Fame on April 5.
Gwyn was hired as a financial analyst at JPMorgan Chase one year after graduation. In the article, he talks about how he got there:
“I knew there was value in getting an English degree, being able to take complex ideas and make them clearer. I think the hardest part is convincing other people of that...”
“With a finance degree, you might have an understanding of the system, but they’ll teach you that anyway,” Gwyn said. “It’s the difference between having a specific skill set and having a general understanding that you can apply to the job.”
Gwyn wrote about his journey from English major to financial analyst a couple of years ago, describing how he prepared for the critical job interviews with Chase and what he learned—including tips for other job-seekers schooled in the humanities.
“I’ve found that if you position yourself correctly, an English major is actually one of the most malleable areas of study,” he wrote on the Medium website. “And if you understand that and can articulate it, you’re one step closer to success in pretty much any field.”
Liddic, a finance major who was with JPMorgan Chase for six years and now owns a real estate investment company in Scranton, Pa., agrees with Gwyn on the foundational skills needed for success and that being able to relate to others is key.
“This is a large part of an entry-level finance job, where you are communicating daily with not only your colleagues but with clients of the company,” he said. “Being able to effectively and efficiently communicate is as important a skill as you can have."
Gwyn eventually left banking to teach and now has a podcast devoted to authors of suspense fiction.
So, what does an investment analyst turned middle school English teacher tell his students? “I tell them I'm teaching skills that are transferable to whatever job you get,” Gwyn said. “I don't just teach the curriculum; I teach the skills.”
