During the ENG-331 Design Your Career class, alumni come to offer their perspectives on the English major, where it has taken them in their careers, and give advice on different career paths. A number of the English alumni end up working in many fields with wildly varying career paths. This semester’s Career Speakers Series has brought in five alumni, Rachel Lewis, who works as an Associate Editor at Agora Financial, Christine Leggett, who works as a Proposal Manager at Valiant Solutions, Katie Ballance, who works as a Marketing Director at Junior Achievement, Tom Murphy, who works as a Video Game Developer for FableLabs, JuiceBox Games, Zynga, and Big Huge Games, and Luke Driscoll, who works as a Managing Director at CCS Fundraising.
The Career Speaker Series is one of the many beneficial aspects of the English Major. Dr. Laura Snyder says, “The speakers give the students a sense of daily life in a particular career, and they also give students advice on how to find jobs, write resumes, interview, and build skills in each job to lead to the next level in their career. The speakers bring real life experience into the classroom.” The most essential part of the Career Speaker Series is showing how our alumni have built their skills to reach the next level of their careers. This can either be moving up in a company or enhancing their resumes to move onto a new career path. Students get the opportunity to see that their English degree can take them to a variety of places and they will have the chance to grow and succeed beyond what they can currently imagine.