Katie Moss: Marketing Copywriter & Coordinator

Name: Katie Moss

Age: 26

College & Majors/Minors: AA Communications, BA English/Minor French, MA English Lit.

Current Location: Boston, MA

Current Form of Employment: Full-time Marketing Copywriter/Coordinator, Part-time Freelance Writer

Where do you work and what is your current position? 

Recently, I secured a job as a marketing coordinator/copywriter for a retail IT consultancy firm. I am the first official member of the marketing team, so I have a broad range of duties, ranging from coordinating company events, to handling social media initiatives, to writing content for the company’s focus reports and organizing/contributing to our website.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different). 

My first “real” job after graduate school took six months to secure, but it was a great first job. I worked at a technology company that built websites for automotive dealers. My position was that of a copywriter in an SEO department. I had to take a writing test to secure this job, as well as go through three interviews. The entire process from application took about four months.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

My freelance writing has been an important part of growing my career. I take writing gigs across a variety of different industries and create many different types of content. This looks great on my resume and shows that I am a go-getter!

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life? 

I WISH I had gotten an internship. It’s one of my biggest regrets. I expected to obtain a job more easily after college than I did because I had always done so well in school. Turns out, it’s really difficult to get your first job. I did do part-time work during grad school as a professional notetaker, so it was nice to have some work experience.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree? 

Take an applicable internship, if possible. It’s a great way to show you have related work experience. Write. Write a lot. You’ll need a variety of samples for your applications. You should also market yourself online with a blog or portfolio. An online presence is super important in today’s job market.

Connect with Katie on LinkedIn! 

Carol Ayer: Technical Writer & Freelance Writer

Name: Carol Ayer

Age: 51

College & Majors/Minors: UC Berkeley, B.A. in English

Current Location: Northern California

Current Form of Employment: Technical Writer and Freelance Writer

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I've worked on and off for the last 25 years for a company that produces travel-training software. I'm currently telecommuting for the company part-time. My title is Technical Writer, although I spend more time on editing and proofreading than on writing. Also, a lot of my job is ensuring that the program is working correctly. I work on lessons, quizzes, tests, and workbooks (the latter is in physical form; everything else is online).

I also work as a freelance writer. I've sold poems, personal essays, and fiction to magazines and ezines. A small epublisher published my romance novella in 2009, but I have since gotten the rights back and have self-published the book on Kindle. I'm currently working on a cozy mystery, which I hope will become the first in a series.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job.

Well, I have to confess that my technical writing job is with my brother's company. So I didn't have to take any tests and I didn't have to interview! (I'd like to think that I was hired partly because of my English degree). My first job after college was not a writing job at all. I worked at a storybook park called Children's Fairyland. I was going to be a teacher, and I needed a summer job before I started student teaching, so I applied to Fairyland. I ended up not becoming a teacher after all, and stayed at Fairyland for several years. Although I didn't use my English degree, I later found my time there to be quite fruitful. Many of my short stories and books are set at a storybook park.

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What's a storybook park?

Storybook parks are rather rare these days. They're also called fairytale parks, and were the precursors to theme parks. Walt Disney actually visited Fairyland before he built Disneyland. In the 50s, there were a number of them around the country. They aren't as popular anymore, what with the proliferation of theme parks, but there are still 10 or so left.

They are built around works of children's literature. So any given storybook park might have sets based on Alice in Wonderland, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Three Little Pigs, The Owl and the Pussycat, etc. Live animals are often part of the sets. At Fairyland, we had goats (Three Billy Goats Gruff) and pigs (Three Little Pigs), for example. Usually there are a couple of small rides, too, such as merry-go-rounds or Ferris wheels.

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What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

I worked at a local newspaper part-time during my college years. The job consisted mostly of proofreading and filing. I was working on the day that Reagan was shot. The newsroom went crazy. It was scary but exciting, and fueled my desire to work in journalism. I later realized that I was way too shy to be a reporter. I also work much better on my own.

