4 Great Career Options for English Degree Holders - CareerAlley

4 Great Career Options for English Degree Holders - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. English majors get a lot of flak from naysayers, calling their degrees useless and irrelevant. Tell anyone that you have a degree in Literature or Creative Writing and theyll give you a sympathetic look and perhaps even a reassuring tap on the shoulder. Its time to crush those misconceptions and prove to these unbelievers that English degree holders have a place in this world too. The old starving writer/artist clich is now long gone, thanks to the ever-changing media landscape. There are more opportunities for English graduates now as traditional media work hand-in-hand with new media in their quest to look for bright, creative minds who have a knack for words. This degree builds a strong academic foundation and a discerning mind in its graduates which are highly prized in fields as diverse as law, publishing and the arts. Simply put, English majors are more than just servers of French fries! With an English degree one can go on to become a(n): Writer They are the storytellers, the dream weavers, the visionaries; they capture your attention with words that seamlessly flow together like water. They take you to other worlds and to different times and eras. The best novels were made by writers. That blockbuster movie that you have seen on the cinema was just once an idea in some writers mind. Writers also bring the news to you from all four corners of the world. Ad copywriters, speech writers, public relations writers; many of these professionals with a writer suffix on their job titles were once all English majors. The demand for these jobs is growing steadily and does pay well in the long run. Entry requirements: Writers can come from various disciplines and backgrounds, though those who graduated with English, Communication and Creative Writing degrees certainly have an edge. The job does not require any form of professional qualification so aspiring writers can start right away! Salary expectations: The pay scale for working writers differ base on ones experience, training and medium. New writers may start out with 5,000. In contrast old-timers (those who have 10-15 years of experience in their belt) may earn up to 120,000. Writers in the media are often paid on a per word or per minute basis. For example, a freelance writer working for a large magazine earns 700 per 1,000 words, while those who write for BBC dramas get paid for 104.34 per minute. Lawyer The work of a lawyer involves more than just appearing in court, talking to witnesses and examining evidences. To get there, they need to conduct loads of research and writing. They have to go through countless documents and legal texts in order to come up with strong arguments in court. Communication and critical thinking skills are essential here and an English degree can prepare you for that. In fact, most experts would recommend aspiring lawyers to take up English and Communication courses as their pre-law degrees. Entry requirements: A law degree (LL.B.) is required, which is offered in many universities across the nation. For those who graduated with a non-law degree, a 1-2 year law conversation course is needed. From then on, the job entry path differs depending whether one wants to become a Solicitor or Barrister. Aspiring solicitors are required to enroll with the Law Society of England and Wales as a student member, take a one-year course called the Legal Practice Course (LPC), followed by two years of apprenticeship. Future barristers, meanwhile, must complete the Bar Professional Training Course, followed by a year-long training (known as pupillage) under the guidance of a trained barrister. Salary expectations: The good news is that lawyers are paid well, earning on average 52,049 yearly. Trainees may start with 18,590 as a salary, but can go up to 300,000 as one goes up the career ladder. Librarian Librarians are pros when it comes to organizing information, in print form or those found electronically. They work in curation and for corporations information management systems though generally they have careers in school and local libraries helping students conduct research. English degree majors, meanwhile deal with the creation and deconstruction of literary works. With all those elements in place, librarians who graduated with an English degree are very much equipped to handle your queries when you come visit them at their places of work. Entry requirements: Having a degree in Library and Information Management (LIM) will tip the scales in your favor if you want to take this career path, with those with a background in Language and Literary Arts also at an advantage but any degree will do. If you are gunning for professional posts, an MA/MSc in LIM is required. Salary expectations: Library assistants (entry-level positions) may start with 19,195 which may go up to 32,310 for professionals with 2-5 years of experience. Actor Going through hundreds of script pages to memorize can be a piece of cake for English majors who were trained to absorb loads of literary works in school. Critical analysis of these texts are also a core component of the degree which is a skill needed for a career in acting. Internalizing a character then comes much easier for actors with this degree in their belts. These are just a few career options that anyone with an English degree can look into. The secret here is to do research and work hard at networking as many more career paths (academe, advertising, government service) are just waiting to be discovered. Entry requirements: A degree in Drama or Theater is nice but not required. Many got into acting through informal training which includes local theater or school productions. Workshops also help and add to the training to get into the profession. Securing a job in the industry requires going to auditions. To get job leads, actors seek out the services of talent agents. Salary expectations: The pay for actors depends on the location, nature of the work and number of performances. Experience, popularity and the actors marketability also determines their worth. As an example, theater actors have a minimum rate of 350. Compare that to British actor Daniel Craig who is set to earn a 31 million paycheck after he stars in two more installments of the James Bond franchise. Still not convinced about an English degree holders place in our society? These famous people took up the course during their time in college: Stephen King Mario Cuomo Diane Sawyer Toni Morrison James Cameron Sting Barbara Walters Mitt Romney Conan OBrien So heads up, English majors! And if ever somebody still calls you out for having a worthless degree, just smile and just shrug off the comment. The truth is, English majors might be (secretly) running the world all along. * With additional info from: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/ About the Author: Sherry Franklin is an Academic and Career Consultant for a top UK essay writing company. Shes currently taking up her Masters in English Literature and volunteers for an animal shelter in her spare time. This is a Guest post. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. Good luck in your search. Joey Trebif