English Major with no career
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Anonymous
| I don't get why you are "blaming" this on being an English major. You don't seem to have much hustle. It's more about how you hustle than what your major was. |
Anonymous
I know. This sounded like that person to me, too. I think she's started 3 threads already asking for advice and not actually following through on the advice given. |
Anonymous
Exactly. The problem isn't the degree, it's the underperforming at current jobs, and the inability to take advice from supervisors or anyone else trying to help. |
Anonymous
| My sister is an English major. She has been teaching for 20 years and loves it! But it would only work if you really love teaching. |
Anonymous
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If you are an English major, brush up on your writing and editing skills. Technical editors, ones that specialize in specific topics, are very hard to find. Unfortunately, strong writing skills are not emphasized in school much, so we need great editors more than anything.
Pays about $40 an hour starting. |
Anonymous
| My dd was an English major and worked on Wall Street and now in tech. Maybe pursue a certificate in a field you might like OP. Even if you have to take out some loans, it is worth it to have a happier life than what your situation sounds like now. Good luck! One step at a time. |
Anonymous
This just isn't how this works. Have you seen someone about your anxiety? Your college major isn't your problem. |
Anonymous
The first step to changing your situation is to address this. If you under-perform in the jobs you are assigned, you will never be given good opportunities to advance because people will not trust that you will be able to complete or excel at the assignment. So, you need to get counseling and/or medication prescribed by your doctor to address your anxiety issues. Then, work on applying yourself to your work diligently and improve your performance on the work you are assigned. Try to do more than just the minimum. Sometimes with basic admin work, it doesn't seem like that's possible, but there are ways to excel in most work. If someone asks you to do something, try to ask a few questions about how something will be used. Try to make sure that the results you turn in will make what your deliver easier to use. Make sure that what you deliver is returned when expected or earlier. Make sure that your work is neat and does not require someone else to proofread or check to be sure that it is accurate. A good example is your OP. You didn't proofread your own OP and ended up with a silly typo spelling error. That may seem insignificant to you, especially on an anonymous forum, but if you do admin work and return more than one item with a typo on it, then I'm going to be less eager to give you work because it means that I have to make sure that I proofread anything you return to me before I can pass it on. As a supervisor/manager, I don't always have the time to proofread things that I request, but in your case I would have to spend the time, because I can't trust that you will proofread and self-correct errors. That's a huge limitation on an admin level person. Once I don't have faith in you as an admin-type, I'm not going to give you the best opportunities to shine or excel, especially if this is a pattern (which it seems to be). I'll look for the admin who always gives me what I want or more, gives it to me in a timely fashion and that I can trust without having to proofread. Other options. Look at your job and find ways to improve the job or make it more efficient. I know an admin who was a receptionist. Her predecessor had a company directory which was several sheets long pinned to the desk under the counter, one line per employee. It included information such as the email address, office location, etc. She took the existing directory and created two cheat sheets. One was only name and extension, formatted into multiple columns so that the whole list fit on one sheet. She then sorted it by department and again printed the whole list on one sheet, but each department was titled, then the head/lead of that department, then the staff members. She added notes if any person had specific responsibilities, so HR would look like: HR x1600 Ann Smith, Director x1601 Betty Jones, Benefits x1602 Carl Brown, x1603 Dorothy Williams, New Hires, x1604 And she posted it under the counter, easily visible. I worked in IT and I know that when I went to work on her computer, if the main line rang, I could pick up the line and easily transfer calls to fell employees from her reference sheets without having to thumb through the longer directory. She wasn't assigned to do this, but she made the job more efficient. There was another admin for another company I worked for who was in charge of office supplies. She regularly talked to the people or stopped by occasionally to say hello. She looked at people's desks and she figured out supplies that would help people with their work. Way back when, she was the first person I know who bought the little post-it arrows so that people could put an arrow by anywhere the recipient would need to sign/complete before sending. She realized people were using bigger size post-its (like the little 1"x1" type) and just writing "Sign here" or "Please complete". The little arrows saved people time and she figured out what people needed and added it to the inventory. She was well known for almost being Radar-like prescient about what people needed for office supplies. She also worked hard to get supplies as quickly as possible. When she had troubles getting orders efficiently, she asked for a company credit card to purchase more supplies. Because she was well trusted, she was granted one and she always had supplies as quickly as possible. So, you work on making your job as efficient as possible and make on being reliable. If you do this, you'll get considered for better opportunities. Note: both of those admin types cited above moved on to bigger and better things within a year or two of holding those jobs. I know that the second inventory person was specifically considered for a job "above her pay grade" because of how bright and reliable she was. |
Anonymous
It is this thing called THE GOOGLES. |
Anonymous
| I would suggest some classes OP such as Toastmasters to work on your confidence. One of the earlier posters talked about people really doing their jobs well. That is great advise. People notice people who hustle and take the time to make their lives better/easier even if it is something simple like stopping by to greet everyone each day. |
Anonymous
I'm also thinking this is the same person. She has social management issues. |
Anonymous
| Just curious, didn't anyone tell you that majoring in English is a waste? |
Anonymous
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I am an English Major with a good career. Some thoughts:
1) Social media jobs are hot. Have you considered that? Take a class or read some books if you need to hone skills. 2) Web design. 3) Teaching. English or ESL. 4) Communications jobs. Pick a field you like and look for entry-level opportunities. Healthcare has lots of opportunities. |
Anonymous
Ha. I majored in English and have always been gainfully employed. There are plenty of jobs for people with communication skills. There are not plenty of jobs for poets. |
Anonymous
| Sorry social media jobs are such bullshit. I predict they won't exist like they do right now several years from now. |