English Degree – MEMORANDUM

Marketing Yourself as a Writer

man working at a computer — Image courtesy of Adobe Stock

Marketing Yourself as a Writer

By Wallace Golding

There exists a common misconception in society regarding the utility of humanity degrees—particularly those in English. They are often seen as archaic and inflexible. As students of the English language, however, professional writers know this could not be further from the truth. English majors are curators and creators well-versed in all things content, design, and project management.

Nevertheless, some sort of disconnect continues to persist between what professional writers believe their degree to be—versatile and flexible—and what employers perceive it to be. As experts in written and visual communication, professional writing students already have an advantage, but there are certain steps that even the most seasoned expert should adopt in order to excel in the competitive job search arena.

There is a generally accepted rule that all professional writers believe to be true: never label yourself as a “professional writer.” Even if this is exactly what you are, this is too broad a term to include on your résumé. With the countless industries that professional writers can end up in, it is important that you cater to the specific industry to which you are applying.

Employers are looking for some sort of expertise beyond document design, typography and rhetorical analysis. That is why it is vital that you focus on the fields you would like to find a career in. So, if you are searching to start a new job with a marketing agency, your title should be something along the lines of “marketing specialist” rather than the relatively nondescript “professional writer.”

As experts in curating content, professional writers understand the importance of branding and maintaining the appropriate image. This should be no different at the personal level either. Create your identity; find one that is recognizable, original, and consistent. CocaCola is identifiable thanks to its cursive-lettered logo and high-contrast colors. Create a design and use the same elements across everything that may be sent to a future employer. This includes business cards, résumés, letterhead, and other printed materials.

Just as you should use your personality in creating an individual brand, you should also use it to create and maintain a personal website and portfolio. There is no better way to showcase what you are capable of than by showing what you have done in the past. If you are an expert in Adobe Creative Cloud programs, prove it with design and document layout work you have done in the past. If you want to dive into the world of technical writing, use documents that you have created either while in school or during internships.

Applications to some jobs may require that prior work be submitted, so keeping your best samples in one place will make this a much easier, more streamlined process. Include your website URL on your business card, résumé and letterhead so that employers can find their way to your work on their own. Additionally, employers may log on to view your work even if they are not requiring you to submit examples of prior work, which can give you an advantage over other applicants.

The most important aspect of marketing yourself as a professional writer, however, is to value industry experience over everything else. Considering the way humanities degrees are viewed, especially in the highly technical fields professional writers often enter, it is important to acquire tangible, résumé-worthy experience before you enter the job market. This can be acheived via numerous methods including internships, paid work, freelancing or even volunteering your expertise to organizations, companies and individuals.

More specifically, it is important that you obtain experience that is relevant to your desired industry. A student interested in pursuing a career in marketing may gain some valuable skills by spending the summer at a biotech firm writing technical documents, but they might benefit more from working at an advertising agency or in the marketing department of a large corporation. Simply put, the experience gained for this student is not bad experience, per se, but it may not be relevant.

Regardless of how they perceive an English degree, employers have been slow to adopt the idea professional writers are, in all actuality, very versatile and flexible. By properly marketing yourself and taking steps like the ones above, however, you can be on your way to that dream job in no time.

Creative and Professional Writing: What to Do if You’re Interested in Both

open laptop and book — Creative vs. Professional Writing

By Lauren Moore

As new students come flooding into UAB every fall, some know exactly what they want to study. However, the majority of the lowerclassmen are going to explore their options, possibly making changes to their career paths along the way through a process of trial and error.

For some, this process goes a step further—a student may find the right subject matter to study, but what about the concentration? I struggled with this decision myself. After changing my major a few different times and feeling unsatisfied, I realized that what I really wanted was to study English.

However, my insecurities with this major resurfaced when I had to select a concentration. There were many stigmas that clouded my judgement when I was faced with this decision. I have always loved constructing fiction and other forms of creative writing, but was it practical enough for the real world?