 What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

As just noted, I was interested in journalism for a time. I wrote a freelance article for the Daily Cal, but that's it. I wish I had done more with creative writing during that time.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

My problem was that I didn't think I could make a living as a writer, which is what I'd wanted to be since I was a child. So I thought that journalism would be a good fit for me. When I realized otherwise, I flailed around quite a bit. It was suggested to me that I could become a teacher, but that wasn't right for me, either. I wish I had just overcome my practical side and attempted to write way back when. Thirty years after getting my English degree, I'm finally doing what I'd always dreamed of— writing. So my advice would be to follow that dream if that's why you've chosen English. Being a writer is difficult in many ways--not least of which, it *is* hard to earn a living at it--but it's the best job in the world. My other job satisfies my urge to catch spelling mistakes and typos, which I would guess is pretty typical of those of us who majored in English. If you're like that, too, I would suggest looking for an editor position of some sort. Actually, *any* company should be happy to have someone who is good at writing and who uses grammar correctly and knows how to spell.

Visit Carol on her website www.carolayer.com, and connect with her on twitter @storyparkgirl.

Kasey Lee Carter: Internal Communications Specialist

Name: Kasey Lee Carter

Age: 24

College & Majors/Minors: BA in Journalism, Minor in Writing

Current Location: Wilsonville, Oregon

Current Form of Employment: Internal Communications at Xerox Corporation

Where do you work and what is your current position? 

I currently work as the Internal Communications Specialist for the Channel Partners Organization at Xerox Corporation. My main responsibilities include coordinating, editing and writing a bi-monthly newsletter, managing internal social media as well as external social media marketing to end-user and through partner. I also write ad hoc communications sent to internal employees (about 1,400 employees). And I have to do all of this in the VERY SPECIFIC Xerox brand.

In the past, I’ve worked freelance for Sirius Digital Advertising, writing and editing website content and advising on website organization. I also did a little search engine optimization (SEO) work.

My last semester at George Fox University, I held an internship with The City of Newberg, Oregon as Public Information Officer. In this role, I researched, interviewed for and wrote a comprehensive, online and interactive document describing everything The City of Newberg does for the people of Newberg.

How did you find your first job?

I count my Xerox job as my first “big girl” job, and I found it completely by accident. I had been job-searching for about 7 months, and one morning before I went to work, at my in-between job at a spa, I got a call from a recruiter for a position I had applied for that same morning.

She said my resume jumped out at her and that I seemed just right for this internal communications job at Xerox. She did say that I needed to “beef up my resume a bit,” and by that she meant, add loads of text to it to display my writing ability. She said that employers looking to fill writing positions want to see resumes that display writing abilities.

This was so different from what I’d learned about resumes being only one page. So I rewrote my resume, was interviewed once over the phone and then in-person by three people. About two weeks after that initial call, I was putting in my two weeks with the spa and moving to Wilsonville, Oregon, to work for Xerox.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

My senior year (2011-2012), I was the Editor-In-Chief for the student-run newspaper, The Crescent. This position not only required writing and editing, but also leadership and management skills, which I valued learning as much as the writing and editing stuff.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

In college, I sought out as many writing opportunities as I could.

I was asked randomly, at the beginning of my sophomore year, if I would be willing to write an article for the student newspaper. Flattered, I accepted and started writing about one article per issue.

The next year I took on a Section Editor position with the student newspaper, and the year after that (my senior year) I was the Editor-In-Chief. My senior year, I also had an internship doing public relations for the City of Newberg, Oregon.

In addition to my work with the student newspaper and my internship with the city, I also became the resident editor wherever I lived in the dorms. Constantly, I offered my editing services to floor-mates and roommates and other students in class. They would always look at me funny, kind of like they didn’t believe me, and then be pleasantly surprised when I returned with thoughtful edits.

All of this extra writing and editing experience I chased after taught me the importance of versatility. It seems like employers and people in general want you to be able to do five things instead of one.

I also learned how to be hungry for more experience and knowledge, which is still a huge part of my life both professionally and personally.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

Make sure your resume reflects the job you’re applying for. I had no idea a resume for a writing job needed to include so much text, I thought that’s what the cover letter was for. So research the resume type best suited to the job you’re applying for. Don’t forget to write and rewrite that sucker until you’ve crafted it just right, and for each position you apply for.

