Brittany E. Williams: Digital Advertising Copywriter

Name: Brittany E. Williams

Age: 29

College & Majors/Minors: Fort Valley State University, Bachelor of Arts in English Literature & University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Master of Arts in English Literature

Current Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Current Form of Employment: Copywriter

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I’m a Digital Advertising Copywriter at The Home Depot.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different). 

Shortly after finishing grad school, I was contacted by a recruiter with a large staffing firm who found my resume on sites like Career Builder and Monster. It was a contract (temporary), project-based position with an industrial lighting company as a Graphic Designer/Production Artist. Not what you’d typically expect for someone with two English degrees; however, my previous experience with my collegiate newspaper and yearbook allowed me to learn programs like InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator, which helped me land the gig. This job also required extreme attention to detail and the ability to thoroughly proofread to ensure all copy was clear and accurate. 

Fast-forward to my current job, and once again, I was sought after by a recruiter with a smaller firm that specialized in placing talented candidates at a variety of well-known companies. A former contractor had just been promoted to a full-time position, so they were in the market for a new SEO Content Writer. I interviewed and was offered the job on the spot!

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

““I consulted a resumé writing service to help me rewrite my resumé, created an online portfolio of my more creative freelance work that more accurately reflected the type of work I was seeking, and even made up some projects just to showcase what I could do if given the opportunity.””

Thankfully, I’ve been blessed with several writing-related opportunities throughout my career thus far, but I’d say there were two pivotal roles that led me to where I currently am today. The first was a short-lived contract position with a large financial institution here in Atlanta. There was no creativity involved and little to no direction on the writing I was producing. It was very constricting, which made it difficult for me to grow at the time. I wasn’t a good fit for the culture either, which plays a huge role in how successful you’ll be with any organization. Even though this position paid me the most money I’d ever made, it simply wasn’t in line with my ultimate career goals. 

The funny thing is, I didn’t truly know what those goals were at the time. I figured since it involved some form of writing at the corporate level, and I was making great money, surely I was heading in the right direction. I was ultimately let go from that job, which was pretty devastating at first, but it wasn’t until then that I realized just how much I dreaded the job! Being let go was one of the best things to ever happen to me because it forced me to make a career shift. 

Up until then, I’d been doing mostly technical writing, with a few freelance opportunities here and there to really write creatively and produce original content. I consulted a resumé writing service to help me rewrite my resumé, created an online portfolio of my more creative freelance work that more accurately reflected the type of work I was seeking, and even made up some projects just to showcase what I could do if given the opportunity. 

Eventually, after many long days and nights of applying to several positions, I landed a role as a freelance Jr. Copywriter at a boutique advertising agency called Shared Vision Marketing in Atlanta, GA. This position stretched me in ways I never imagined. I was challenged everyday to come up with original ideas and execute them in clever, tangible ways. I worked with their in-house Social Media Manager, Art Directors, Account Managers and Creative Director to brand a variety of small consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to develop web copy, blog articles, direct mailers, scripts and more. I even had a chance to continue honing my graphic design skills by laying out the official program for a non-profit event we sponsored. 

In just two months, I was able to significantly improve my portfolio with tons of fun, creative projects that truly showcased my creative abilities. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and showed me that working as a creative writer in the business world was possible. It forced me to pursue a much more fulfilling career, eventually landing me at my current job as a copywriter for the world’s #1 home improvement retailer. 

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

I’d have to say mastering the art of critical thinking is a big one—and ongoing. Learning how and when to ask the right questions; especially “why?” will take you far. You’d be amazed at how many people, especially in the working world, don’t do this. I also believe that my participation in extracurricular activities such as my collegiate newspaper, yearbook and various honor societies, clubs and other on-campus publications like our literary magazine and departmental newsletters, was a big help. I learned to network and build strong relationships as well as how to problem solve.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

““I personally think it’s one of the best kept secrets in academia.””

My number one piece of advice is to never allow anyone to box you in. When I was an English major, most people assumed that I would become a teacher or a professor. These are great career paths if that’s what you truly desire, but this assumption is often because most people don’t understand what obtaining an English degree entails other than reading and writing. There are so many paths available to you as an English major. I personally think it’s one of the best kept secrets in academia. English requires you to study several other disciplines to truly understand the intent of a text. You learn to thoroughly research in addition to studying individuals from various backgrounds, beliefs and experiences, providing you with unique insights that make you a much stronger candidate, writer and employee. 