I enjoyed being on the newspaper staff in high school, and writing in a professional sense. Would it be more beneficial to my career to be a professional writer, despite my passion for crafting stories? I had to find out.

In this article, I hope to not only break some of the stigmas surrounding both concentrations, but to also examine potential careers that allow English majors the opportunity to exercise creative and professional writing.

Creative Writing Offers More Than You Think

When people ask me what I’m studying, I usually don’t specify creative writing. I’ve grown tired of the judgmental looks and comments that many give in response. Creative writing suffers from the stigma that it can only lead to teaching jobs. This notion could not be further from the truth. In fact, the creative writing concentration opens the doors to a wide range of possibilities.

Creative writing teaches you how to be a skillful, observant writer. Students are taught to manipulate language in ways that are visually and audibly pleasing to the reader. While a short story and a term paper are very different in content, they both require skillful writing. This concentration will provide you with such expertise.

There are many careers that can derive from this concentration, including publishing, marketing and journalism—proving that creative writing can be a very practical concentration.

Professional Writing is Not as Rigid as it Seems

The idea that first struck me when I considered a professional writing concentration was that it was boring. I immediately feared that there was no way I could be as creative in my career as I wanted to be. Again, this idea is a false stigma associated with this concentration. There are many ways to be creative with a degree in professional writing.

Professional writing is an interesting concentration because it is essentially applicable everywhere. Students in this concentration will learn to develop skills in technical writing, editing and publishing. These skills are useful both in the print and digital media worlds. Not only can professional writers find work as editors and publishers, but they can work at virtually any company that requires a skilled writer.

The Two Concentrations Can Collaborate

The thing to keep in mind with both of these concentrations is that they teach you how to write well. At the end of the day, it often comes down to how you advertise yourself when you interview for a job. If you can assure potential employers that you have the skills they’re looking for, that’s usually all that matters.

There are some opportunities that allow you to use both of these concentrations at once. For instance, some literary magazine publishers and editors get to enjoy designing the magazine and submitting their own creative work as well. All in all, these concentrations are what you allow them to be; if you really look deep and explore all of your options, there will be something there for you.

The Art of Professional Writing

The Art of Professional Writing

By Mallorie Turner

The term “professional writing” often invites a myriad of questions regarding what the field is about. You may imagine a person sitting at an ill-lit desk, penning legal documents for long periods of time. This was my exact perception of professional writing when I first applied for the concentration as an English major. As I declared my professional writing concentration, I could feel my identity as an artist start to regress. As infatuated as I was with the formalities of business writing, I couldn’t help but see this prospective career as a threat to my creative identity. I soon learned that there is more to this field than what I thought, both visually and rhetorically, and the artist in me still had a chance to strive.

The Ropes of Creating Documents

If you have been a student in one of UAB’s professional writing courses (specifically, Developing Digital Documents) you would know that students learn on the same publishing technologies that major businesses utilize. One of these is Adobe InDesign, which is used to create letterheads, business cards and other professional documents.

Those who have used this software can tell stories of its bugginess, not to mention the fear of misspelled words in the absence of a spellcheck function. While it might be a tedious digital environment, InDesign has always proven useful to the design-focused professional writer.

In a creative sense, InDesign gives the user free range to design a project from top to bottom—from formatting to color scheme. If someone were interested in designing a magazine using their school’s colors, they would have absolute control over the project’s end result. InDesign is a professional writer’s best friend in this regard. The author has creative control over how they would like their idea to be presented to the world in the same way an artist would.

The Importance of a Good Design

Imagine finding out that there is more to fonts than just fun lettering. Fonts have an emotive quality that sets the tone of a project’s design; professional writers have to make conscious decisions about the fonts they use within a document. These decisions tend to be more significant than whether Times New Roman or Papyrus is more fitting.

A font’s case, weight, width and style all factor into whether an audience will be receptive to the document. For example, the wispy elegance of a script font will not have the right impact for a business report in contrast to the stoicism of a sans serif font. In this way, typographic design is as important to a document as the actual content is.

