by Edward Yu
Many English majors who decide to work in careers outside of being editors, translators, interpreters, or English teachers, find it difficult to persuade recruiters that they are qualified for the positions outside of those fields. Three senior students in the English department at Fu Jen Catholic University, Linda, David, and Amigo, found ways to start their careers in marketing and public relations through a digital marketing course in the department that provided various internships in related fields.
David, the second from the left in the second row, with colleagues at Giftpack, provided by David
While a bachelor’s degree in English may not be considered directly applicable in these positions, nonetheless in global companies, everything is often communicated in English. “English majors have spent 4 years learning how to ‘convey’ their ideas and concepts in English,” said Linda, who had interned in Marketing and Communications at The Body Shop and in Public Relations at H&M. Moreover, “English majors are required to write lengthy essays with critical thinking and a strong logical structure. The training in writing is beneficial for copywriting in advertising projects,” said Amigo, an SEO intern at Publicis Media-Performics and a former Campus Ambassador at Samsung. “However, although it's hard to find direct benefits in practice for work for studies in literature and linguistics, I realize that there are all kinds of people in the world, and thus I won’t easily criticize anything. With this tolerant mindset, one can embrace diverse knowledge more easily,” said David, a Digital Marketing intern at Giftpack.
Moreover, not everything learned in one’s college major must be directly related to one’s future career. David said “I used to think that everything we learned should be practical. But, not until I joined Giftpack did I realize that although practicality matters, it is not necessary to learn all practical skills in school. There are many resources online, in both Chinese and English.” He continued, “conversely, though literature is often perceived as an impractical study, it is even harder for people to learn. In other words, the aesthetics of literature, art, and music cannot be learned in a short period of time,” and that perseverance really aids in many future jobs. Amigo added, “there is an alumnus from the English Department working in the information technology industry, who said that they need language majors to write a demo for the products and that the description of their products should be translated to ‘human language,’ but learning ‘human language’ through the humanities is not easy.” The department provides opportunities for students with courses directly connected to internships in various fields, but students who do not seize these opportunities have only themselves to blame. As Amigo points out, “students have to be active learners.” English majors are trained to do analysis and presentations, and these are useful for future careers especially in marketing, since with marketing skills, presentation skills, analysis skills, and English proficiency, students are highly competitive.
Moreover, not everything learned in one’s college major must be directly related to one’s future career. David said “I used to think that everything we learned should be practical. But, not until I joined Giftpack did I realize that although practicality matters, it is not necessary to learn all practical skills in school. There are many resources online, in both Chinese and English.” He continued, “conversely, though literature is often perceived as an impractical study, it is even harder for people to learn. In other words, the aesthetics of literature, art, and music cannot be learned in a short period of time,” and that perseverance really aids in many future jobs. Amigo added, “there is an alumnus from the English Department working in the information technology industry, who said that they need language majors to write a demo for the products and that the description of their products should be translated to ‘human language,’ but learning ‘human language’ through the humanities is not easy.” The department provides opportunities for students with courses directly connected to internships in various fields, but students who do not seize these opportunities have only themselves to blame. As Amigo points out, “students have to be active learners.” English majors are trained to do analysis and presentations, and these are useful for future careers especially in marketing, since with marketing skills, presentation skills, analysis skills, and English proficiency, students are highly competitive.
Besides internships through selected courses, the department also offers other ways for students to make themselves even more competitive in the job market. Amigo suggested that English majors should consider attending forums to be exposed to a wide variety of fields and knowledge to discover their interests. On the other hand, David recommended the FJU Elite Leadership Micro Program. It is a program that allows students to connect with students from different departments, exposing students to different disciplinary knowledge and ways of thinking. Through collaborative projects, students learn how to communicate with different people. Additionally, those who join this program are those who want to create, make changes or be leaders. Finally, Linda recommended a podcast, “The Things You Dare Not Tell Your Boss (那些你不敢跟老闆說的事)” as a low-stress way to explore different jobs through others’ experiences. Linda says she has learned that “if one cannot make clear and aesthetically pleasing slides, supervisors might think that he or she cannot handle bigger tasks. Supervisors observe employees over seemingly trivial habits, and newly hired employees must always be willing to do extra tasks, for it is how they can stand out among those with more seniority or who have different professional backgrounds in terms of the position.”