What Are the Career Options After English Honours?
Career options after English Honours are more diverse than people seem to assume. Many people hesitate about taking the English literature route or the literature route in general for fear of unemployment in the future. But, in reality, it opens doors to some profitable but niche jobs.
A grasp of the English language and an understanding of literature and narrative can help you out in offline and online jobs. You could also find yourself involved in jobs that require both online and offline market research. Your degree in English has more avenues open to you than you would imagine at first. You can come across multiple career options after English Honours course completion.
5 Career Options after English Honours
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A Career in Content Writing
Content writing is undoubtedly one of the hottest jobs in the market and can be one of the career options after English Honours. Every metric suggests content writing is going to stay as long as there is the internet. The internet can’t survive without content. It could be blog posts, Twitter posts, video content for which someone has to write the script or website content to rank high on search engines.
When companies need to churn out huge amounts of content to win the fight against other companies for the main page, it is a given they are going to hire competent people who know how to rank there. However, ranking on the main page is not enough. Companies need to ensure the traffic that comes from the ranking is convinced by the content to pay attention to the company’s product. The content has to have a unique, fresh perspective to it with adequate research behind it.
Here, content writers show their skills. Content writers have the exclusive task of creating informative, interesting, and well-researched content that will speak directly to the hearts of the target customers. As an English honors graduate, content with storytelling directions are right up your alley. You instinctively know how to make content that resonates with others.
Only, as a content writer, the slightest bit of extra knowledge is required. You have to mix your expertise in writing in English with how search engines understand your content. In addition, you would need some knowledge of digital marketing. It is the part you might be less confident with, but there are multiple online and offline courses teaching Content writers how to market their content.
The Content Writing Master Course by IIM Skills is one of those courses with live online classes. 4 weeks of classes is followed up by 3 months internship with them if you want a place to apply your newfound skills.
As you go through the practical assignments recommended by the institute and get a proper review of your writing style, you would also be able to polish the way you write properly for content writing. You can apply your writing skills to write about press releases, blog posts, e-book, ads copy, academic writing, video script, product description, etc. Learning about various online tools such as Canva would also be hugely beneficial to you if you want to be branch out into graphic designing in the future.
Market Peak:
- Among the digital jobs, a content writer is the most searched result.
- From 2015 to 2018 alone, the growth was 1171.52 percent.
- India has the highest volume of searches for content writing.
If you make up your mind to dive into this field, you may be interested to find out the 7 Best Content Writing Courses in India
2. A Career in Academia
It is probably the first option most people recommend to you and one of the best career options after English Honours. It is truly hard to find a profession that has a more noble sentiment than the job of an educator.
It is not a career path people think of as exactly glamorous, but there is a level of respect that comes with being in academics. If you are passionate about teaching and like being in a classroom and discussing various topics with your student, this is a career path you are bound to love.
Academia also opens paths to several other careers. You could be the teacher of high school students or become a professor in a university. You could engage in the same healthy discussion and dissection of literature you loved doing so much as a student. You could branch out and get into research and seminars.
There isn’t enough information available about the academic market scope because of how big it is. But, rest assured, it is a steady market.
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A Career in Law
Typically, the law is not something anyone immediately associated with career options after English Honours. Yet, it appears that many of the graduates do end up taking up law courses afterward in their lives. So, frankly, there is no reason you should not.
What do you remember about the English classroom? Analyzing and critiquing pieces of literature for hours? Concluding and finding ways to support your argument for a thesis? Any other occupation that rings a bell with similar habits? In some ways, you learn to think deeply about the statements from other people and start finding inconsistencies in their pattern of conversation. But, overall, you develop a habit of thinking first and fast, which is essential for law.
After you take up law, there are many paths you can take. You can even go to the content writing route with the added knowledge of the law with you, so you specialize in a certain kind of content. You can become a lawyer, of course. Criminal and corporate law are some of the hot choices among lawyers. There is other options like becoming a civil lawyer or a legal advisor as well. We can not forget about becoming legal journalists or legal analysts. You can dip your toes in judicial services too.
A Market Overview:
- The march 2018 for the Indian legal market was Rs. 8,400 crore.
- About 2500 crore is just from resolving matters between two parties, known as contentious legal work.
- Foreign firms had about $600 million stakes in the market.
