There are No Job Openings for My BA Degree, What Do I Do?

Jobs and careers in the English field, such as copy editors, technical writers or editors, and publishing, are normally fairly open and readily available for fresh college graduates (since many companies need employees who can edit and write), but amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, many companies are not offering quite as many jobs to newly-graduated students who want to begin their adult careers. With this issue, what can these students do to utilize their new BA?

1) Internships!

If you've attended college to any degree, then you've definitely heard of internships, both paid and unpaid. These types of jobs often serve to ease your way into a career or job field before committing to it. However, these internships can also be helpful directly out of college; newly-graduated college students may be able to intern at companies to introduce themselves to the English field of work. Though some can be paid, most I've run into have turned out being unpaid internships, so you may need to get a part-time job too, but you can still get your foot in the door of the English job market.

2) Do literary journals/magazines need readers?

Similarly to internships, reading for a literary journal or magazine is often unpaid, but it is definitely great experience for English graduates! Journals often require a CV and writing samples to read for them, so you get the experience of a thorough employment process along with the experience of working with a magazine or journal. Though you may need a part-time job with this route as well, the experience you'll gain with your BA is truly worth it.

3) Take this time to work on your own writing

The primary aspect of being an English major, especially if you're in the Creative Writing field like I am, is that you're always writing, whether it be for a company/job or for your own publications. Although this route also will not make you much money, unless you get into a very well-endowed journal or magazine, it is still very beneficial. Getting your amazing work out into the world is always important to a writer, so having this time to revise and write more than you typically could while balancing a job is perfect. Again, you'll need a paying job to hold you over, but more publications can get you a head start in this field later on down the line.

Starting jobs and careers for freshly-graduated college students is definitely tricky at the moment, but those of us with BAs can try and make the best of this situations by advancing our skills and careers as best we can.

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