From English Literature to Online Marketing

If you are a soon to be English graduate and are not sure what to do next we bring you Anna. Anna works in the Online Marketing department for Propertyads, a property portal search engine, and here she shares her story about her journey from English Lit. graduate to employee.

After graduating from a degree in English Literature at Bath, I thought the world was my oyster. I could do anything! Well, except apply for those graduates schemes for those big firms like Ernst & Young. Or anything engineering related. Or accounting. IT jobs were also out of the question, and banking was definitely a no-go zone. Suddenly I felt like I was very limited with my options, and with my only experience working in part-time retail jobs, I was beginning to panic. Who would hire me, a humanities graduate with great grades but little else? I was suddenly wondering why all those years ago I had even chosen to study English Literature when 3 years later my options were feeling so limited.

I decided to start applying for jobs in media and marketing, even though I knew it would be competitive, being inexperienced in both industries. I had a few positive responses, but due to my lack of experience, it was mainly internships with little to no pay. Although beggars can’t be choosers, I felt disappointed with the results. Without trying to sound too cocky, I felt that I deserved more. I had so many skills to show to a potential employer, if only they would let me.

After a few months on the job hunt, I luckily managed to land an interview for the online marketing department of a property website. I felt really nervous before the interview, but after a few minutes on the phone I felt totally relaxed and I felt like I could really show off who I was and what I had to offer. I heard back a few days later that I had got the job, and for the first time since starting university, I felt truly excited to start something new.

I really took to the job like a fish to water. Although I had no previous experience in online marketing, learning about it all was so interesting and I managed to learn a lot very quickly. What I had learnt from my degree could be applied to my job and at the same time I was acquiring lots of new skills. From day one I was given some big tasks like proofreading editorial content, which really felt like my employer trusted me and were letting me reach my full potential. It’s really opened up my eyes to an industry that I had no idea about and I think I would like to progress further into this area of career.

My advice for graduating students is not to give up. It might take a few months, but there is a job out there for you which you will enjoy! There were many times I just wanted to stop applying for jobs and give up, but the moment you stop may be the moment that an interesting job comes up and you might miss a great opportunity.

Hope this post has inspired you to explore your options. If you need an extra helping hand why not visit our Degree Matcher advice page, here you are able to see what qualifications are needed or preferred for specific job roles. Alternatively why not try our Careers Report, here you can practise psychometrics test, answer behavioural questions and much more to give you an idea what career options you are best suited to. 

As always good luck with your job hunts :)