When it comes to quality over quantity, that’s true too. I applied for over 50 positions in 6 months, some of which were quality, but for some, I was just throwing my resume at a job listing. Oddly enough, my big-girl job came from one of the listings I just threw my resume at, which is, supposedly, not usually what happens. I received more responses from employers of positions I put more effort into the application.

Another piece of advice is to broaden and enhance your skill set. Before I got my big-girl job I was doing some freelance content writing with a new digital marketing business, and I asked to learn more about websites and search engine optimization.

When I started at Xerox, I was armed with writing, editing, communication and social media-type skills. Since I started, I’ve taught myself HTML, and learned to use new software programs (on my own). To learn more about marketing, I’ve been chasing down some of the more tenured employees.

I think it’s important to keep your options open and make yourself more versatile. Employers want to see that you’re willing to go above and beyond what’s asked. Nobody likes someone who just sticks to the status quo, or worse, a slacker.

Connect with Kasey on LinkedIn, and check out BloomsFlowerStudio.com, a website she created content for!

Vincent Rendoni: Email Marketing Copywriter

Name: Vincent Rendoni

Age: 28

College & Majors/Minors: Chatham University, MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) & Western Washington University, BA in English

Current Location: Seattle, WA.

Current Form of Employment: Advertising/Marketing

Current Occupation: Email Marketing Copywriter

Where do you work and what is your current position? 

I am currently an email marketing copywriter for the GreaterGood Network, a charity website. In the past, I was a copywriter for the mom-and-kid focused zulily when it was still a start-up.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different). 

I was waiting tables when I found the copywriter posting for zulily on Indeed.com. I was a bit nervous about applying as I knew nothing about moms and kids. They must have saw something they liked. It wasn't long after I applied that they sent me a time-sensitive copy test for five different items. After submitting, they had me in for a long interview with the three leads. That's when my future boss gave me a test on the spot. It wasn't long after that they hired me.

My current job was found on Craigslist. The GreaterGood offered a more challenging position and more responsibility for causes (Animal Rescue, World Hunger, The Environment) I truly care about. Despite a lackluster first interview with HR, I had some wonderful conversations with my future boss and colleagues during the second one. To my surprise, I was hired later that day.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career? 

Funny thing: I never wanted to be a professional writer. I always sort of thought I should keep work and passions separate fearing it would all become work. Sometimes it feels like that. But copywriting keeps me sharp. There are worse things that constantly practicing your craft and getting paid for it.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life? 

In my undergrad, I actually didn't do much to prepare for post-grad life. Failed to network, content to pass instead of excel. To be honest, I was a bit of spoiled slacker. It didn't bode well for what happened afterward. It was 2006 and the recession was in full swing. When I couldn't find a job at Kinko's, that's when I got a TEFL Certificate and taught English abroad.

I don't want to go into too much of a tangent here, but teaching English abroad is something I highly recommend for English Majors— for anyone with a college degree, really. You get to experience a different culture, contribute to an emerging economy, and make money instead of blowing through savings. It's not always easy at times: Not every country is hiring and the schools that hire you don't always have your best interests in mind. Homesickness can be crushing. It's not an adventure you can easily pull out of. If you decide to do it, consider placement carefully. That being said, I wouldn't take back any of my experiences. I student-taught in Italy and later taught courses in South Korea, Turkey and eventually the United States. It was a good thing for a really long time, but definitely something I couldn't do forever. When I got into Chatham's MFA program, I decided it was time to head back home.

When I got into graduate school, I changed it up. I said yes to everything. Maybe too many things. (Readers, be mindful with internships. You don't work for free, you hear?) But I'm glad I did. Went to readings big and small, read for my school's literary magazines, interned at the county jail, worked with Chatham's international community. I just tried to absorb everything I could before it was time to hunker down and get to work on my thesis.

One instructor in particular prepared me well for copywriting. Novelist Sherrie Flick taught me a lot about sentence structure. I tend to be long-winded and say nothing in particular quite often. Her classes helped me get to the point of what I wanted to say. Turns out if you can write succinct, active sentences in fiction, you can do quite well in the copy world.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree? 