It can be difficult when you’re first starting out, but don’t give up!  Think outside the box and learn how to sell yourself. Always think “big picture” and then convey how all the fine details work to create the big picture. Be a writer, but also be a thinker and a doer. Understand how to best implement your ideas into something tangible that will have the best impact on the intended audience or medium. Always be working on and improving your portfolio and always be willing to learn new skills to help you leverage your writing in new and exciting ways. Keep asking the right questions and be naturally inquisitive. Steadily build your network and keep in touch with recruiters and colleagues as you move throughout your career – you never know when you may need them again! An English degree equips you with all the tools necessary to be successful in a variety of career paths, but keep in mind that some roles may require you to be more than just a good writer. 

To learn more about Brittany and the work she's done over the years, check out her portfolio, website, and blog. You can also follow Brittany on Twitter and Instagram or connect with her on LinkedIn. Brittany is also a contributing editor for Neu Neu Magazine, which you can follow on Instagram here. 

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The Questioning & Anxiety Behind Becoming an English Major

The actual decision to major in English came about six months after I had graduated high school and was working on my associate’s degree at a state college in my city. Luckily, I was doing an associate’s in the arts, so there was no need to pick a major quite yet. For a long time, I was set on film or media studies. But a lot of anxiety and thinking was happening at that time, too. I was pretty lost on what I really wanted to study later on in my college career (and that “later” was coming fast).

And then it hit me one day when I was walking to my car from class.

What about majoring in English for my BA? It was something I had thought about a good amount when I was in middle school but it had been pushed to the back of my mind once I started high school. I sort of decided right then that English was what I wanted to pursue as my major and there was essentially no talking me out of it. 

It was a way to study literature and it would also allow me a way to get some further education in creative writing. 

Now, like just about every English major, I got (and still get) the usual questions and comments from my parents, friends and complete strangers when they found out what I was going to be studying: “So, do you want to be a teacher?” “You’re studying the liberal arts?” etc. There was a lot of concern, especially on my parents' part, about choosing to study English.

But I wound up applying to my university’s English program and got in with a minor in creative writing. 

Now I’m a graduate with my BA in English and a minor in creative writing. I’m six months out of school and I’m currently at a job where I get to apply some of what I’ve learned! I hit plenty of road bumps along the way to get to where I am though. There have been plenty of thoughts that have come up that made me overthink my choice in major and doubt myself; here are a few of them: 

Self-doubt: This is probably the most common issue I’ve seen in myself and other English majors. It will really come out of nowhere. I often caught (and sometimes still catch) myself doubting my choice to study English and my abilities in the topic when I was in class or working on projects. I was always seeing amazing work from classmates and thinking “I can’t do that” or “I don’t know anything about that author.” Or I’d see an article talking about how studying English is useless, even though I know that it isn’t. Both of those causes are really punches to the self-confidence and can be extremely hard to shake.

Stress: Just like any major, studying English can be insanely stressful! We most often have plenty of papers/essays/projects due at any one time and trying to figure out the right time to actually get said work done while reading assigned work and doing other things in life can be difficult. 

Outside doubt: We all know what this is referring to. Friends, family, and even people you don’t know will ask you (skeptically) if you’re sure English is the right thing to pursue. And being English majors, we’ve done the research and looked into all sorts of jobs that you can get with the degree. But having consistent doubt and questioning thrown at you about your choice to study English can really drag you down.

Loss of passion: I have loved to read and write for my entire life. Reading for pleasure and to learn was always something that I would do voraciously. And my minor in creative writing gave me the ability to pursue that area of writing in the future. But being an English major, we constantly have to read books for class and then spend large amounts of time dissecting said books. This repeated process over and over can really sap the passion out of the two things that drove many of us into English in the first place.

Many times while I was studying for my BA, I lost interest in reading anything outside of what was assigned for classes, due to lack of time and no drive to read anything for fun. That usually led to me also losing interest in my assigned readings and I wound up having to force myself through the work. 

