What do you do with a BA in English?

December 15, 2006 5:35 PM

What are some possible career paths or jobs suitable for a helpful, problem-solving, researching, decision-making, disorganized, short-attention-spanned recent college grad?

I’m a recent college grad. I have a job. It’s okay. But I’m looking, in the longer run, for something different. I’m trying to find a job that I would enjoy, then concentrate on getting the skills to land it. (That said, my degree was in English; I’m not looking to get, say, a Ph.D. in biochemistry.) I know what I want out of a job, but I’m having trouble finding the job titles that match up.

Though a bit shy, I very much like interpersonal contact and helping people. I also greatly enjoy problem-solving, researching the answers to questions, and making recommendations or decisions for which vendor to pick and the like. I’d rather fix things than create them from scratch. I prefer being constantly interrupted and having ten thousand things to juggle than having a long project that requires my undivided attention. I enjoy camaraderie. I did tech support in college and found that it had many of the qualities that I’d want in a job, but it’s hard to turn that into a career (without going in a direction that would end up moving me away from the aspects for which I liked it).

Careers I have considered that might meet some of these criteria: QA engineer, sales engineer, law. MeFites, does your job, or that of someone you know, sound like it might match?

BTW, I have checked out Meyers-Briggs and other personality test based career recommendations but found them of limited value. I've also tried my school's career counseling office.

posted by phoenixy to work & money (18 answers total)

Research librarian.
posted by Alt F4 at 6:13 PM on December 15, 2006

Alternately, when you go into a Barnes & Noble, what section do you gravitate towards?
posted by Alt F4 at 6:14 PM on December 15, 2006

RESEARCH LIBRARIAN.
posted by unknowncommand at 7:03 PM on December 15, 2006

Technical writer, especially a contractor. There are all kinds of cool tangents from that.
posted by nj_subgenius at 7:10 PM on December 15, 2006

hmmm ...

helping people
problem-solving, researching
making recommendations or decisions for which vendor to pick
constantly interrupted
tech support

Sounds like my job - public librarian.
posted by timepiece at 7:25 PM on December 15, 2006

You sound a little like me. With my BA in English I started out doing tech support at various software companies + isps, while learning web design/dev, etc. I run the web site for a national non-profit now and just started library school. Perhaps if AskMefi had existed back then, I would've gone straight to library school based on the answers above.
posted by jdl at 7:53 PM on December 15, 2006

You are one characteristic short of the job description for a professional sales person. "Risk taker". If you are willing to take risk in return for greater reward, the job of professional selling is right in line with all of the points you mention.

The question would be, what kind of sales? Well, there are certain fields that wouldn't have you. For example, you're not going to land a job as a medical sales person without a biology degree, and you're not going to be a network sales engineer without a Cisco or MS certification, but there are other fields that are looking for raw talent that don't mind doing training.

A couple that come to mind are finance and investment firms such as American Express who are constantly recruiting; and telco and Internet companies such as Verizon.

Be warned, you are going to have to start at the bottom and earn your way up. You might start out at $30k, but if you've got what it takes there is no other field in which your earnings can climb quicker.

Sales professionals are among the most highly paid people in the world, routinely earning more than doctors or lawyers. But again, you're going to have to learn, practice, be humble, and above all else have a desire to actually help people solve problems.

Good luck,

John
posted by jpozadzides at 8:24 PM on December 15, 2006

How about technical documentation, training, marketing, client relations, product management or business development? You could also look at becoming a business analyst or implementation consultant.
posted by acoutu at 8:51 PM on December 15, 2006

if you're a natural "people person," have you considered teaching?
posted by trinarian at 8:54 PM on December 15, 2006

I'm in graduate school to become a teacher, which doesn't seem to fit in your plans, but I'm also working as a production assistant for a non-profit professional education group. We create curricula that center around student publication.

My job blends English skills (interacting with students, editing student publications) with tech skills (PhotoShop, photography, computer maintainence). I'm having an awesome time, and I'm helping people.

