What to Do With an English Degree

 

Jobs Held by Recent English Grads

 

  • Administrative Assistant
  • Advancement Officer
  • Engineering
  • Medical Receptionist
  • Retail Manager
  • Marketing Director
  • Technical Editor
  • Journalism
  • Librarian                      3
  • Customer Service        3
  • Teacher                      15

 

Department of Labor Facts
Writers and Editors

 

  • Held about 305,000 jobs in 2000:
  • About 126,000 were writers and authors
  • 57,000 were technical writers
  • 122,000 were editors

 

Employment Outlook: Writers and Editors

 

  • Employment of writers and editors is expected to increase faster than average for all occupations through the year 2010.
  • The outlook for most writing and editing jobs is expected to be competitive.
  • Opportunities should be best for technical writers and those with training in a specialized field.
  • Individuals with the technical skills for working on the Internet may have an advantage.

 

Where Writers and Editors Work

 

  • newspapers
  • magazines
  • book publishers
  • computer software firms
  • educational facilities
  • advertising agencies
  • public relations firms
  • businesses
  • nonprofit organizations
  • freelance

 

Other Types of Jobs

 

  • Advertising
  • Journalism
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Public relations
  • Publishing

 

Typical Employers of English Grads

 

  • consulting firms
  • historical societies
  • libraries
  • market research firms
  • public/private schools
  • social service agencies

 

 

English does not prepare you for a well-defined but narrow career path.
Rather, think of the skills you are developing and of how they can serve you in the working world.

 

Skills Developed in an English Major

 

  • writing effectively.
  • communicating orally.
  • analyzing and solving problems.
  • working collaboratively.

 

(Coincidentally, employers consistently claim that these are just the kinds of skills they look for in applicants.)

 

Who Needs These Skills?

 

  • Every type of business. 
    (Preparing written and oral reports takes up 25-75% of a management position.)
  • Technical firms.
  • Government.
  • Non-profit organizations.

 

(In other words, pretty much everybody.)

 

Choosing a Career: Variables to Consider

 

  • your skills.
  • your interests.
  • your values.
  • your personal traits.
  • how much money you need to make.

 

Increase Your Marketability

 

  • Consider an internship.
  • Gain work experience.
  • Get good grades.
  • Pursue extra-curricular activities.
  • Widen your knowledge base.
  • Learn computer software.

 

(These are, by the way, the same things that students in more professionally-oriented programs do routinely.)

 

Steps to Take Now

 

  • Investigate job titles and descriptions.
  • Investigate regional job opportunities.
  • Decide which skills you want to develop and to use.
  • Gain experience.
  • Analyze, clarify, and refine your values.

 

 

(Money doesn’t buy happiness, but if you can manage to get paid for following
your interests and promoting your values, you will almost certainly be happy.)