Lost on career paths for an English Lit grad. Do you have any advice?

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camusthenarwhal@reddit

Academia, but for the love of god don’t do it.

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Acrobatic_Relation18@reddit

Then why are you doing it if it's that bad

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Temp_space@reddit

I mean a LOT of vocational degrees end up in teaching so its a case of using it to do whatever you want to do in life. Youre young, chill.

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Why are you doing this now, at least 8 months since graduation? The time to be think about this was 2-3 years ago. Seriously, what were you doing for those 3 years? It's not like an English degree includes that much *work*. You should have been applying from the start of your final year, if not sooner.

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Obvious_Armadillo_16@reddit (OP)

Thanks for this super helpful comment. If you didn't already know, many uni students don't know what they want to do. I've met ppl at work who say they still don't know what to do. I'm glad you've got it all figure out tho

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constructuscorp@reddit

Here's the thing babe: I'm an English lit PhD, and I've come to learn that there are a LOT of industries out there populated by people who are good at their jobs, but they absolutely hate reading and writing. Construction, tech, fashion, banking...if you can think of an industry with a lot of money, the chances are there's a lot of company higher ups who *need* things to be written, but hate doing it themselves. It's a profitable niche.

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D1C_Whizz@reddit

I guarantee they’ll be using LLMs to do that in the next 3-5 years.

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gagagagaNope@reddit

Yep. Without close supervision AI produces over wordy slop at the moment. Very soon it won't, especially something like copilot that can read all of your past emails and writing and produce something in your own style

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D1C_Whizz@reddit

The evolution of AI copy writing is very observable through LinkedIn in the past 12-18 months. Initially it was very easy to spot. Now it isn’t.

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gagagagaNope@reddit

Exactly, already well on the way.

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Zak_Rahman@reddit

Out of interests, what would you like to do? I understand that this is different to applying for a job. But I am just interested.

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D1C_Whizz@reddit

I’m a Classics Graduate that went on to a long career in marketing with FTSE 500 companies . English, Classics and History have traditionally been typical paths into marketing. But Marketing has become ever more data and analytics focused with mature organisation folding Marketing into Product Management - I predict with the rapid evolution of LLMs campaign strategy, channel strategy, copywriting and even creative will get automated. If you are thinking of marketing I’d recommend aiming for small/medium sized companies who will be behind the curve on AI. Better yet (in my opinion), if I were you I’d look at up-skilling to something more technical. I say this as someone who loves and respects the arts.

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sameoldkit@reddit

I'd be delighted to hear about what is more technical and worth upskilling to - do you have any examples? That statement could mean a lot of things!

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D1C_Whizz@reddit

Anything that is that requires specialist knowledge to deliver output. Data Analytics, Plumbing, Law- something with a practical application. I’m sorry to say the days of just having a degree as a pathway to a decent career are long gone. Again I say this as someone with a degree with no useful direct application at all. But that was 30 years ago. You could consider Publishing or Archiving- there’s a clean direct line from English Lit there. Otherwise perhaps the more efficient question, is what jobs can’t I do because I don’t have the specific technical skills required. Everything else is fair game- although unlikely for your English degree to offer you an advantage over anyone else who can show themselves to be of similar intelligence and competence to in an interview.

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Romeo_Jordan@reddit

Lots of English grads in the civil service.

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Obvious_Armadillo_16@reddit (OP)

Is civil service the jobs on gov.uk website. I feel like in my area they're all senior roles or working in prisons

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Romeo_Jordan@reddit

No that's all jobs in your local area this site is for civil service which contains a whole bunch of departments and agencies. https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi

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Obvious_Armadillo_16@reddit (OP)

Oh thank you so much

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Mission-Sound9493@reddit

Marketing, PR, civil service, British Council, pretty much any grad scheme not targeted at science/maths/IT, administration, consultancy, higher education, TV production, Sales, publishing, charity sector etc. The skies the limit really. The type of degree matters much less than your work experience (e.g. having worked or volunteered somewhere, or even better that you've tried to find some experience in the sector you want to go into) and how much effort you put into your applications/interviews.

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Ill_Evidence_5608@reddit

English lit degree, I taught ESL abroad for 4 years, did a History MA with view to being an academic, realised that would be a terrible life, transitioned into education/charity sector.