Professional writing requires a person to master many tools and concepts in order for their work to be marketable. A painter would not be successful if he or she dabbled in realism yet was ignorant of the underlying structure of the human form. Likewise, if a professional writer has no grasp of rhetoric or basic document design, they will not survive in the corporate world. Though there is freedom for creativity in professional writing, there is a standard for marketable work.

The Art of Rhetoric

Rhetoric is an art in itself. Philosophers like Aristotle took pride in knowing the heuristics of persuasive diction. Students studying professional writing look to these philosophers to learn masterful rhetoric they use in business settings.

Visual Rhetoric, a professional writing elective, teaches students the importance of how words and images can create a persuasive message. Professional writers learn that a document is only impactful if it is well-prepared and has a rhetorically sound composition.

Conclusion

Taking professional writing classes has shown me that I am in a creatively stimulating field where both rhetorical and artistic skills are appreciated. As a writer, I actively search for more ways to influence readers with my words. Professional writing has given me new opportunities to do so when I create documents with visual appeal. With the support of the UAB English Department faculty, I know that I can make my mark in the job force with both my writing and design skills.

The Value of Internships and Jobs for Professional Writing Students

By Annie Swantek

How far does a bachelor’s degree really go? Many college students may not consider what they are going to include on their résumé before creating one. Or they think that earning a degree and taking courses related to their desired career field is enough. Having a college education is a critical factor on résumé’s, however it is often not enough to catch an employer’s eye.

What an Education in English brings you

Being an English major and a senior at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), I have been able to greatly enhance my writing skills, develop other beneficial skills, and gain knowledge on topics I was previously unaware of. The English Department at the UAB is well versed and offers its students an exceptional education. Students striving to earn a Bachelors in English are offered an amazing range of courses as well as amazing faculty to teach those courses.

Getting an education in English will prepare students with the basic skill set and knowledge they need to succeed in a writing career. However, internships and part-time jobs while in college are a key factor in a student’s success with finding a job after graduation.

Beyond the Degree

If a student majoring in English is planning on pursuing a writing career or searching for a job in the communications or writing field, it is beneficial for them to have experience to put on their résumé. Having a bachelor’s degree and the skills and experience from UAB’s English courses are valuable and important to note when creating a resume or talking to future employers.

However, the specific field of professional writing requires experience with many different applications and additional skills beyond being able to write remarkably and efficiently. While many professors do inform their students of this and introduce them to these types of applications, skills, and tasks that employers require for any writing position, students often do not get enough experience to list it on their résumé as a skill.

Having exposure to a professional work environment and seeing first-hand the types of tasks that writers complete is a very beneficial experience to have. Actually gaining experience allows students to go beyond just learning about it in a classroom and actually living it and doing hands on work that will help them in the future.

Student Internships & Jobs

Since I am a senior, I have started my job searching journey. I am mainly looking at Technical Writing, Copy Writing, Editing, and any related positions. I have noticed a trend that almost all of the job postings I have looked at require or strongly prefer for applicants to have a bachelor’s degree as well as at least 1 year of experience.

Not having job experience does not necessarily mean that employers will not look at your Résumé or that you can not find a good job, it does mean that having relevant work experience greatly increases your chances of getting responses from employers and catching their eye with your résumé.

I am an English major; Business Administration minor and I am concentrating in professional writing. I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in professional writing when I chose my major but did not know the exact steps I needed to take or how to achieve that. I knew that my college courses had allowed me to develop valuable skills, but I was still anxious and worried about finding a job or being able to succeed at a job after graduation.

Before the Spring Semester of 2020, I got an email from the Undergraduate English Majors Resources informing students of an on campus, part-time, student Technical Writing position. I figured I would apply for the job and see what happens because it seemed like a good fit, and I knew that having this experience would look good on my résumé and better prepare me for the future. I ended up getting hired at UAB’s Computer Forensics Research Lab (CFRL) as a Technical Writer, I have about a full year of experience since I started my junior year and will be leaving after graduation as it is a student job.