Feeling inadequate among classmates: Sitting in class and discussing literature can often be really interesting. But sometimes I caught myself feeling that I was in the wrong place, that I didn’t know nearly enough to keep up with my classmates, or that I didn’t have anything to contribute to the conversation with some thoughtful insight.

These are perhaps some of the most common issues I experienced myself and saw in friends. They’re certainly things that can make us second guess why we’re studying English.

English is, unfortunately, one of the more looked down on fields of study, especially because it looks like all we do is read a huge amount and sit around talking about the deeper meaning of texts. And while we certainly do those things a lot, there is much more to what we are studying.

Doubting what I chose to study, something that I really do care about, really did nothing for me. All it did was make the choice I made that much more difficult.

And while these doubts can be difficult to overcome, I couldn’t help but find myself just thinking about the outcome. Once I finished my degree, I knew I would have a set of skills that could be applied to a wide range of different types of work.

That doesn’t always work, but it’s certainly a place to start. The doubts and questioning of yourself that come during the course of pursuing an English degree are completely normal and you’re certainly not alone in them. It took me quite some time to figure that out and once I did, it helped a little to know that I wasn’t the only one who questioned and stressed out over it.

And I think acknowledging the fact that you are not the only one dealing with doubt, stress, and anxiety over your degree will make things a little easier. To leave you with something to think on, here is a quote from Amanda Palmer in her book The Art of Asking: 

“There's really no honor in proving that you can carry the entire load on your own shoulders. And... it's lonely.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paige Lyman has a BA in English with a minor in creative writing. She's a fan of sci-fi and fantasy and writes prose in her spare time. With a love for storytelling, she's constantly got her face buried in a book and hopes to one day publish a novel of her own. Being the huge nerd that she is, she loves a good discussion on plot, characters, and how to really make a story amazing! (Her own inspiration is to one day craft a world and story as engrossing as Avatar: The Last Airbender). With a love for English and creative writing, she's dabbled in all types of writing and has no plans to stop.

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Marissa Page: Senior Writer & Editor

Name: Marissa Page

Age: 25

College & Majors/Minors: B.A. in English, M.S. in Management

Current Location: Phoenix, AZ

Current Form of Employment: Sr. Writer and Editor 

Where do you work and what is your current position? 

Policy and procedure editor at a financial services company. 

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different). 

I got my first "official" (i.e., paid/non-internship) job—a staff position as an editorial aide at my university—through connections I made during my very first editorial internship. It pays to network and put yourself out there, even if it seems uncomfortable at first. Peers and mentors you meet in your first job(s) are your biggest allies. I still list many of them as references on applications, and do my best to check in with them at least once or twice yearly to maintain those relationships. 

Additionally, I didn't turn down any chances to put my resume out there, even if it was just on a local job board and seemed like a long shot. I'm so glad I did, because my current employer found my resume on one of those postings and reached out to me directly to schedule an interview. It just goes to show that you never know who is paying attention! 

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career? 

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My current role as a policy and procedure editor has been significant in developing my professional writing skills. I've learned the importance of editing without sacrificing meaning, and that every single word matters, particularly from a compliance perspective. Additionally, learning how to turn complex technical documentation into clear and concise language that anyone can understand has proven to be an invaluable skill, one that also helps me with my personal writing when I find myself being a little too verbose. My senior manager had my team read a book called On Writing Well by William Zinsser, in which the author writes, "Writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it that shouldn't be there." That is my mantra these days. 

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

I did as many university internships as possible, and sought positions as a student worker that directly applied to my college major and long-term career goals. The beauty of school-sponsored opportunities is that those types of mentors value your long-term goals and simultaneously recognize that you first need to excel as a student before you can reach those bigger aspirations. It's a nourishing type of professional development, one that won't leave you drained or overwhelmed. 

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

Be confident in your goals, but creative in how to achieve them. When applying for jobs, consider the types of companies that need writers and editors, but aren't typically the first employers that come to mind, such as hospitals or tech companies. As an undergrad, I never imagined myself working in financial services, but I've completed some of my most important and rewarding work as a writer and editor in this industry. 

Lastly, it's never your job to tell yourself no. If you see an opportunity that excites you, even if you think it's a long shot, you owe it to yourself to pursue it. Your knowledge, capabilities, and experience—and the positive ways in which others perceive those things—may surprise you, unlocking doors that you yourself may have left closed.

