Following an address to faculty, students, and alumni at M.U.W. on
October 15, 2004, Bill Bradley (Olympic gold medallist, NBA star, former
senator and candidate for the presidential nomination) answered this question
posed by a student: “What advice do you have for those of us who
want to go into politics?” His response started this way: “Learn
how to write an English sentence.” After talking about the importance
of writing skills, he went on to say that aspiring politicians should
learn the history of their country and have a grasp of its imaginative
literature—its poetry, fiction, and drama—as these convey
the goals and ideals of its people. As Bradley’s response indicates,
an English major’s skills and knowledge are in demand everywhere.
With such a broad range of possibilities before you, you might be having
trouble choosing among them, but there are lots of resources to help you
decide how to put your English major to work for you.
The Career Center on campus
has excellent computer resources to help you assess your own skills and
interests and to help you research fields you don’t know much about
yet.
The Arts and Sciences liaison is Cassandra
Latimer, Assistant Director of the Center; her expertise is in helping
students, including students with humanities degrees, to research job
possibilities.
The English Advising Office can also help. We can often put you in touch
with M.S.U. English professors and others who have experience in career
areas that interest you, and we have several books you can read in the
office or check out:
- Great Jobs for English Majors (De Galan and Lambert; 2nd
edition; 2000)
- Careers for Bookworms & Other Literary Types (Eberts
and Gisler; 3rd edition; 2002)
- Careers for Writers and Others Who Have a Way with Words
(Bly; 2nd edition; 2003)
As you get ready to make use of these resources, give some thought to
which of the skills you have developed as an English major you would like
to make the center of your career: Writing? Reading? Analysis? Research?
Or is it all about the literature for you? Whatever your answer to that
question, the following will help you get started thinking about the possibilities:
- Education
If it’s all about the literature for you, then you’ll be
thinking about whether teaching literature might be for you. You can
teach in a private high school with your English major or become certified
through the College of Education to teach in the public schools. With
a master’s degree in English, you will be qualified to apply for
jobs teaching at two-year colleges. With a Ph.D. in English, you will
be qualified to apply for jobs at universities. You might also consider
exporting your skills and teaching English in other countries; if this
appeals to you, consider earning the TESOL certificate as part of your
undergraduate degree.
- Law
If what you have loved most about your studies of English literature
is the analysis of texts, you might consider law school. English is
one of the best undergraduate majors for law students. If this is your
goal, do talk to a pre-law advisor; one of them is the English Department’s
Dr. Matt Little.
- Ministry
Your analytical skills might also lead to seminary or divinity school.
Analyzing texts is an important part of a minister’s career. Another
important part is understanding the needs of a wide variety of people,
and the breadth of human knowledge an English major gains through reading
literature can be of considerable use in this regard, as well.
- Publishing
Whether you think of yourself as primarily a reader or primarily a writer,
there are jobs in publishing you might like. Book publishers and magazines
need people who read in acquisitions and editing, people who write in
marketing and promotion. Magazines also need people who are primarily
researchers to check the accuracy of what they print. English majors
are likely to be attractive to employers in these industries, and are
likely to find they really make good use of their skills in a publishing
environment.
- Librarianship
This career combines reading and research in an environment dominated
by books; for librarians at university libraries, writing is also a
key component. The English major is excellent preparation for this career,
which requires a master’s degree in library science.
If you’re not drawn to any of these possibilities, remember not
to rule anything out-- English majors find jobs everywhere:
- Writing
If what you want is to write, you should look for jobs in all of the
obvious places and the less obvious ones. You might enjoy a job writing
for a magazine or newspaper. You might find interesting career opportunities
as a technical writer in any number of different settings, including
government agencies and private industry. Many businesses employ people
whose primary responsibility is writing, including advertising firms,
public relations firms, and large corporations. These jobs are not always
high profile, so identifying them takes some research. Creative writing
on a freelance basis is a dream of many English majors, and can be combined
if necessary with teaching, publishing, or a steady writing job.
- Reading and Researching
As with writing, look for jobs researching in places that may not be
immediately obvious. Government agencies of various kinds, think tanks,
and businesses hire people whose primary responsibility is research.
Researchers get jobs in radio and television, as well, where people
are needed to generate topics and check the accuracy of what is presented.
Contact person: Dr. Thomas Anderson
written by Dr. Kelly Marsh |
