jobs – MEMORANDUM

Professional Writing in Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama

By Daniel Kim

Job Openings for Professional Writing Graduates

Hyundai manufacturing building — Hyundai offices

Graduating with an English (Professional Writing) degree has inherent implications to limited career paths. Contrary to this belief however, there are increasing demands for professional writers in a wide variant of industries. The ability to communicate effectively, organize events/launchings and comprehend complex textual information are all necessary skills within a given industry.

Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) is no exception. Since the grand opening of a $1.7 billion manufacturing plant in Montgomery, AL (2002), the Korean motor company, along with its respective 72 supplier companies, provides more than 8,000 jobs to Alabama residents—among which, P.W. graduates are in high-demand.

Hope on Wheels

Aside from engineers and technicians who participate in the manufacturing process of the vehicles, HMMA is involved with more than 20 community organizations under their effort Hope on Wheels. Hyundai’s Hope on Wheels is a special initiative to fight children’s cancer by funding medical research and hospitals across the country.

Because the company works with many of the American organizations, such as NAACP, American Red Cross, American Cancer Society, etc., recruiting individuals with strong literacy skills to adequately plan and collaborate with other organizations is an essential part of their mission’s success. Writing newsletters, coordinating special events (for children), updating/designing websites and writing for donations are some of the fundamental tasks that are required of the professional writers. For more information, visit Hyundai Hope on Wheels.

Diverse Career Paths in HMMA

Aside from Hyundai’s mission to fight children’s pediatric cancer, the company offers even more diverse career options for P.W. graduates. Corporate Communications, Purchasing, Product/Corporate Planning, Marketing, Administrative Services and Sales Operations are some of the most common titles for P.W.’s employment.

For all of these positions, because daily tasks require writing summary reports based on collected information, corresponding with the media to promote company’s image and organizing communication methods (both internally and externally), HMMA requires a minimum bachelor’s degree in English for all applicants.

Furthermore, due to the extensive collaborations that are required with other organizations, being aware of cultural trends and the city’s working environment are also important requirements for the company. P.W. majors are in a great position to start a career with HMMA. For further information, please visit Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama.

Whether working toward a noble cause or working to provide safe and high-quality vehicles, UAB English graduates can contribute to our communities with HMMA.

To discuss future career opportunities, contact HMMA’s Administration Office at (334) 387-8000.

Professional Writers: Chameleons of the Job Market?

By Jessica LeSueur

Many times, in a job, we’re given tasks that are new to us. Professionals often find themselves doing things they never thought they would be doing when they accepted their position. Often the skills learned through these experiences can help define our careers and shape our professional image. They help us find our purpose.

Finding a Chameleon

Robin Lehnberg is an administrative assistant working for smaller companies, and doing a lot of tasks he didn’t think he would. He was originally hired to do accounting but has been assigned many different types of tasks over his career. Managing social media, writing official documents and translating documents between languages are all hats he has worn without trying them on before.

Finding a Habitat

Robin says he actually prefers the variety of tasks that he has at a smaller company, as opposed to a larger one where the work would be more focused on a single type of task. A more intimate work environment also allows employees to bounce ideas off each other and help each other out when they get stuck on a problem. Having a general knowledge of a variety of tasks and freedom to collaborate in the workplace can increase productivity and also help employees discover skills they want to work to improve.

Learning New Skills

The hardest task Robin says he’s had was writing a quote to offer a service to another company. He hadn’t written anything like it before and he wasn’t familiar with the kind of language used in them. He looked up a template online to help him learn how to word it and found it very useful.

Overcoming the Writer Mindset

The world of professional writing is a widely varied field. Sometimes a person may mainly write for their career and other times they may have a different set of skills used for the focus of their job, but their writing skills still come in handy. There isn’t anything wrong with working off templates if you’re new to a task or a particular type of writing style.

What’s important isn’t really what you’re originally hired to do, or what your skill set mainly involves. What’s important is being open to learning new skills and gaining experience that helps you figure out what you like and are good at. The unexpected skills you discover and your changing interests might end up surprising you.

Good Grit Magazine: Opportunity on the Rise

The Good Grit office

By Peyton Chandler

The experience gained from internships and fieldwork is proving more and more valuable in our professional world full of high expectations and an unapologetic, competitive nature. For many, these “real world” business opportunities can be hard to come by.