You can connect with Marissa on LinkedIn here and follow her blog here!

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Abigael Donahue: Technical Writer

Name: Abigael Donahue

Age: 24 years

College & Majors/Minors: Bachelor of Arts in English from Norwich University, Class of 2015

Current Location: Cambridge, MA

Current Form of Employment: Technical Writer at HubSpot

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I work as a Technical Writer at HubSpot, a global marketing and sales software company. I translate complex software concepts—from operating the CRM to setting up technical integrations—into human language that users can understand and look forward to reading.  

In the tech industry, writing is very prominent. HubSpot needs people to build the software, but also people to communicate its functionality and strategy. That’s where I come in.  

On a regular day, I’ll work across departments including product, engineering, content, and technical support to stay on top of what’s happening with the software. I then use this information to plan new content or edit existing documentation to ensure that our articles accurately reflect the software’s most up-to-date functionality.

Additionally, I take on writing opportunities at HubSpot unrelated to my core role, including blog writing and editing as well as writing projects outside of work. I store all of my writing samples in my online portfolio. In a nutshell, I use my writing every day at HubSpot to communicate the functionality of and strategy behind the software.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

Throughout my time as an English major in college, I always had people sarcastically tell me, “Good luck finding a job!” While thoughtful of them to share their good wishes, I didn’t need any luck. Finding a job with a B.A. in English was not an issue at all. I graduated in May 2015 and I landed my first job one month later as a Marketing/Proposal Coordinator at Hoyle, Tanner & Associates, Inc., a civil engineering firm.  

I found the job posting online on a job board, and I applied, as I did with many other jobs. You really have to make job searching your full-time job after graduation. In total, I probably applied to over 90 positions during that one month between graduation and my first day at Hoyle, Tanner.

““I found the job posting online on a job board, and I applied, as I did with many other jobs. You really have to make job searching your full-time job after graduation. In total, I probably applied to over 90 positions during that one month between graduation and my first day at Hoyle, Tanner.””

My primary responsibility was working across different engineering teams to create content for our technical proposals. I wrote technical content, designed proposal layouts, copy edited too many pages to count, and combined content from a diverse group of contributors to produce cohesive documents that told our clients who we were and what skills we had to offer.

I also wrote for the company’s blog when I wasn’t working on proposals.

I later applied the technical content creation, writing/editing, and communication skills I built at Hoyle, Tanner to my first job at HubSpot in May 2016. I found HubSpot while I was researching marketing (I always wanted to learn as much about the industry I was working in). I applied online and interviewed for the first round two days later. I initially came on board as an Associate Technical Support Specialist, where I provided support to HubSpot users in all areas of the HubSpot software. After nine months, I was promoted to a CRM/Sales Product Specialist. While writing wasn’t my full-time job yet, I continued to write as much as I could for different content platforms until I landed the Technical Writer position in August 2017.

While my career is only a little under three years old, I have fine-tuned my writing, editing, and content creation skills while building up my technical expertise and product knowledge.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

I had the privilege of doing freelance editing and research projects for one of my Norwich professors, Professor Sean Prentiss.

Not only was I a student of his for a couple writing classes, but I also worked closely with Professor Prentiss on The Chameleon, Norwich University’s literary journal. I was a member of the editorial team for three years before taking on the role of Editor-in-Chief during my senior year. I also worked with him on a grant writing project for the Vermont Humanities Council. We put the contribution toward Norwich’s PoemCampus celebration. Over the course of my time at Norwich, we worked together to highlight the importance of literary arts on a military campus.

After graduating, I had the pleasure of copy editing Professor Prentiss’s work; projects ranged from textbooks to autobiographies. He’s such a gifted writer and I’m so honored I was included in his writing process for a variety of his publications.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

During my first two years, I focused solely on immersing myself in writing and literature, the two loves of my life. By throwing myself into my academics, I started building skills that I could apply to my future career: communication, writing, research, and public speaking. I also learned how to create and defend an argument after writing an abundance of essays which all required a well-researched thesis.

““Getting a job requires you to know how to market the experience you have. As an English major, you have the skills you need to succeed in a range of industries. You just need to market those skills to specific positions.” ”

My junior and senior years were no exception. I continued to focus primarily on my studies and getting as much out of the curriculum as I could. Four years fly by, and that was starting to sink in as I aged out of the University. I tried to absorb as much as I could from every class I took.