Don't let people tell your degree is useless. Our world is not as literate as you think. A moderately well-spoken person who reads is an asset in any business. Take advantage.

You won't use your degree for what you want. Not at first, anyway. Acknowledge that you will have to write about lingerie for pregnant women, breast-pumps, and tulle-laden tutus. You will just have to. But soon enough, you may get to write copy about helping dogs in Sochi, rescuing horses and how people can help feed the hungry.

Check out Vincent's resume, portfolio, and connect with him on LinkedIn. 

Chris Strom: Marketing Copywriter

Name: Chris Strom

Age: 28

College & Majors/Minors: B.A. & M.A from Central Washington University

Current Location: Seattle, WA

Current Form of Employment: Marketing Copywriter

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I'm pleased to say that I have just accepted a new position working as a marketing e-mail copywriter. I suppose, though, I could speak more to what I had been doing prior since I've not gotten into my new digs just yet.

I have been working as a copy editor for zulily.com, where I edit all kinds of copy that goes onto the site or into e-mails. In a nutshell, my job is to uphold voice and style according to brand and make sure writing looks presentable for the public. I also work one-on-one with writers to help them develop their own work copy and dabble in some special projects.

Currently, I work with designers and other copywriters to put together marketing e-mails for clients.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life? What kinds of extracurriculars did you participate in?

Is it extra-curricular if you got paid? I guess I'm not sure. I wish I had more to present here, but I don't. To be honest, a lot of the extra things I put into my college experience were really helping me to prepare for teaching, which was my interest for a very long time. I worked in the writing center, acted as a TA and taught my own composition courses. Additionally, once I had gotten into grad school, I submitted several papers to literary conferences. If I was looking to actually become a college professor, I was on a great path.

However, this isn't to say that none of this shaped my career now. These were instrumental in developing my editing abilities, and I believe wholeheartedly that learning the basics of tutoring, teaching and public speaking also made me into a much better coworker and communicator, and I've prided myself on my interpersonal skills. They translate over!

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different). What was it like applying?

At first, terrible. I did not expect it to be so hard. If you think you're the only one struggling in your job search, you're not. I use this as a way to preface my statement with a ray of hope. As hopeful as it may make you feel to know that your misery is in company. It's just that I had to learn this the hard way once my morale had taken quite a beating. I looked very hard for a couple of months, and all the responses back were rejections. And that prompted me to, well, give up. I thought that it was me and that I wasn't talented all along, and this is where I mean it would have been nice to know I wasn't alone.

Finally, I took a chance and decided to get in contact with an old college friend of mine. My preliminary message was just to ask for advice on where to look and maybe get some other contacts. She was very nice and insisted I send in my resume to her work because they were looking for an editor. I got very lucky. It kicked off the entire interviewing process where I did phone screenings, an editing exercise and eventually an in-person interview.

I've had other interviews since then, including the one for my new employer. It definitely got easier as I built up my own professional confidence, but I still don't think I know what people are looking for. Of course, they want all of the normal things like multitasking and great under pressure. In fact, it's listed right in their job postings, but that makes those things boring. You should be able to demonstrate basic professional skills, but they shouldn't be your focus. I think employers want to see you beyond the cookie cutter responses they're used to getting in interviews with people hellbent on impressing them. You have to be you. The person you're meeting face to face is also human, and they're going to be looking to make a personal connection as much as a professional one.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

Everyone is going to tell you to connect, connect, connect. Get out there and network, and it's true that the two main jobs I've been able to grasp onto first started out with my own professional/personal connections. So, always keep people in mind down the road.

I think, though, judging from my own experience and past, I'd most like to say don't be afraid to start small. If you expect to get your dream job straight out the gate, well... you might, but chances are you won't. Those people want experience, and your name will get shuffled right out (maybe/all speculation/educated guessing). My first job out of college was not my dream job, but it certainly got a better job to look at me after getting a year+ experience under my belt. This is the beginning of your dream, so don't try to get to the end so quickly.