The non-profit sphere will probably offer a lot of jobs where they ask you to wear many hats.

(and if I'm wrong, and teaching's an option, remember that people who are shy around adults are often quite relaxed and at ease with students)
posted by themadjuggler at 10:12 PM on December 15, 2006

Another take on the teaching angle is to explore corporate training and development, especially the performance improvement side. I have a BA in English and your description of yourself sounds very much like me.

Here's how your criteria apply to my situation:
Helpful - I get to work with people to help them learn how to do their jobs better.
Problem-solving and decision-making - My projects usually involve looking at a situation and figuring out what's getting in the way of performance then making recommendations on how to fix it, whether it's through providing training or something else, like providing better tools or improving communication.
Researching - I'm constantly researching new training methods, theories and vendors, as well as various topics for inclusion in training.
Disorganized - I'm certainly not the most organized person in the world, but it's not that much of an issue.
Short-attention-span - One of my favorite aspects of the job is that for each new project I'm always learning something new. Plus I'm often juggling a couple projects at once, so there's no time for boredom.

Also, if you're technically competent, there's a rapidly growing need for e-learning developers who can combine instructional theory and design with technical expertise.

Lastly, another nice thing about training and development is that you can choose to pursue advanced degrees if you want, but they aren't required to break into the field. Almost every mid- to large-size company has internal trainers and many of them started as front-line staff. So if you have a job already and you're good at it, you can start looking into training opportunities within your own company.

I suggest you also check out the International Society for Performance Improvement or the American Society for Training and Development if you're interested in learning more about the field. Good luck!
posted by platinum at 1:51 AM on December 16, 2006

You're young. Keep an open mind and allow life to develop as you try alternatives. Consider the alternatives mentioned above, but if one doen't fit, why not try another?

Recollection: My sister got a B.A. in English and immediately started teaching at the middle school level. Within a few months she couldn't stand it and quit. After a couple years "trying on" different jobs, she joined the Air Force. She ran an air terminal in Crete. She loved her work, and only retired because she and her husband (also an officer) were slated to be posted to different locations.
posted by Robert Angelo at 5:45 AM on December 16, 2006

Not to thread-jack, but I'm interested in the idea of "library school" or being a research librarian. Does anyone have any impressions of what it takes academically, or yeas/neys?
posted by now i'm piste at 8:54 AM on December 16, 2006

A friend's gf graduated (English major) and is finishing up additional schooling for being a paralegal. She wanted to be a lawyer but had shyness and other personality problems. Being a paralegal allows her to 'practice law' and problem solve and all that jazz but not have to deal with people too much.

My sister used to work for the University bookstore in grunt positions. After she graduated (Music and Geography major) she got hired on to analyze sales patterns for instructor-produced modules and stuff.

now i'm piste - not trying to be snarky, but generally the route to being a librarian usually requires a master of library science degree. Takes a couple of years.
posted by porpoise at 10:32 AM on December 16, 2006

jobs suitable for a helpful, problem-solving, researching, decision-making, disorganized, short-attention-spanned recent college grad == Help Desk
posted by SPrintF at 11:30 AM on December 16, 2006

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! You're the best. You guys mentioned lots of fields I had never considered. I'm really surprised by all the mentions of being a research librarian--never even crossed my mind--but I will definitely look into that.
posted by phoenixy at 9:32 PM on December 16, 2006

Warning - you should not go into Software QA Engineering if you want short projects. From my experience, QA Engineers work on revisions and releases of the same software over and over. When I went into QA, I was warned by my employers that the job is repetitive, and it damn well is.
posted by ye#ara at 11:24 AM on December 17, 2006

Seconding yeara, stay away from software QA. It's awful. I used to do it. If you can't go to sleep without alphabetizing the spice rack, software QA is for you. By comparison, bookeeping is like being a superspy.
posted by nj_subgenius at 4:18 PM on December 19, 2006