The Writers

Resources for exploring yourself, your major, and possible occupations:

Pathway U: Got 25-30 minutes? Why not use that time to explore your values, interests, personality, and workplace preferences? Exploring yourself and what you value in life can be so helpful for finding potential occupations. Pathway U uses your answers as well as scientific algorithms to give a nice, long list of occupations that you might enjoy. For best results, discuss Pathway U with a Career Counselor or Advisor!

The Balance – Best Jobs for Graduates with an English Degree: Love English, writing, and literature, but aren’t quite sure what to do with it when you graduate? Fear not! Majoring in anything that has to do with writing, reading, and thinking prepares you for a ton of positions after college. This resource lists many of the skills you will come away with when you graduate and provides information on the more popular potential positions for English and related majors.

The Career Linguist: This is an awesome resource for wannabe linguistics students! Find out about all the different things that you can do with a linguistics major, get advice on starting your career as a linguist, read about how others have leveraged their degrees and their careers, and more.

35 Awesome Jobs for English Majors: This article provides blunt yet helpful information on careers that you might think of automatically when you think of an English major, as well as others that might surprise you! The author also provides ideas on how to break into certain industries and positions that relate to English.

What Can I Do With This Major?: Unsure what careers you can do with your major? Or even just exploring different major possibilities? Then this will be a great resource for you. What Can I Do with This Major breaks each major down by industries/fields, providing you with tons of ideas and occupations to explore. At the bottom of each major page, you’ll find resources including industry-specific professional associations, alternative job search engines, and further resources on exploring occupations.

My Next Move: Whether you know what you want to do or are still exploring, My Next Move can be a useful too regardless of where you are in your search for a career. Explore industries, take the My Next Move Interest Profiler, or enter keywords to discover occupations that interest you.

Resources for English Majors: Dr. Leanne Maunu, an English professor at Palomar College, compiled this list of helpful resources for English majors (some of which are already listed above, but there are also some awesome new resources!).

Career Planning for English Majors – University of Iowa: This is a super neat resource that dives into what other industries you can break into with your skills as an English major. Additionally, this article provides some guidelines and tips on what you can be doing each year of your college experience to get closer to your post-graduate goals.

To explore other occupations and resources, see this English Career Guide or visit Career Services to find more information on career exploration.

Resources for finding experiences that speak to your creative soul (or that can at least help you learn about yourself):

Work U: Gain valuable experience while earning credit and building connections in the community! Work U is career preparation with a twist, giving you hands-on professional work experience, clarity on your career goals, an opportunity to be mentored, focused classroom time, and a chance to build your resume and network – all while gaining three upper-division credits. Keep a lookout for the many Work U opportunities that involve communication, creativity, and critical thinking!

On-Campus Jobs: On-campus jobs provide more than a paycheck; they provide opportunities for professional development experiences and network connections. On-campus jobs can be a great way to explore your interests and values as well as gain a sense of belonging on campus. Plus there are plenty of jobs where you can flex your creative muscles!

Internships: Paid or unpaid, internships can provide crucial career-related experiences that can give you the opportunity to grow as both a professional and a human. If you need any help finding internships or networking with organizations in the community, chat with one of our Career Counselors or Advisors!

Try Freelancing: Use Upwork and other freelance sites to find quick projects to make a little money and build your portfolio!

How to Break Into Journalism: Learn from professionals in the business about what it takes to break into the field of journalism. You might have to put yourself out there, take chances, and work hard, but you can do it!

Resources for expressing and articulating your story through your resumes, cover letters, interviews, etc.:

Resumes and Cover Letters: Crafting solid resumes and cover letters is an artwork in and of itself! Use this resource to help you articulate your experience via effective resumes and cover letters. This is the time for you to show off your writing skills! For additional assistance and feedback, chat with one of our Career Counselors or Advisors or visit our Virtual Career Center!

Interviewing: The interview is where you get your chance to shine! If you have landed an interview, the employer sees potential in you, and you have already cleared a lot of the hurdles in the job search process. In addition to determining whether the company and position fit what you want, the interview is your opportunity to confirm for the employer that you have the right skills and qualifications they need, AND that your personality fits the organization.

Building Your Personal Brand and Networking: Telling your story and sharing your work through your online presence is important for building connections in the community. Use this resource to build your LinkedIn profile, show off your work, and connect with employers or peers with similar interests.

UW Resumes & Cover Letters For English Majors: In any major with writing as it’s core, you’re going to learn and hone a ton of useful skills to apply to your post-graduate goals. The real challenge is to showcase those skills on your resume and cover letter! This resource discusses how to weave in your transferable skills into your resume so that you can show employers why your degree and your skills matter. Planning on going into academia? This resource can also help you differentiate between a resume and a CV (curriculum vitae) as well as give you some tips to getting started on both documents.

The Muse – 43 Resume Tips That Will Get You Hired: A Career Counselor in a listicle! This is a quick and easy resource for when you are starting your resume or if you just want to make sure you are on the right track.

The Balance – How to Write a Cover Letter: Use this as a complementary tool to the cover letter tools above in Boise State Resources. This resource provides extra details for making your cover letter the best it can be. Your cover letter is a little sample of who you are – make sure you are authentic, detailed, and excited about the position.

10 Tips for Setting Up Your LinkedIn Profile – For Writers and Journalists: As a writer and creator, LinkedIn is another place for you to really show off your skills. This article lists 10 things you should probably pay attention to to make sure that your LinkedIn profile is authentic to you and your qualifications.