However, I also started weaving in some career planning. I joined a mentorship program and chatted with my professors who had backgrounds in publishing and writing, two fields I wanted to explore post-graduation. On top of that, I worked with Norwich’s Career Center to get tips on creating a résumé and cover letter and to practice my interviewing skills.

To best prepare for a post-grad life, focus on getting good grades (they do matter, like it or not), working hard in your classes, and pursuing side projects that interest you. You can then layer in some light career planning such as interviewing and job application practice with your University’s career center. Getting a job requires you to know how to market the experience you have. As an English major, you have the skills you need to succeed in a range of industries. You just need to market those skills to specific positions.

Looking back now, I wish I didn’t stress so much about graduation. After getting a job, the rhythm of the work world becomes natural, just like college. If you’re a current college student, slow down and don’t be in a rush. It’s easy to get caught up in your own thoughts about moving on to the next big thing, constantly strategizing on how to succeed in the career you don’t have yet.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

The people who say you can’t get a job with an English degree are the ones who never tried. You can go far with a degree in English. Articulation holds more power than anyone can imagine.

Click here to visit Abigael Donahue's website! 

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Nagisa Toyooka: Supplemental Instruction Leader

Name: Nagisa Toyooka

Age: 29

College & Majors/Minors: BA in English, University of Southern California

Current Location: Los Angeles, CA

Current Form of Employment: Supplemental Instruction Leader at El Camino College

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I currently work as a Supplemental Instruction (SI) Leader for mathematics courses at El Camino College. Every academic semester, I get assigned to a different course where I attend class with my students, discuss with the professor what class material I should review during “SI sessions,” and promote and facilitate review sessions that are tailored to the specific class I’ve been assigned to. It’s an interesting position and maybe a little confusing to the students who sometimes think I’m a tutor (which I’m not because I don’t work with students one-on-one) or if they ask me about their grades (which I don’t know about because I’m not a TA). I would describe it as a combination between being a teacher, TA and a tutor. Many colleges and universities around the country use the SI program as an academic program to help students succeed in stereotypically difficult courses. 

I know that as English majors many of us get asked if we would ever teach. I was one of the skeptical ones, but being in my current position, it’s definitely the most rewarding position I’ve ever been in and it makes me rethink what I want and what I value in my long-term career goals. 

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

Long story short, between my junior and senior year in college I realized that although I love writing and being immersed in artistic creativity, as I career I wanted to do pursue something that would continue to intellectually challenge me and be math-biology oriented. I wanted to pursue a research career in public health. 

But, instead of switching majors or staying in school for a few extra years, I decided it was better for me to graduate on time and figure out if what I thought I wanted to do was what I wanted to do with my life. Some of my first few jobs outside of college were working as a cashier at a ramen restaurant, working as an editorial intern at Tokyopop, and organizing specimens as an Implant Retrieval Lab volunteer at the Orthopaedic Institute for Children. I feel like the volunteer experience was what convinced me to follow that inkling I felt during my last years in college. 

After a few years in the workforce, I decided to go back to school to complete prerequisite courses that would help me to apply to graduate programs that interested me. I decided to complete lower-division requirements at El Camino College where I started working as a tutor at their math study center. While I worked as a tutor, I heard that the SI program was looking for new SI leaders and I applied. I’ve been a student in an SI session myself when I was a student at USC and I remember thinking that if I had the opportunity to be an SI leader, I’d want to do it, so I’m really glad I’ve been able to do this! 

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

In addition to working as a SI leader, I also write for Hubpages, which is a user-generated-content website. When I was an intern at Tokyopop, I wrote an article every week on their “Learning Japanese” blog. Before that position, I wasn’t really interested in writing online or blogging because I had an image that blogging was like a diary except you write online. But the Learning Japanese blog showed me that blogs aren’t necessarily about personal stuff, but it could something informative and educational. 

This is kind of a tangent, but having an English background and being a math tutor I feel like it makes me a different kind of instructor than say, an instructor with a science-math background. I try to be mindful of how I communicate with my students, especially if they make mistakes. I’ve noticed many students have “math anxiety” which I think comes from feeling discouraged about their mathematical abilities so when I talk to my students, I make it a priority to sound encouraging even though they may totally be approaching the problem wrong! I believe I’m able to do that kind of “thoughtful” communication because of the verbal and written communication training that comes from being an English major. 