Alicia Cook: ​Associate Director of Admission & Communication Coordinator

Name: Alicia Cook

Age: 27

College & Majors/Minors: Undergrad: Georgian Court University, English Literature Major, Journalism Minor. Graduate: Saint Peter’s University, Masters in Business Administration

Current Location: New Jersey

Current Form of Employment: Associate Director of Admission & Communication Coordinator

Where do you work and what is your current position? 

I currently work at Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, NJ. I am of two Associate Directors in the Office of Admission. I am also the Communications Coordinator. I wear many different “hats” with this job, and I love that writing and editing is one of them. I take part in the writing, editing, and execution of all targeted electronic communication to prospective students in our office. It is definitely more technical and informational writing, but it’s writing and editing nonetheless.

Prior to being hired at Saint Peter’s, I was briefly employed with a nonprofit organization as their Program Director. In this capacity, I wrote their monthly newsletter and assisted in grant writing. I have occasionally freelanced for local newspapers as well, though news reporting is not a passion of mine.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job.

I applied to my first job at the nonprofit before I even graduated college. Applying for jobs in general is quite nerve-racking! So many qualified (and even overqualified) people are applying for the same position as you. An advantage someone with an English or writing background may hold over other applicants is their strong voice in their cover letter. As an English major I really learned how to write in a concise, engaging, and compelling way while avoiding the cliché statements found in every cover letter.

I had always known that I wanted to go on to graduate school. I love learning new things and broadening my knowledge base. A few months into my first job, an opportunity with Saint Peter’s presented itself and I knew they had graduate programs employees could enroll in with no outside cost to them. I was not looking to accrue debt, and higher education careers always interested me, so I thought this was a wonderful chance for me to move forward. One of the first things that were mentioned in my interview at Saint Peter’s was that I had an English background. They saw that as a “plus.”

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

Like I said, I write technical and informational pieces every day. However, my real passion is creative writing, though it is not paying the bills right now. So, another writing-related job that was important to me as a writer, but not to my current career per say, occurred in October of 2012. Superstorm Sandy had just devastated the Jersey Shore, where I am from. On the night of Halloween, I wrote “An Open Letter to the Shore Kids” and posted it to a blog site. My friends began “sharing” it with others. By the next day it had gone viral and major news, including USA Today and CNN, picked it up. I received hundreds of emails from people all over the tri-state area and beyond who felt the desire to share their memories of the shore. This was the first time my writing touched people on a major scale. It is a wonderful feeling and gave me the confidence to start posting more of my writing and poetry online.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

Though I do believe writing is a natural talent instilled from the start, practice does make perfect. I joined anything in college that could help me hone my writing and find my voice. I joined the college paper as a staff writer. This helped me better adhere to deadlines and constructive criticism (there’s nothing like the first time you see your article two paragraphs shorter than it was when you submitted it!). I was also one of the editors and a contributor to the annual poetry magazine. And any time one of my peers asked if I could proofread their work, I did.

I also picked up a Journalism Minor. I did this because in my English classes I was constantly writing 10+ page papers. I felt like I needed the minor to learn how to say a lot in a much smaller space.

I went to a very small school so many of my English professors I had more than once. In one of them, Dr. Woznicki, I found my mentor. Whether he signed up for the mentor-role or not, he was mine! He pushed my writing and red-penned my work like no one had ever done, and I am a better writer for it. I can’t thank him enough.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree? 

If you want to study English, study English. Don’t let anyone tell you that any subject within the Liberal Arts will not translate in the job world. That’s not true at all. I have had plenty of job offers, all with writing being at least one component of the position. The job world has finally caught up with the fact that not everyone – no matter how skilled they are in other fields – can write well. And yet, every single job requires some level of writing. More and more hiring companies are looking for multi-faceted people. Some skills can be learned over time, but high quality writing is a rarity. If you have that skill, you are one hot commodity!

I would advise minoring in something else as well to make you a better rounded candidate. Or even double-major in something if you can. I went on and got my Masters in Business Administration because as I grew older I realized though I loved writing, I do also like the business world. And guess what? Most of my MBA program required writing!

