3 answers
Carlene
Student
Nashville, Indiana
1
Question
Updated
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What kind of careers can be pursued with an English Literature degree?
I am graduating from a Community College in a few weeks and am going on to a 4-year university to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature, but I am trying to compile a list of realistic career options to seriously research and look into in the next several months. I have so far gathered Education, Editing, and Proofreading. Any further ideas?
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3 answers
Larry Siegel
Government Liaison, Non-profit fundraising, Non-profit operation
45
Answers
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Updated
Larry’s Answer
Carlene -- there are two answers to your question. The first is the career of Life. You will live most of your life away from work. Even during work, the insight and perspective you gain from an English literature degree will bring their rewards.
The second answer is: Any Career. With an English literature degree you will be outfitted for a wide array of career endeavors. Starting with the job interview, where you will be recognized as a thoughtful and life-experienced person, to the daily challenges of most jobs that require imagination and thoughtfulness.
An English literature degree won't equip you to be a successful plumber, but if you already have the manual skills, you may become an excellent problem solving plumber.
English literature will open to you the universe of life, it's glories, its tragedies, it's successes and its failures. That knowlege and insight will equip you for almost any job you apply for in business, industry or public service.
The second answer is: Any Career. With an English literature degree you will be outfitted for a wide array of career endeavors. Starting with the job interview, where you will be recognized as a thoughtful and life-experienced person, to the daily challenges of most jobs that require imagination and thoughtfulness.
An English literature degree won't equip you to be a successful plumber, but if you already have the manual skills, you may become an excellent problem solving plumber.
English literature will open to you the universe of life, it's glories, its tragedies, it's successes and its failures. That knowlege and insight will equip you for almost any job you apply for in business, industry or public service.
Chanyapatch Phupratanasith
Human Resource function
29
Answers
Bangkok, Thailand
Updated
Chanyapatch’s Answer
As there is currently no direct career path in English Literature, there are still many other options open to students who are interested in developing their research skills during their studies along with analysis and discussion, it is meaningful if students want to pursue careers in journalism, marketing, advertising, public speaking, teaching and copywriting.
Mary Oyerly
Editor
4
Answers
Martinsburg, West Virginia
Updated
Mary’s Answer
Hi there! First of all, it's great that you're trying to think through career options now. There are some great suggestions here already from the other respondents, but I can also add from my own experience as someone who graduated with an English major. I've done marketing copywriting, content strategy, technical writing, and now editing. If you're interested in writing/editing fields at all, there are tons of options within those categories.
In my personal experience, there are a decent amount of entry level marketing copywriting jobs, where you're creating ad copy for different products and services. For me, that was my first job out of college and a great way to get my foot in the door.
If you enjoy project management as well as writing and rhetorical analysis, being a content strategist gives you the best of all worlds, where you're evaluating marketing strategy and developing content to meet specific branding/marketing goals.
Technical writing is also an interesting subset of writing jobs; you're dealing with more dense, scientific/analytic content, but if you're interested in that, it's a great career field and also tends to pay very well compared to a lot of other paths you can take as an English major.
Finally, since you mentioned editing, that's another great option think about! Keep in mind that traditional book publishing isn't the only option... there are tons of other editing jobs in other industries as well.
Hope that helps, and best of luck!
In my personal experience, there are a decent amount of entry level marketing copywriting jobs, where you're creating ad copy for different products and services. For me, that was my first job out of college and a great way to get my foot in the door.
If you enjoy project management as well as writing and rhetorical analysis, being a content strategist gives you the best of all worlds, where you're evaluating marketing strategy and developing content to meet specific branding/marketing goals.
Technical writing is also an interesting subset of writing jobs; you're dealing with more dense, scientific/analytic content, but if you're interested in that, it's a great career field and also tends to pay very well compared to a lot of other paths you can take as an English major.
Finally, since you mentioned editing, that's another great option think about! Keep in mind that traditional book publishing isn't the only option... there are tons of other editing jobs in other industries as well.
Hope that helps, and best of luck!