Careers for English Majors
Employers value UMW’s English majors for their writing, critical thinking, and research skills. Workplaces appreciate their creativity and their ability to communicate clearly. Because our majors get comfortable working independently as well as in groups and teams, they do well in any work setting. Another major asset for employers is the empathy for other lives and cultures that English majors acquire through reading and in the classroom. English majors gain a wide variety of transferable skills, supporting an array of career paths. See how you can translate the skills of an English major to the job market!
With their breadth of interests, UMW English majors are the quintessential liberal arts students, possessing both marketable skills and the ability to learn and grow throughout their careers. English majors can work anywhere.
In business and industry, government, the not-for-profit sector, and as entrepreneurs, our majors have forged exciting careers in education, publishing, journalism, law, entertainment, education, public relations, marketing, healthcare, the fine arts, social work, technology, management, finance, and more.
You know yourself and your interests. That means you are the one person qualified to find your own direction and prepare yourself to enter your first career. You will get help in English 295 and in your senior seminar. But UMW offers many more resources to help English majors graduate to good employment and become leaders in their fields:
- See everything the UMW Career Center offers English majors, and join Handshake
- Discover great strategies for using your major and your college experience to make yourself employable
- Browse the job titles of our English major alums to get ideas about career paths you may not have considered
A select list of job titles: UMW ENLI alumni report a range of current job titles.