Probably the most useful part of my education has been its broad nature, and that's where HMC has contributed the most. I have to pull in a wide variety of areas, and am continually surprised at the lack of breadth I find in those educated at the larger state universities. I guess HMC provides a wider education than you realize as you go through it.

Physics majors can certainly go on to do all kinds of strange things, even public policy and international affairs:

https://elliott.gwu.edu/pace

Physics training has been an invaluable aid throughout my career despite my grade in quantum mechanics. : >

I love teaching (but then, I learned from the best), and love my research - it's trying to do both all the time that I am finding taxing.

My point is that the baseline skills for success in industry (I believe) are common sense, good communication skills, a reasonably broad background in science and decent computer skills. There will always be a market for bright people who satisfy these criteria, and a physics degree is a big plus for the applied science shops.