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

I wish I could say that I worked several internships, networked like crazy and landed a prestigious position after college, but that wasn’t the case. 

I think networking is for real, but I also don’t think it’s the end of the world either even if we don’t have a large professional network. I feel like networking increases the chance that our resumes get looked at and bypasses some red tape, but the probability that we actually get hired for the position is the same whether we got an interview because we know someone at the company or submitted an application online. 

I always worked throughout college and I’m sure subconsciously it has helped me develop the kind of work ethic we need to be successful after college. I feel like with me it’s the opposite—being in the real-world helped me realize things I could have done better as a student. When I went back to school, I realized the power of having relevant experience on my resume, but it’s hard for me to do internships during the academic year (because I work and go to school), but every summer I made sure I did something research-y oriented because that’s what I would ultimately like to do. 

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

I feel like the best thing about being an English major is that it doesn’t prepare you for only one type of job or one type of career. If I met someone with say, an engineering degree, I kind of have an idea of what kind of company they would want to work for or what type of career path they might lead. But having said that, I also feel like the best thing about being an English major is also what makes it the hardest thing—there’s so much you can do with it that it can be really overwhelming! If there’s any advice that I could give, I would suggest that if a student is interested in becoming an English major, I would ask them to ask themselves why they want to study it and how it fits in with the rest of their life goals.

This is another tangent, but I read somewhere online once (and I agree with this statement) that when employers are hiring nowdays, they look for really specific skills that we may or may not learn during school, so I would also suggest that along with getting an English degree to get marketable experiences and skills which they could pad their resumes with. 

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Cassie Viau: Marketing Manager

Name: Cassie Viau

Age: 31

College & Majors/Minors: Plymouth State University – Bachelor of Arts in English, Writing Concentration, Business Administration Minor

Current Location: Salem, NH

Current Form of Employment: Marketing Manager

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I work at a national healthcare staffing agency as the Marketing Manager. My team and I handle all of the marketing efforts for the company, including blogs, social media, digital advertising, print materials, and event planning. We have five unique divisions within the company to support, so it’s a busy job, but a ton of fun. It’s a great opportunity to do a little bit of everything in the marketing world! 

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

I started in the world of marketing back in 2009, when social media and blogs were just starting to become a mainstream idea for businesses. I happened across a job opening on Craigslist for a copywriter who would be comfortable using sites like Facebook and Twitter. I immediately jumped at the chance to start a job that would actually use my writing skills—I was working as a bank teller at the time and desperate to start a real career. I ended up getting hired for that position and spent the next six-and-a-half years working my way through the ranks at a small digital marketing agency. I eventually ended up as the Director of Social Media Services, managing a full team of content writers, graphic designers, and social media specialists.

In 2015, I was contacted on LinkedIn by my current company. They were looking for someone to come in and jumpstart their marketing efforts and liked my background. It ended up being an incredible opportunity for me to build a new team from the ground up and develop a marketing plan for a great company. And with my experience at a marketing agency, I was already used to balancing projects and deadlines for a range of clients. Now, my “clients” are the different divisions that we have.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

While I was working at the digital marketing agency I was deeply engrained in the world of social media—especially Twitter. Through the connections I had there, I ended up with a freelance gig writing a weekly column for a local paper all about social media. I’d explain what different social media sites were, how to use them, and help people feel more comfortable with this new world that was changing quickly. The articles I wrote there ended up leading to another freelance gig teaching local real estate agents how to manage their own marketing and social media accounts. I’d work at the digital agency during the day and then consult and write at night. I lived and breathed social media marketing 24/7, and that dedication helped me stay ahead of trends and move my career along. 

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

There are a few things that I did in college that helped prepare me for my post-grad life. I was actively involved in a few different English major related clubs, including Sigma Tau Delta, the honor society. I was also a mentor for incoming English majors with a few friends. Through the mentoring group, we developed a digital “writing center” for students who had quick questions about their essays and assignments. We used AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) at the time. It was one of the first times I’d hack some sort of technology to give people what they were looking for, which turned out to be really helpful in a digital marketing career.