If you can find a way to blend your passion with a livelihood, then you’re set. It is my opinion that if you love to write, then you love to write even when a paycheck isn’t attached. I post a lot of creative writing and poetry on my Instagram account to share with fellow self-proclaimed writers. If you never share any of your work, how are you ever going to get noticed? Write daily.

Visit Alicia on Instagram @thealiciacook and connect with her on LinkedIn!

Kelsey Wiseman: Freelance Editor

Photo courtesy of Alexandra Kay Photography

Name: Kelsey Wiseman

Age: 25

College & Majors/Minors: University of Puget Sound Class of 2010, BA – English Literature and German Literature. Minnesota State University, Mankato Class of 2013 MA – English Studies.

Current Location: Gilbert, AZ

Current Form of Employment: Retail full-time and Freelance Editing with Wiseman Editing, LLC

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I currently work in middle management at Target and freelance through my LLC, Wiseman Editing. In the past I have worked in my undergraduate library as a desk assistant, with university newspapers as a copy editor, and on Shoutwire.com as a content editor. Each of these jobs had me doing something different and I enjoy that. I also like that much of what I have done has been around the printed word.

Shoutwire had me submitting original posts and acting as a moderator and spam filter. With Shoutwire I had the freedom to write about whatever I wanted to as long as I felt it would appeal to the masses that frequented the website. In that vein I wrote about such important topics as Robot Unicorn Attack, the Kool Aid Man comic books I found, what the best kind of super power would be, and how technology has drastically changed in such a short time span. My favorite piece, however, was about how Twilight was taking over the marketing of such classics as Wuthering Heights by stating it as “Bella and Edward's favorite book.” I still think it is a brilliant marketing attempt to create a larger fan base for classics using the cult fanaticism of Twilight readers. Granted, I also still think the majority of said fanbase wouldn’t be able to understand Wuthering Heights and am also still miffed that the two have become connected in such a way. I had so much fun writing for these guys because of the freedom that I had to produce original content and I am sad that the website is no longer functional. It was unpaid and taught me that there are a lot of different ways one can be an editor.

Currently, and for the past three and a half years, I work in retail. I like the stability and benefits that come with a steady job and the flexibility that the schedule gives me to work on my business. I have spent hours in meetings and on the phone with authors, people I have worked with, and my design company in order to get my website, wisemanediting.com, up and running. Additionally, I have spent hours finding the right forms and people to talk to in order to become an officially recognized business in the state of Arizona. Not to mention the networking. I don’t think I would have been able to work a standard 9-5 job and find time to go about the legal proceedings that are involved with incorporating and networking for an LLC. I actually decided I wanted to do freelance over working in an actual office, even though it means less time in my day is devoted to editing. I like to set my own hours and have the freedom to pick what projects I would like to be working on.

With the LLC, I work on a contract basis. An author will send me an enquiry and I will send them back an estimate based on word count, level of rhetoric, genre, level and type of edit, and time I will need to commit to the piece. I do not always win the author over and getting over that rejection is difficult, but not insurmountable. When I have a contract, I set aside time to work on the piece outside of my work schedule and hammer out edits. Usually I work with digital copies, but I have had to send hard copies back and forth through the mail.

As for what the future holds? I don’t know. I think I would like to eventually work with a publishing house, but I also think that indie publishing is taking off and big publishing houses will eventually die off. Either way, I am excited to see what will happen, because we all know that there will always be people who want to tell stories and share them with the world. 

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job (if different).

The stories of how I found any of my jobs is fairly standard. Either someone told me they had heard about an opening or I was actively looking for a job. Applying for any job is a terrifying thing.

I do remember applying for the editing jobs with Shoutwire and Bookmen Media Group (a company that I infrequently work with through my LLC for contracts) being the most scary simply because I wanted them so badly. I didn’t have any idea what either one of them would entail as far as time commitments or day to day duties, but they both seemed to allow me to garner more experiences in a field I wanted to be in and that was the most important thing to me.

I’m not sure if this is standard for most, but the application process was fairly informal for both. Shoutwire had placed an all call on their website and I simply emailed the man who was running the site with my information and why I thought I would be qualified to act as an editor. He answered my email by asking me to come up with a handle and letting me know that I needed to post at least one original piece a month. There was no real interview and there was no obligation to work with them any longer than I wanted.