Benefits of Student Jobs

The entrance to the Facebook Suite section of UAB’s Computer Forensic Research Lab, the main lobby, of the lab.

My part time Technical Writing job experience at the CFRL has allowed me to grow as a writer, editor, and even as a student and teacher at times. My main task is to review and edit reports that are written by the lab’s analysts. While reviewing all reports is the main priority, there are many other side duties and tasks that come along with being a Technical Writer. With this specific job I also had to participate in writing workshops where my supervisor and I taught lessons to the analysts on how to improve their writing and what their reports should look like and include.

Teaching writing workshops to the analysts at the lab was very rewarding and allowed me to grow as a person. I was tasked with reading the book, Communicating with Intelligence: Writing and Briefing for National Security by James S. Major and creating PowerPoint based on the material in the book. I had never had the experience of presenting information in this manner or teaching others how to write. I never enjoyed giving presentations in school and always preferred to sit quietly and learn rather than speak up with questions or opinions, this experience helped me to come out of my shell and feel more confidently about speaking in group settings.

The CFRL writes Intelligence Writing style reports that are written in a specific format and that get sent out to clients. I had never seen this particular kind of writing before and was not very familiar with the subjects of the reports. However, being able to see other kinds of writing besides academic writing has broadened knowledge and skill set. I can now tell future employers that I have experience with reviewing and editing cyber crime related reports, even if the company has nothing to do with computer forensics this still shows them that I have experience with multiple types of writing styles and that I can easily adapt to different types of content.

Networking is another benefit of having internships and part time jobs while in college. Sometimes acquiring jobs depends on who you know. If you are working or interning at a company as a Technical Writer, or related position, you are likely to meet others with that job title and similar interests as you. Not only is this a way to gain friends and socialize with others who may be similar to you, it is also a way to lead to future jobs. People at the company may know friends or family whose company or office is looking for someone who can write, they may think about the Technical Writing intern at their company and give you a referral.

It all comes back to experience. having the experience of being around different types of people and work environments gives you the ability to tell future employers about it. Maybe your student job was remote, and you are looking for only remote positions, now you can tell employers you have excellent time management skills and work well independently because you have had the experience of working in a remote position already. Or, maybe your internship was in an office and required a lot of collaborative work, you now have the ability to show off your ability to work as a team member in a busy work environment.

Receiving an education at UAB and earning a Bachelors in English are amazing accomplishments that employers will be impressed with. However, having internships and jobs related to your desired field as a college student is an extremely valuable and beneficial experience that will help you moving forward with your future and career.

Complementing a PW Major

By Laura Jane Crocker

Notebooks

Professional Writing is a versatile field that combines the creativity and beauty of language with logical instruction and organized information. Although Professional Writing skills are valued in many fields, an interesting minor can make new graduates stand out from their peers.

Computer Science

We are living in a time where technology is thriving and innovation is second-nature. Employers like to see that prospective hires are well-equipped to deal with tasks that require a secure grasp on programming; those with a Liberal Arts degree are no exception. For example, jobs in Technical Writing require skills from both Professional Writing and Computer Science. With a minor in Computer Science, a Professional Writing degree becomes more appealing to employers in the tech industry.

Graphic Design

Alongside technological innovation is the rise of aesthetically-pleasing design. Consumers want more than well-placed subheadings and bulleted lists; they want to be dazzled by interesting graphics and professional photography. For a Professional Writer who decides to freelance, a minor in Graphic Design is an excellent choice. One can both design websites and create copy; they can become a one-stop shop for clients looking to incorporate digital marketing strategies into their business plan.