However, Birmingham’s English and Professional Writing students have more access to quality work experience than they may realize. Nestled in UAB’s own backyard on 2nd Ave. N, Good Grit Magazine is a young, promising publication focused on illustrating the true character of the new south. Good Grit manifests its vision through the creation of original print and digital content.

I was fortunate enough to work at Good Grit as an editorial intern during the time of its onset in the summer of 2015, and the following fall semester as its Digital Managing Editor. Since the summer—in less than a year’s time—the magazine has seen tremendous growth: it’s now available on shelves in six states throughout the south and southeast.

Throughout my time at Good Grit, I gained valuable work experience in a sometimes hectic, but always rewarding environment. My bosses and coworkers provided me opportunities in which to utilize my strengths and improve upon my weaknesses, all while helping the magazine grow and develop.

This upcoming summer, Good Grit hopes to continue its relationship with ambitious, motivated students looking for quality experience at a company on the rise. The magazine is searching for a potential full-time digital editor to assist with the success of its website and various web outlets. Additionally, this summer Good Grit is offering editorial internships, event planning internships, art internships and web/social media internships for current and graduated students.

I strongly encourage UAB students to take advantage of these opportunities at one of Birmingham’s most promising young companies—one that molds inexperience into professionalism.

The World of Freelancing: Tips for Getting Started

by Sadie King

As technology develops, the idea of doing freelance work becomes a more viable and helpful career choice. Doing freelance work offers the opportunity to work in your own environment, choose your own projects, and have more flexibility in your work. Freelancing will only become more popular as technology continues to develop and business owners realize the options they have when it comes to people who freelance.

Many people with English degrees choose to go into freelancing because of its many different career options and the flexibility of those options. Freelancers typically have the luxury of working from home and working on their own time, not necessarily having to follow a 9-5 work schedule. Though this can be seen as a luxury, it also means that a person who is interested in doing freelance work must have self-discipline and the ability to manage their own time. Freelancers also have the ability to pick and choose their projects, passing over the ones that don’t interest them. Starting out, some freelancers may have to accept projects they aren’t interested in just to get their foot in the door of the freelance world and to have work to put on a resume.

Companies are beginning to see the convenience of outsourcing to freelancers for some of their jobs. For example, publishing companies are beginning to outsource things like copyediting and proofreading, finding the convenience of hiring someone to do the work freelance preferable to having someone in-house to do the work. As time goes on, more and more companies are beginning to hire people to do freelance jobs instead of hiring someone to work full-time.

Though doing freelance work may seem like the ideal way to work, it can be hard to get a freelance business up and running, and the freelance world is one where connections are key. These are some things that could help when starting a freelance business.

Pick a niche

The idea of being able to just say that you do freelance work and then pick up any job that comes your way, no matter the type, could sound tempting. That said, it’s better to choose one thing that you do, may it be copywriting, graphic design, copyediting, etc., and sell yourself as a master in one of those crafts. Examine what your strengths are and play to your own advantages. It’s easier to market yourself, a very important thing when it comes to freelancing, when you have a specific niche.

Make connections

Who you know, especially when first starting out, can be the most important aspect of getting your business started. People still in college have built-in connections in their peers, professors, and anyone they encounter and strike up a relationship with on campus. Being on a college campus offers opportunities to network that aren’t necessarily there once a person enters the work force. Choosing to do work for charities or even for free to gain experience can also be a way to start adding names to your list of connections.

Build a professional website

When businesses or people start looking for someone to do freelance work for them, the first place they are going to turn is the Internet. There are thousands of websites for people who do freelance work. It’s easy enough to get a website up and put content on it, but it can be harder to design a website that is going to impress a potential employer. It can be beneficial to hire a web designer in order to give your website a more professional look. When it comes to website content, be sure to include examples of your work and/or a link to your online portfolio. And as simple as it seems, check, double-check, and triple-check your site for spelling and grammar errors.

Always be looking for work

Because freelancing requires almost constant job searching, it’s important to know that you always have somewhere to get income when you need it. There are multiple job boards on the Internet that provide options for those looking for work. Most freelancing niches had websites that send out newsletters with information about jobs and tips for employment. They also have meetings and seminars that could be the perfect places to network and continue to gain connections.