What was another writing-related job that was important in your career?

BMG was similar. I had a friend who was already editing for them and she passed my name along and told me I should contact them. I emailed my resume and a cover letter to my contact and she called me back within a few hours and we talked briefly before she asked me on. I think it was so simple with BMG because they have so many different editors. They send out manuscripts to several editors at a time and whichever estimate the author chooses is the one who edits the piece. I also think that working with BMG has been good for my own career because I have had to be clear in my estimates and my interactions with both BMG and the authors I work with. I have found more of my own stumbling blocks working with BMG than with any other and have used these interactions to modify the ways in which I do my business.

I have made all of the common mistakes. I have overcharged, I have undercharged, and I have communicated poorly. However, I have been able to use all of these mistakes to make myself a better business woman.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life?

College was a way for me to dip my toes in, I guess. I worked on newspapers and I have taken all kinds of classes on technical editing and analysis of literature. I can tell you what makes a good book and I can help steer people on the right track for their stories. I enjoyed the workshops we did in my undergrad because the focus was on the story and not just the mechanics of grammar and punctuation. I enjoyed the technical editing courses in my grad program because they covered things like how to properly use Word and how to frame pricing for manuscripts.

As far as extracurricular activities, I found a lot of them on my own and I was asked to participate in several others. I acted as the editor of the final write up and data display for an article my international technical communication class wrote about technology usage in China. This was eventually published in Techniques, the university’s chapter in STC, in the fall of 2011. Through my work with this course, the professor approached me and asked me to help him head up and run a separate study and present it to the university. These experiences helped me learn how to frame academic studies, how to ask for grants, how to use a more passive voice as is normal for science texts, and how to put together and present presentations outside of my normal body of work.

My grad school newspaper only had me come in once a week to copy edit whatever articles had been submitted. In addition to copy editing I also wrote A&E pieces. My specific set of parameters had me covering events that were put on by Student Affairs and I enjoyed having a more focused brand of writing.

In my undergrad I found out one of my good friends was writing a novel for her independent study and hounded her into letting me edit for her. She ended up self publishing (the book is called “Rosebound” for those of you who are interested) almost a year after she graduated. I still remember shaking so hard when I first held the published copy of it I was so excited.

While working on The Trail, the university paper of Puget Sound, I was given one specific section of the newspaper to copy edit. This paper allowed me to make content suggestions to the authors in their initial writing stage and then copy edit the final layout before we went to print. This was satisfying because I was able to actually talk with the writers and understand exactly what they were trying to get at in their pieces. It also helped that I had the satire section and we had a little bit more freedom in what we submitted.

Overall, I don’t think it was the classes that really helped me along so much as the connections and experiences I found for myself. Don’t get me wrong— working with the newspaper and taking classes helped me tremendously with the academic, booky side of things, but the people I met and the time I was able to spend going after things myself really helped to show me that life isn’t going to hand me the perfect editing career. If I want this, I need to make it happen.

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree? 

The best advice I can give is to network. Go outside of your comfort zone and say yes to projects that will allow you to meet a different group of people. Look for the meetings to attend for like minded individuals in your area. Is there an authors’ workshop? Attend it. Do you have a vague connection to a newspaper? Use it. Is there a local association for writers/editors in your area? Join it. Get yourself out there and get known. It’s hard and it’s scary, but it’s the only way to really get out there and make a name for yourself. It is much easier to find a job if you can say that you have put in time and effort and have solid recommendations on your side, especially if some of the recommendations come from someone/someplace that is known and respected by your potential employer. 

Visit Kelsey on her professional website, Wiseman Editing.