Marketing

Professional Writers are trained to write with clarity, creativity and meaning; these are all necessary for those considering in a career in Marketing. Learning the tricks of the trade when it comes to Marketing can be a bit difficult, so it is better to take some courses to familiarize oneself with technical terms. Whether a job requires one to write copy for ads, a website or social media posts, Professional Writing never disappoints. When paired together, Marketing and Professional Writing can be a powerful combination for the success new graduates want to see in their career.

Employers today like to see that prospective hires are versatile. Studying Professional Writing is the first step to develop a skill set that reaches across a wide variety of careers. However, choosing a minor that may not seem to quite fit with Professional Writing can help one become more well-rounded.

From Undergrad to Grad at UAB: Teresa Davis’ Transition

By Kayla Light

four people standing behind a podium — Davis’ Undergrad Thesis Defense Day (pictured left to right: Professor Vines, Dr. Chris Minnix, Teresa Davis, Dr. Jaclyn Wells)

Let’s face the facts—graduation will happen. Whether you’re like many of the undergrads who are still frantically searching for answers, or if you’re like the ones who nonchalantly “swagger” their way into the unknown, graduate school has probably crossed your mind.

So, how exactly does a UAB student studying rhetoric and technical writing advance their education? What are some of the myths and facts about that advancement? Well, after asking around, I found the perfect student to answer these questions: Teresa Davis, a recent UAB undergrad who is transitioning into UAB’s graduate program.

About Davis and How Her Decision Could Help You

Davis graduated from UAB in December of 2015 with a Bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in Professional Writing and Public Discourse. As the fall began, she felt the pressure to make some big decisions: to stay at UAB to pursue her education or to leave and experience a new school with a new atmosphere. After much thought and consideration, she picked UAB, and this is why:

UAB’s Cost and Practicality

UAB’s graduate program offers a package deal to exceptional, hardworking students who are seeking higher education in the English field. This package is referred to as their Assistantship program. The Assistantship program offers students tuition remission, an $8,500 yearly stipend, and the opportunity to tutor at the Writing Center and teach English Composition 101 and 102.

For Davis, this plan meant being able to balance her busy family life and would save her time and money. Some schools only have limited teaching positions while others offer them after a period of time. UAB’s competitive stipend can greatly reduce, or even eliminate student debt.

Davis not only saw their financial aid as a huge bonus, but she also felt particularly partial to UAB’s program because of the close-knit faculty.

UAB’s Family Atmosphere

Davis found the transition from the undergraduate to the graduate program to be a fluid process because she was already familiar with the program and the professors in the department. She describes this familiarity as a family atmosphere and attributes that atmosphere to the fact that UAB has a smaller graduate program.

When talking about the advantages of a smaller program, she says, “Most [returning students] drop out because balancing school with work and family is hard, and we’re very much out of practice.”

Davis reflected on her decision to return to UAB after being in the workforce for 15 years. She has been living near Birmingham with her husband, Terry Davis. They will celebrate their 7 year anniversary in June of 2016.

When Davis was faced with the question to relocate their family, she gave it much consideration. Her answer is easily summed up in her final statement on UAB’s program: “I know that at UAB, I have the support to help me succeed.”

Davis’ plan to attend UAB to further her education was a difficult decision, but in the end, she knew she wanted a school that was able to provide her with a competitive stipend and a close-knit atmosphere that allowed her the time and flexibility to be with her family.

To learn more about the UAB’s graduate program, visit their webpage.

Career Spotlight: Copywriting

People are bombarded every day with words that are meant to persuade them. Advertisements, flyers, and websites are all written and designed with a specific purpose in mind: enticement. Each word is chosen in hopes that when grouped together, they can attract the reader into buying something, doing something, or even not doing something. Copywriters are the force working in the background to make that enticement happen.

There are many job opportunities available for those who have an English degree with a specific interest in professional writing. Someone with the ability to write well and use proper spelling and grammar is desired by companies that depend on written materials. English majors spend a majority of their undergraduate careers learning to write in a persuasive manner. Most papers submitted by college students, especially those majoring in English, attempt to make an argument. This is, in essence, what a copywriter does. The ability to write copy for marketing and advertising materials requires the ability to use words to get across a specific message.

