[K-Women Talk]Curious About "Promising Majors" in the AI Era?

The Declining Premium on Academic Background and Major in the Job Market
Cultivating Critical Thinking Through Reading and Questioning

Surprisingly, one of the most frequently asked questions headhunters receive is, "Which major is most helpful for success?" As South Korea approaches the 2026 college entrance season, majors such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), and interdisciplinary studies are gaining popularity, while in the United States, computer engineering, business, and psychology remain top choices. This suggests that a "list of promising majors" does exist.

According to the "2025 Analysis of Universities and Majors of CEOs from Korea’s Top 1,000 Companies," published by Korea CXO Institute in December 2025, among 969 CEOs whose majors could be confirmed, 46.6% had a background in science and engineering, marking a 1.1 percentage point increase from the previous year. However, business administration (22.8%) still accounted for the largest share among individual majors.

What about at the company level? At manufacturing-focused companies like Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, the majority of presidents have engineering backgrounds, whereas at SK Group, most presidents have studied business administration. Interestingly, the proportion of CEOs who graduated from SKY universities (Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University) has steadily declined from 59.7% in 2007 to 29.1%, and the number of CEOs who graduated from foreign universities has surpassed 110. In other words, the advantages of a specific major or university are becoming less significant.

Furthermore, the World Economic Forum’s "The Future of Jobs Report 2025" projects a net increase of 780,000 jobs by 2030, with 1.7 million new jobs and 920,000 jobs disappearing. The report highlights core competencies such as analytical thinking, resilience, adaptability, and creative thinking-but does not mention any specific majors. To be honest, from a headhunter’s perspective, aside from certain specialized roles, a candidate’s major is not a critical factor. Instead, I focus on their achievements, skills, capabilities, attitude, and mindset.

However, during interviews these days, I often encounter candidates with impressive credentials who become speechless when asked, "Why do you think that?" There is an abundance of information, but many lack the training to connect that information and form their own ideas. Paradoxically, in an era where AI can provide answers so easily, the ability to think independently seems to be weakening.

The most fundamental training to develop this ability is surprisingly simple: reading. Last week, an executive candidate I met brought a list of books they had recently read. When I asked, "Why did you write this down?" the candidate replied, "I wanted to show you the questions I’ve been grappling with lately." In fact, the most impressive candidates I have met in the field, regardless of their major, have one thing in common: they read consistently and habitually connect the questions that arise from their reading to their work.

Preferred majors vary by industry and company, and technology-driven firms still favor engineering graduates. However, what matters more than your major is "what problems have you solved, and what kind of thinking do you possess?" In the AI era, interdisciplinary capabilities become far more powerful than a single major, because AI itself is not the goal but a tool for problem-solving. As a headhunter, I have met countless so-called "promising major graduates." At the same time, I have also seen many people build unique careers in fields completely unrelated to their major. Your major is only a starting point. While there may be promising majors, there are very few that remain promising for long.

In the age of AI, true competitiveness lies not in "what you majored in," but in "what kind of person you have become through your studies."

Moon Sun Kyung, Executive Director at Unico Search