Careers for English/Rhetoric Majors

Many English and Rhetoric majors wonder about finding a job once they graduate.   If you're one of them, you might look at Dean Copeland's Business Careers for English majors.  It's a reassuring analysis of the many skills LAS majors have to offer the business world. 

For some of you, the issue is less finding employment than deciding what sort of career you want.  Your first stop should be  UIUC Career Center at 715 S. Wright Street.  You will get the most out of the Career Center if you make an appointment to see a career counselor, take the time to find out what resources the center has to offer, and then take the time to use those resources.  In addition to talking to a career counselor, you can research jobs in the career library, take self-assessment tests to help you define you abilities and how they relate to different careers. You can also take EPSY 220: Career Development Theory and Practice, a semester-long course that will give you a structured setting through which you can explore different careers. 

A quick browse through any bookstore will tell you there are hundreds of books on the subjects of career seeking and job hunting.  One of the most well-known is Richard Nelson Bolles's continually updated What Color is Your Parachute series.  The 2007 What Color is Your Parachute is now out and it covers both how to find a career to suit you and the nuts and bolts of job hunting.  Other books that English or Rhetoric majors might find helpful are Great Jobs for English Majors (VGM, 2000),  100 Best Careers for Writers and Artists (Arco, 1998).  Other books that students have found helpful include The Color Blind Career: What Every African American, Hispanic American and Asian American Needs to Succeed in Today’s Job Market (Peterson’s Guides, 1997) and The Chicago Job Bank (Adams Publications, 1998). The Career Center library also has lots of resources to help you research specific careers.

Once you've narrowed down the career fields you're interested in, you'll need to start thinking about the job search.  The MonsterTrak website can give you a brief overview of what's involved.  While jobs are increasingly being advertised over the net, it is very unlikely that you will find your first job by trolling the Net.  Nonetheless, you might want to check out some of the websites that do post jobs just to see what is being advertised and how :  JobWeb is a good place to start, as is Richard Bolles's gateway to job hunting on the net.  If you want a piece of software that will go out and search many of the biggest job sites for you, try out http://www.wantedjobs.com/.   You can download Wanted Jobs for free; it allows you to search by state, job area, or a keyword.