There are many different types of copy that copywriters are hired to write. Advertising agencies hire copywriters to write catchy slogans and advertisements for products or brands. Copywriters typically work as part of an entire creative team to put together ad campaigns that target and cater to a specific demographic. The goal of effective copywriting is to grab the reader’s attention through the use of enticing and well-written copy.

Copywriters tend to work in fast-paced industries and, because they are usually working with a deadline, need to be able to work under pressure. Someone interested in copywriting should be aware of trends and what is popular as they begin to create copy that will be compelling to the common readership. Research skills are also a necessity as it may sometimes be important to track down pieces of information that would make the copy more compelling and relevant. A copywriter needs to be able to take information and creatively turn it into an advertisement or piece of work that follows the idea of what the client wants.

The career path that leads to a successful copywriting job can vary. Getting an internship working as a copywriter is one way to start building a portfolio for when the time comes to start looking for full-time jobs. Freelance work is another option that gives a starting point for having completed work to add to a portfolio. The work of copywriters is everywhere. Copywriting is a career path that offers people the ability to work creatively with words to grab the attention of an audience.

Jessica Thuston: The Modern Professional Writer

By Peyton Chandler

Undergraduate students have their sights set on one thing following graduation—finding work. Regardless of their major, the job market and career opportunities are top-level concerns of college students. Graduating is a huge milestone in and of itself, but as the professional world changes, preparing for and understanding the expectations of a specific field is of equal importance. Professional Writing is a major that has seen exponential growth and popularity in recent years. With numerous media outlets and fields that pertain to writing in a professional setting, those who graduate with a degree in Professional Writing are sure to find satisfactory jobs, right? I sat down with Jessica Thuston, Executive Editor at Southern Living Magazine, to discover not only the process by which she became the Executive Editor of the fifth largest national magazine, but also to better understand opportunities for writers in the job market as it now exists.

Having graduated with a degree in Journalism from Southern Methodist University and spending a year at Northwestern attaining her Masters degree, Thuston was well established by the time she finished school in 2002. Since then, the writing field has seen significant change. Thuston began searching for work in an age where newspapers were the dominant medium for journalists. Like many student writers, Thuston was initially unsure of her career path. She explained, “You may not know what type of writing you’re interested in until you try a lot of different genres.” She even spent time as an intern at the Washington Post, where she realized that writing in the political sphere was not her passion. Instead she discovered an interest in magazines. “I got into magazines through a program at Northwestern that dealt in magazine publishing. It wasn’t that daily deadline that you see with newspapers; you can get into a specialty. Sometimes in newspaper and other areas of writing, the more seasoned you get, the more writing you do. Whereas I feel like in magazines it’s reversed. The more seasoned you are, you’re editing more peoples’ work.” Once she became exposed to magazine publishing, the focus of her career shifted to editing. “I have definitely shifted to where I don’t write as much anymore, but I edit a great deal of writing. Editing writing is very important no matter what you’re doing—getting to the point, being brief.” She dealt with uncertainty prior to finding a concrete direction for her writing. Reaching the title of Executive Editor stemmed directly from her interest in magazines.

Having gathered all of this information about Mrs. Thuston’s career and the way it all came together for her, I became curious of her thoughts about the changes that have taken place in the field of writing since she first dove into it. Obviously, the immergence of new technologies has paved the way for a completely new field. However, there is much more beneath the surface of the obvious that has created new opportunities for aspiring writers. I read aloud a brief description of the Professional Writing major as it is listed on UAB’s website. She was excited to hear that this major is being offered to students, and she even went into detail on how it seems more beneficial than other writing majors, including her own. “I will say Journalism as a major, which I love, is very focused on just the media outlets, newspapers and things of that nature. But I really think there is a broader application that could go beyond into other fields, and it sounds like UAB understands that with this major, which is great.” But how should Professional Writing majors feel about the job market itself? When asked, Jessica explained that students should feel really great about finding work. “Especially because of the way it’s been broadened with this major. You’re really marketing yourself to more than just one specific niche. When I was schooled, you had to pick early what you were going to do. I think that has changed in the job market. The digital world has been changing everything, which is something we have focused on here at Southern Living. I feel like that is translating to college students looking to jobs with writing. There are so many more opportunities now. So I think people should feel really hopeful, but it is a very competitive market. You have to be good and hone your craft.” It seems that in 2014, Professional Writing students ought to feel as well equipped as anyone to begin and retain an exciting, successful career.

