The holidays? They can be stressful, particularly when they give your family members opportunities to quiz you about your plans after graduation.
Some tips:
- Stay true to yourself. Spend time with a book you want to read but don’t HAVE to read to remind yourself why you got into this major in the first place. Write a poem. Watch a movie with some intellectual heft to it. Make a trip to the nearest independent or used bookstore.
- Save this link to your phone. The odds may or may not be ever in your favor, but the data certainly is, so you can be ready when a relative trots out some canard about English majors being unemployable.
- Need more talking points? Try this, this, or this.
- Learn more. Take some time to browse this very blog for additional information on jobs that English majors do (including communication, business consulting, science journalism, running small businesses, legal writing…)
- Be prepared. Often skepticism about your major comes out of loving concern, so think about how you can reassure the people who love you that you’re on your way to a stable, self-supporting adult life. Some ways you can show you are taking responsibility for your career path:
- prepare to apply for a spring semester or summer internship
- get to know I-Link and start checking it regularly to learn more about the kinds of jobs you’d like to apply for. (Pro-tip: use the “Advanced Search” window in “I-Link Jobs,” but refrain from typing into the search bar; instead use the “Industry” and “Position type” pull-down menus to focus your search.)
- find a part-time job that will give you professional experience
- get involved in a campus publication
- register for a career preparation course
- call 333-4346 to schedule an appointment for career advising from your department’s Director of Internships
- find an alumni mentor
- brush up your resume, practice your elevator pitch, and get your professional attire ready for the winter and spring campus career fairs. (Not sure what an “elevator pitch” is or what a career fair entails? Follow the link for an upcoming event that will demystify this concept.)