Written by Sarah Welstead, co-founder and Managing Partner of Retired Worker, this blog is a forum for up-to-the-minute news and ideas about older workers and the employers who hire them.

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That degree in English Lit might be a lot more marketable than you think
Posted : Thu January 14th
Comments : 3

Dear Sarah: What's the difference between a 'headhunter' and a 'recruiter'?
Posted : Sun January 10th

You're helping the economy just by reading this!
Posted : Fri January 1st

The view from here: Recruiting in Canada
Posted : Mon December 14th

Dear Sarah: Can I work with more than one recruiter at a time?
Posted : Mon November 30th
Comments : 2

Retired Worker on the radio: Tips for job-seekers on getting the most out of recruiters
Posted : Wed November 18th

"Dear Sarah: Who pays recruiters and how do I get one?"
Posted : Sun November 15th

"Dear Sarah: Recruiters are driving me nuts. What should I do?"
Posted : Sun November 8th

Great networking lasts a lifetime. That's why Facebook is more important to your career than you think.
Posted : Fri September 25th

Dear Candidates: This is why you didn't get the job
Posted : Mon September 21st

Retired Worker Blog

That degree in English Lit might be a lot more marketable than you think

Maybe I didn't 'waste' my university degree, after all.

Graduating from university in 1991 was tough: Interest rates were high, property values were low, and the recession just kept dragging on and on and on.

Graduating in 1991 with an English degree from a university primarily known for its business school was even worse, because not only were your parents questioning the value of a flaky English lit degree, most of your friends were, too. After all, most of them had only endured the 4-year BBA program because of the promise of a lucrative job at the end of it.

"It's not about learning and enjoying it, Sarah," they'd lecture. "University is about getting a piece of paper so you can get a job. Three years from now when I'm making $100k and you're still trying to find a job, you'll regret you wasted your degree on reading books. Everyone knows that English grads have no marketable skills and never make any money."

But then came the gaping maw of the internet...

...and its relentless demand for 'content'.

If there's one thing a BA in English teaches you, it's how to churn out 2500 words of clean copy a day on any subject, without wasting valuable time on actual 'research', because it's now 12 midnight, the library's closed, and you have to write a 10-page paper on "Dualism in The Faeirie Queen as it relates to the tree motif" by noon.

Turns out, this skill is very marketable, after all. And guess what? Good, consistently productive writers are harder to find than you think.

The moral of our story?

Twenty years ago, most of us didn't realize the internet was coming down the pike in such a big way, and how it would revolutionize the way we communicate. Ten years ago, most of us didn't realize that social media would revolutionize the way we gather and disseminate information.

So the next time someone tries to tell you you're making a "huge mistake" with your career, and that you'll regret it ten years from now, you may want to just smile politely - and totally ignore them.

Tags

education  experience  news  newsfeed  skills 

Comments

Anonymous - Apr 18th 2010 4:22 PM
 

JWJ - Apr 24th 2010 11:43 PM
 
The entries for jobs and also for Blogs,seems very outdated. What can we do to make this site a more modern up-to-date site? I have recently retired 65, trying to locate a job in Western Canada, but not much luck. Have a nice day!

Anonymous - Jul 20th 2010 12:35 AM
 
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