Where has the English Major Taken You?

Elizabeth Goldman

Language is a powerful tool in the marketing world. In order to persuade someone to buy a particular product or service, you need to know how to speak to them. Whether it’s an everyday consumer who is deciding on which brand of toothpaste to buy, or a large manufacturing business deciding which process improvement technology to implement, marketing comes down to how you communicate value to the buyer.

On March 19, I spoke to approximately 50 undergraduates at the U.Va. English Alumni Panel Discussion. This panel consisted of six University alumni from a wide span of graduating classes, all of whom majored in English. The purpose of the event was to share our experiences and our career paths so that the students could get some ideas about what they could do with their English degrees.

The overall consensus of the panel members was that you could do pretty much anything with an English degree. There was one literary agent, which was the most direct use of the degree, but also an insurance broker, a director of a non-profit association, and someone in the construction industry.

I shared my story, which began with why I chose the English major in the first place: I knew I wanted to be a writer. The only question was, “what kind of writer?” I had two internships and one externship (a week-long internship where you shadow someone in an office) to figure out what I wanted to do and gain some experience prior to finding my first full time job.

My first internship was at a TV News bureau in DC. It was a fascinating job, and I met a lot of interesting people, including George W. Bush (before he become president), the band Hanson, and numerous Congressmen. However, I steered away from journalism because I didn’t enjoy how non-creative the writing style was. My next internship was at a public relations agency, where I worked with primarily technology clients. Based on this experience, I decided to seek a job in marketing communications at a corporation.

My first job was working for a large software company, where I wrote press releases, Web content, brochures, and magazine articles. I also learned a great deal about how corporate marketing departments operate. I was amazed at how much they let me write, being fresh out of school. I soon realized that good writers were hard to come by in the business world, and having an English degree was a valuable asset. 

Since this first job, I’ve worked for several technology companies in the Northern Virginia area doing marketing, public relations, and communications. Throughout this journey, I gained the experience that lead to the position I have today. I enjoy my job because it allows me to be the writer I have always wanted to be, while also allowing me to think strategically and analytically. Even more importantly, I like how my ideas and my work directly impact the company’s success. It also provides a great sense of accomplishment, which I thrive on.

I shared these experiences with the students, and I also told them that most companies don’t care about candidates’ majors as long as they are educated and have relevant experience. Additionally, getting a job has a lot to do with how you sell yourself and your education. If you know how to “market” the English degree as providing great communication and analytical skills, then you have skills that virtually every organization is seeking.

A pet peeve of mine is when people wonder how I landed the job I have today with an English degree, and not a business degree. Marketing is all about knowing how to convey the value of a product or a service, mainly through the use of language. In business-to-business marketing, this goes beyond advertising to Web content, white papers, case studies, articles, and proposals. In this regard, writing persuasive essays in college is very similar to marketing. You’re analyzing a complex work of literature, which may contain several hundred pages, and developing a concise thesis statement that can be expressed in just one sentence. This thesis is what you are essentially "selling" the reader throughout the rest of the essay.

I remember being a fourth year at U.Va. and watching my friends in the Commerce and Engineering Schools attend “on grounds” interviews. It was intimidating to see employers heavily recruiting these students, whereas no one seemed to be looking for English majors. I had to be a go-getter and identify internship opportunities myself, as well as my first real job opportunity. I felt pressured to find a respectable, solid job right out of school. However, many of the panelists at the alumni event did not have a job when they first graduated. Some of them took part-time jobs or traveled around the world until they figured out what they wanted to do, and it all turned out fine in the long run.

The students at this event seemed really interested in what we had to say, and I spoke with a few of them afterwards. Their interest encouraged me to become more involved with the University, and with career mentoring in general. It was a very rewarding experience and it gave me the opportunity to re-visit my career path and remember where it all started.

Elizabeth Goldman is the Director of Marketing at InfinityQS International, Inc. 
     

Danny Plante

I graduated from Virginia with a degree in English in 1986, but had pursued a core of science related courses with the thought that I would apply to medical school. At the time, I believed a major in English would distinguish me from other “pre med types.”  I’ll confess that my relative weakness in math and science, and relative strength in writing and literature, assured an unfair allocation of time and resources, as well as an unremarkable academic record, and my share of despair upon graduation.

Of course the benefit of time and experience leads me to an entirely different analysis of this experience now.

At the time, I did not have the benefit of knowing the degree to which our business and culture would orient itself around computers and electronic media. I failed to realize the importance of possessing some basic accounting, some basic economics, and some basic finance. I did not understand “marketing” as such. Real Estate and Investments sounded interesting, but were equally unfamiliar and non-sensical. I thought “people skills” were important, and that I had them. I may not have been completely honest with myself in that regard.

I learned that my degree in English had very little to do with branding me, and everything to do with how I could view the world and respond to it…survive… and reasonably prosper. I realize now the vastness of the economy, and the difficulty of finding capable people willing to play their part absent entitlement, with the flexibility and intelligence to stray from the script.
 
English majors can usually say what they mean. They understand subtlety and subtext. They generally understand that human emotion runs the world and that it rarely manifests itself in unique ways. Reading and analyzing good literature requires the same skills one needs to avoid frauds and embrace undiscovered talent. The skills associated with a well prescribed regimen in English literature can only be found in a setting where rigorous thought and the luxury of time exist … in short … a University experience.

The frustrating part about erudition is that it is employed in small measure over the course of a career. It is an essential part of the means and not an end, and adds richness to the journey. The journey must be provisioned with skills of some type. The skills are the “tricks”, and the tricks are reasoned. How one formulates what is reasoned is the product, and in part, where you find yourself in the world. Committing to a liberal arts education is like planting an oak, and requires a view for the long term. The results will be less immediate, but enduring, and increasingly manifest as the opportunity to be heard is presented through experience.

A degree in English is a terrific foundation, and the essence of the University experience. All the other skills (tricks) can be learned along the way.

Danny Plante is a Senior Vice President at Towne Insurance, a $60 million property and casualty insurance agency headquartered in Chesapeake, VA.

Where has the English major taken you? Please write to us at and tell us how the English major at U.Va. has influenced your life and career.