Sarah Scott: Public Library Professional & Writer

Name: Sarah Scott
Age: 34
College & Majors/Minors: University of Puget Sound, B.A. in Philosophy, minor in English (2001). San Jose State University, Master of Library and Information Science (2012).
Current Location: Bellevue, WA
Current Form of Employment: Public Library Professional & Writer

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I currently work as a Library Associate IV at The Seattle Public Library. In this role, I provide reference and instruction services to the public and serve on the Library Innovation Team. While writing and editing are not the central part of my job, my skills in this area are put to use in various ways, from writing email to writing blog posts for the library's blog. I am also part of a team getting ready to launch a new internal blog about innovation. I anticipate that writing and editing will be an important part of my work on that team going forward.

Outside of work, I have blogged for Public Libraries Online (the blog of the Public Library Association), been a contributing writer for the local community website Bellevue.com, written for the newsletter of local literary organization Richard Hugo House, and co-written a book chapter on library innovation for a forthcoming book. I also write poetry and prose in my free time and intend to eventually publish some type of literary work.

What did you do in college to prepare for your post-grad life? 

As an undergraduate at the University of Puget Sound, I worked as a Peer Writing Advisor in the Center for Writing and Learning. In that role, I provided one-on-one writing conferences for my peers and assisted them throughout all stages of the writing process, from formulating a thesis statement to planning a 15-page research paper. I also served on the editorial team of the campus literary arts journal, Crosscurrents, where I reviewed and selected poetry and prose submissions for publication; worked as a Records Assistant in the Office of the Registrar and as a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Philosophy; spent a summer working as the Storeroom Assistant in Facilities Services; and hosted a couple of weekly radio shows on the campus radio station. Working in these various positions helped me to develop experience and skills in various areas, from writing and editing to interpersonal communication, customer service, and public speaking. As I entered the job market, I was able to use these experiences to develop my resume and demonstrate my qualifications.

As an undergraduate, I did not have a clear sense of what I would do in the future. I did not have a long-term career plan. I had learned a lot about poetry and philosophy, but what did that have to do with earning a living? I knew that I would most likely pursue a graduate degree but I was not sure of what discipline to pursue, so I decided to spend some time working, traveling, learning independently, and focusing on my own personal development. My first job after college graduation was in the community library in my hometown of Battle Ground, Washington. While I had never considered librarianship as a career, through that job I discovered that I loved library work. After a few years of working in libraries, I decided to pursue a Master of Library and Information Science degree so that I could become a professional librarian.

Tell us about how you found your first job, and how you found your current job.

I found my first post-college job the old-fashioned way: in the classified ads in the newspaper. This was in 2001, before online job sites became the norm. When I saw an ad for library assistants at the local community library, my curiosity was piqued and I decided to apply. I was invited to take a qualification test, which involved a typing assessment and a card filing exercise. After passing the test, I was interviewed by a hiring panel consisting of the Community Librarian, Circulation Supervisor, and Library Assistant III at the branch I would be working at. They asked me questions about my knowledge of literary genres and my experience serving customers, handling difficult situations, and explaining policies. I was also asked to put a cart of books in order according to the Dewey Decimal Classification system. I received a job offer for a full-time position a few days later.

I worked at the Battle Ground Community Library from 2001-2003, and since then, I have had a number of different jobs and gone through a lot of interviews. I earned my MLIS in 2012, and since then, I have focused my job search on professional librarian positions. The interviews for these have varied a bit depending on the particular position being filled, but the key competencies and responsibilities for professional librarians today include public service (including reference, readers' advisory, and instruction), outreach, programming, resource development, promoting intellectual freedom, leadership support, staff training and development, technology literacy, and communication and interpersonal skills. Some librarian positions include duties such as blogging, social media marketing, website development, and creating publicity pieces such as brochures and press releases.

Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want -- Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible

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By Brian Tracy

What is your advice for students and graduates with an English degree?

Build a wide professional network. LinkedIn is a great tool for building your network; attending professional conferences is another great way to do so. Seek out mentors, and become a mentor yourself as you grow in your life and career. Continue learning and investing in your personal and professional development. Study the careers of others who have achieved goals that you want to achieve. If others have done it, then it is possible for you to do it. Set goals regularly and implement plans to achieve them. The book Goals! by Brian Tracy provides excellent advice on goal-setting and achievement.

Visit Sarah on twitter @Sarah_H_Scott, tumblr and connect with her on LinkedIn.