““Adding a Business Minor to my writing degree also helped a lot.” ”

I was also the founding editor of a newsletter for the English department. My version was old school—a PDF I’d create in Publisher. But now that newsletter has transformed into a blog that students contribute to. It’s really exciting to see how it’s evolved with the times.

Adding a Business Minor to my writing degree also helped a lot. During the summer between sophomore and junior year, I was calling around to different publishing companies, book agents, and publications to try and find some internship experience. One of them told me that they were sick of seeing English majors with no business sense apply for jobs and completely shut me down. I immediately went back to school and added that minor to help give myself a leg up for life after graduation!

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

““Classes in journalism, social media, marketing, or even web development can really help you round out your education and make you more marketable to employers.””

Hustle! As cliché as it sounds, if you can write and work during your time at school, you’ll already have a portfolio ready to go when you graduate. That helps tremendously when you’re applying for copywriting jobs. Employers want to see that you’ve done more than just complete assignments in class. And once you are working, whether it’s in your field or not, keep writing! Take any freelance gig you can get, start your own blog, do something that keeps you writing and honing your craft.

I’d also recommend that you branch out beyond the English department. Taking a few business classes helped give me some baseline knowledge that my bosses appreciated. As fun as it was to spend hours a day reading literature and writing poetry, I’m glad I forced myself to break out into the business department as well. You don’t have to stick to business classes either. Classes in journalism, social media, marketing, or even web development can really help you round out your education and make you more marketable to employers.

You can connect with Cassie Viau on LinkedIn here!

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Hannah Benefield: Academic Success Coordinator

Name: Hannah Benefield

Age: 24

College & Majors/Minors: BA Interdisciplinary Studies (Minor in English), MA English and Creative Writing

Current Location: Lakeland, FL

Current Form of Employment: Full-time Academic Success Coordinator at Southeastern University

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I work at Southeastern University as an Academic Success Coordinator for ACE, the learning center. In my role, I wear many hats: I hire, train, and manage the tutors for the learning center, create learning resources for our students, teach success workshops, tutor writing sessions, and function as the success coach for the wrestling team. I love every part of it!

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

When I was a few months away from graduation, I began searching for open positions at my university. I knew I loved academia and wanted to stay at Southeastern. I applied to be the Administrative Coordinator for the dean of Behavioral and Social Sciences and I got the job! I started less than a month after graduation. Even though I worked in a totally different department than my background, I learned so much about what the role of “professor” really looks like and developed administrative skills that made it possible for me to take on my current position.

I actually worked at ACE as a writing tutor in my undergrad! I still had a relationship with the Academic Success Coordinator who came before me (my former boss), so when she decided to move on, she suggested that I apply to replace her. I did and waited a few grueling months for an interview. I got the job only a few weeks before the school year began. One crazy year later, I am in love with my constantly changing and expanding job. My coworkers are dedicated, hardworking, and committed to our student’s success, which makes what I do that much more fun.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

As I mentioned, I worked as a writing tutor when I was finishing my BA which really set me up for where I am now and where I am heading. Not only did I develop my proofreading and editing skills but I also learned how to teach those skills to the students that I worked with. These skills have been invaluable as I’ve grown in my career.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

“Think of your long-term goal and then find ways to start developing the skills you need in order to get there. Even if you’re in a job that isn’t necessarily “in the field,” practice your skills where you’re at and learn how to market them!”

I got involved in as many skill-building and career related activities as a possible! I worked as a tutor, joined a poetry group, served as an editor for the university’s literary journal, participated in open mics and other poetry reading events, freelanced as an editor, and developed relationships with my English professors. College is the best time to get involved and start to make connections and develop skills.

For me, so many good opportunities and relationships continue to come out of those experiences.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

Think of your long-term goal and then find ways to start developing the skills you need in order to get there. Even if you’re in a job that isn’t necessarily “in the field,” practice your skills where you’re at and learn how to market them!

Become a perpetual student and always be looking for new resources and new ways to get better at your craft. Be strategic with your hobbies, activities, and opportunities. Just as importantly, say yes to opportunities when they arise. Then write a killer resume or CV to highlight all of the skills that your English degree and extracurriculars equipped you with!

You can follow Hannah on Pinterest and connect with her on LinkedIn.

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