Undecided English major? Pick Professional Writing

By Haley Townsend

The English major is flexible and open to countless career possibilities because of the lack of focus on a specific trade or profession.

Literature is lovely, and exercises the mind by transporting you to other worlds while the study of literature enables you to form arguments, perform research, and write competently. However, the storied openness of English often leaves students with uncertainty. Unless you see the career pathway to teaching or professorship laid out in yellow brick before you, you are probably a little worried about the ever looming graduation with your degree: Bachelor of Arts in English.

While English as a major provides a foundation for future career endeavors, a concentration can make all the difference in job preparedness. Professional writing: A concentration often misunderstood. You may think, well I write as an English major all the time, how could professional writing help me? Well, professional writing teaches skills for numerous jobs–jobs that you might actually want to do, that you may even find fun!

In the words of Tim Lemire, (author of I’m an English Major–Now What?) “a real job [is] any job that pays you a livable wage for doing something that you would do even if you weren’t paid to do it.” Well gosh golly gee, that’s some great advice. But now what? Now, you start asking the hard (actually not so hard!) questions. First:What do you enjoy? Second: What are your hobbies? Third: If you had a week off from school, jobs, and all other obligations, what would you do?

Many English majors, myself included, would love to take that time to write and read for enjoyment. How long has it been since I had time to curl up with a good book that wasn’t assigned? f your answer is anything like mine, follow up with: What would you write? What would you read?

The concentration of professional writing has given me the ability to explore courses that I never would have dreamed of taking in my former major of business management. I’m still a business minor, but that openness of the English major was so enticing to my creative side. The professional writing program taught me trade-specific skills that I would have missed had I not switched my concentration from literature to professional writing.

Thanks to the professional writing concentration, I am able to assist with design choices at my job. I am able to put on my resume that I am familiar with Adobe Creative Suite, software normally inaccessible to students on a budget. One day soon, when I am applying for jobs where I can create advertising copy, or strategize communications for corporations, I will be able to list the numerous skills that professional writing courses have taught me.

For me, copywriting might be the ideal marriage of my interests. But while this career is perfect for me, it isn’t the end-all be-all of job opportunities for English majors who major in professional writing. Everywhere you look, there is written content. Digital or printed, these words are written by someone who understands how to reach and speak to the masses through written word.

The English major allows its students to find jobs across many varying fields, industries, and professions. English majors can produce well written, audience specific content, and this role is called a content writer. Aspiring content writers need to develop a wide portfolio of clips that are non-academic. There are many websites that hire freelance content writers. This is a career to consider if you have a wide range of interests and knowledge, enjoy researching new topics, meeting deadlines, and writing a lot.

Business writing, or corporate communications, is a career field that calls for skills cultivated in professional writing. Communications from a corporation can be anything from a Tweet, to a new product line, to a press conference. Directors of communication have to consider stakeholders, tone, style, inherent values, mission, and brand identity of the corporation when composing messages that convey thought of all of these variables in a market friendly package. This career path can be high-stakes, and can be pursued through communications internships that may start with social media accounts and grow into much more.

The openness of the English major can be a blessing and a curse. The concentration of professional writing and the many minors offered in a variety of disciplines can strengthen an English major’s resume, opening a wealth of job opportunities that can be, as Lemire says, a real job.