Jobs for English Majors: They Do Exist

Posted by Bridget Quigg

The butt of every cocktail party joke – the English major. “Oh, that’s nice that you read Shakespeare. But, how does that get you a job?”

Well, it turns out that wordsmithing just might be the ticket in to today’s job market. According to a survey of HR professionals by global outplacement agency Challenger, Gray and Christmas and quoted in a New York Times article, “Young Workers: U Nd 2 Improve Ur Writing Skills,” the number one skill missing amongst entry-level job applicants is “writing skills.” Huh, sounds like that business degree may not do the trick for getting started in a new career.

In even better news for English majors, according to PayScale’s 2009 College Salary Report, English majors end up in some reasonably lucrative careers post-college. The most popular jobs for English majors and their median annual salaries 10 years out of school are:

Career                   Salary

Technical Writer       $65,700

Paralegal                 $54,300

Copywriter              $53,400

In terms of cash flow, the problems of English majors aren’t exactly solved. Their salary after 10 years doesn’t top aerospace engineering majors, who come out number one overall with $109,000 per year. But, hey, the English major probably is happier writing the next “Just do it” campaign rather than negotiating where to place the toilets on an airplane - not that ensuring comfortable bathrooms isn’t a worthy pursuit.

We’ll end with some other artsy, socially-minded, non-lucrative majors and their median yearly salaries according to PayScale’s 2009 College Salary Report:

College Major      Starting      After 10 Years

Journalism             $36,300      $65,300

History                  $38,800      $70,000

Art History             $36,300      $62,400

Public Relations      $36,700      $62,600

Anthropology         $37,600      $63,200

Social Work           $33,400      $41,600

Comments

[TechWriterNinja]

There is still some conflicting data about technical writers, jobs are still decreasing more than increasing month to month. In a recession though, that is expected. But I remember when I chose technical writing as my major (actually an English major with a focus in technical writing) the job outlook was great! I remember the forecast was something around 33% predicted job growth over the next ten years. There aren't many other B.A. degrees that have that kind of forecast.

With that in mind, it's probably still better if you minored in technical writing/communication and majored in a science for the highest salary and job satisfaction, that is, if you really want to be a tech writer and can stomach the math/science (which, sadly, I could not).

Cheers, and happy communicating!

TechWriterNinja

[Michael Medlock]

Majoring in English isn't just about writing skills. The main point of the degree is to sharpen your thinking, analysis and communication skills. I think we have forget this in over the past 20 years or so.

[Bridget Quigg]

Michael,
Thanks for your comment. You make a great point. Completing an English major requires far more than solid grammar. Glad you wrote.
Bridget

[Patricia]

Technical writing is a different field to break into without any technical knowledge. My experience is that those employing technical writers actually prefer technical degrees to english degrees. I have technical writing experience. I worked for the MIS dept. of a retailer and I worked for a utility company. But any of the postings want advanced technical knowledge.

[Jacquie]

Encouraging and informative. My B.A. is in English and I'm an opera singer. I've learned not to talk about Beowulf and Verdi at job interviews! At least, not at first. Jacquie

[Sonja]

You definitely need more than just an English degree to be a technical writer. You need to know about a technical subject. If you do not have a degree in the technical subject you are writing about, you should be involved with it some other way and still study it on your own.
Also, one thing I have notice when I job hunted in the past is that employers don't only want you to have an English degree, you also need to have skills, like software skills and typing.
So keep in mind that you need to back the degree up with additional skills and knowledge.