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Obvious_Armadillo_16@reddit (OP)

I'm interested in the education/charity sector, can I ask what your role is please?

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Ill_Evidence_5608@reddit

Feel free to DM me, I don't want to dox myself

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chris_282@reddit

I have been: an advertising setter, an IT helpline operator, a vacuum cleaner helpline operator, a mortgage processor, a training and recruitment officer, a bingo caller, a charity shop assistant manager, a barman, a trainee teacher (obviously), three flavours of factory worker, four flavours of administrator, and I'm now a mental health support worker. I have no advice to give, but you can consider me a data point.

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Heraonolympia123@reddit

English Literature grad here and I work for the council after brief stints at the NHS admin, retail and social care admin. Our new apprentice for Customer Service also an English Lit graduate. I also never wanted to be a teacher.

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Obvious_Armadillo_16@reddit (OP)

Can I ask what the role in the council is please? It seems to be coming up a few times

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Heraonolympia123@reddit

I register births, marriages and deaths but also got a job in taxi licencing at the same time (didnt take it as current role better paid).

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PennyBunPudding@reddit

Look you can carefully spend your time crafting experience until you eventually become a teacher. Or you can just admit defeat early and become a teacher.

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Obvious_Armadillo_16@reddit (OP)

I find this response rlly rude and dismissive. Wdym admit defeat? Teachers are great but I don't want that career path - why is that difficult for you to comprehend?

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PennyBunPudding@reddit

This reply is written in such a different way that I'm not entirely sure you are OP. However, it's called a joke. I have an English degree. I ended up being a teacher. Almost every one I know did. Is it the only career path? Obviously not. I suggest you maybe touch some grass if you find my comment really rude and dismissive.

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Stunning_Car9315@reddit

Eng lit graduate here and don't listen to some of the other comments if it's not what you want, no one I know is a teacher. I am a content designer, and I have coursemates in marketing, campaigning, journalism, policy, music industry, film and tv, theatre.

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folklovermore_@reddit

English Literature graduate here. I went into communications - mostly PR/external relations/media relations, but switched to internal comms just over two years ago and love it. I've always worked in-house (ie directly for the organisation) but you might also want to look at agencies if you'd prefer a more campaign-based approach.

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Desperate-Coat-8791@reddit

What do you wanna do? something reading/writing related? or something else? doesnt really matter what your degree is in. Start applying for stuff that you like the look of

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Pristine-Bet-5764@reddit

My sister got a degree in Eng lit and now she works in adult education through the council

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peppermint_aero@reddit

If you only graduated recently you may still have access to your university's careers service. Maybe go and have a chat with them?

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Fresh_Article5328@reddit

I don’t want to sound horrible so my apologises if I am but there aren’t many options. My sister did the same and couldn’t find anything linked to her degree. Maybe focus on graduate schemes that don’t have specific degree requirements. If you did well, will have plenty of finance graduate schemes with the civil service or in the private sector.

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Obvious_Armadillo_16@reddit (OP)

It doesn't have to be related to my degree. I understand the only related is teaching but I wanted to know about general schemes

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Fresh_Article5328@reddit

There’s so many out there. Might be limited to your location but look on LinkedIn. Problem is the civil service ones have closed in all likelihood, but there should be some. There should be some banking graduate schemes still out (that’s how I got in)

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Doctor_Womble@reddit

One of my best friends did English Lit all the way to PHD level, and guess what? He's a teacher. Not disrespecting the job, its a critical role. But it does feel like some degrees always lead that way.

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Gauntlets28@reddit

If you're doing a PHD in most things, you'd better be happy to teach. It's not quite the same as doing a BA in a subject, it's a commitment.

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Least-Entrepreneur23@reddit

What career did you have in mind when you decided to do and English Lit degree?

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_LemonadeSky@reddit

Law conversion?

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vegan_voorhees@reddit

I did English Lit and now work in IT. I did a later qualification to get into sub-editing, but pretty much *as* I was on the course the paper running it (and many others) decided to combine the role of reporter and sub, which might be why their publications are littered with typos, bad grammar, and uninspired wordplay. The other path might be whatever the trade of librarians is referred to as?

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