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A Career in Mass Communication
After getting your English Honours degree, the thought of becoming a journalist must have entered your mind at least once, and it is one of the popular career options after English Honours. It is a lucrative field if not competitive. A career as a journalist never really goes out of trend. You have options in print, broadcasting, or the world of new media. You can start reporting for an online news channel or take a step towards your big debut on a television news channel.
When we are talking about mass communication, though, we are not only talking about journalism. Mass communication, while consisting of journalism, is certainly a broader field than that. It takes into account media of all kinds. It means a path where you have options in advertising, PR, editing, graphic designing, film making, and broadcasting.
Mass communication has something to do with every piece of media you can think of. It means a chance to opt for a job at your favorite radio station. Mass communication also encompasses being in the forefront and behind the scenes. You could like going into production and planning the scripts for a show—some people like providing voices or turning to the field of animation. Even content writing is considered a part of mass communication.
Any field involving media and creativity, a desire to communicate with the masses, and an eye for business is counted as mass communication. Some people specialize in certain fields of mass communications, while others have a general grasp of almost every part. You could choose whether you want to get into advertising or try your luck out in radio.
Your English degree already gives you a head start in this field. The additional skills are something you could learn by taking up a mass communication course. You can choose a specific skill you want to polish and focus on that particular skill too. Then, take up courses related to that entirely, such as learning how to act as a Public relations officer. Mass communication is too broad of a field with too many options.
An Idea of The Market Scope:
- In 2020, the media and entertainment sector was at Rs. 1.38 trillion.
- By 2023, the estimated projection is Rs. 2.23 trillion.
- Advertising revenue alone for 2023 is projected to be Rs. 915 billion.
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A Career in Digital Marketing
If we discuss other career options after English Honours degree, we have to mention PR, advertising, content writing, and creative writing. But, we can never leave out digital marketing.
What is Digital Marketing?
From the name alone, you can guess what this career field entails. It is about marketing in the digital landscape. Social media and the internet, in general, has become such a huge part of our life. So much untapped potential there that companies have merely begun exploring. It has become clear that to maintain a good relationship with customers and find new customers, sustaining a digital presence is a must.
For digital marketing, it means companies want someone to take over the online marketing for them. From ranking their websites in Google pages to advertising for them online and finding ways to make them go viral on social media, digital marketing involves everything. Even content writing is a huge part of digital marketing since words rule the internet in some ways.
After all, think about it. We can not search up videos, pictures, or websites online without typing certain words. There is the matter of understanding which product belongs in which category, which requires some relationship with words. For online shopping sites such as Etsy and eBay, the products require descriptions and tags, which are part of digital marketing.
You need a total understanding of the digital space to do online marketing. Every platform has different rules that help it rank content, which you would need to research on. Digital marketing is tons of research, application, and seeing what works and not works to come up with a new plan. Again, research, analyses, and writing are all part of the skill sets of an English literature degree holder. If you choose to turn to this career, you will fit right in.
Taking your first step in the world of digital marketing can be daunting. You could be a little behind on technology or not have enough information about online digital tools. It is not a huge issue, though. All it requires is some practice. If you think you will need a tutor, you can take up the Digital Marketing Master Course
The 180 hours comprehensive course with over 15 live projects and at least 10 case studies should give you a clear idea of what to expect in this field.
To Give You An Idea of Career Associated:
- From 2018 to 2019, digital marketing has a growth of 26 percent. This market cost amounts to Rs. 13,683 crore.
- The media market in India was addressed to be 160 billion Indian rupees.
- The market size for 2020 was 199 billion Indian rupees.
- For 2024, the estimated projection is 539 billion.
If you happen to tread on digital marketing as a career choice, then you must opt for the supreme course from the list of the Top 10 Digital Marketing Courses in India
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What kind of salary should I expect after English Honours?
The salary depends on the kind of job you choose. Usually, though, a PR officer can get about 2,40,790 on average in a year, while a High School English teacher can achieve 3,60,000.
2. What are the government jobs after English Honours?
Honors degree holders in this course can take the Indian Forest Services, Indian Foreign Services and Indian Administrative Services, and other government post holder exams.
3. What can I study abroad for after doing a BA in English in India?
Students often opt for Human resources, marketing, advertising, and filmmaking when taking up courses abroad.
4. Is a degree in English Honours required to become a content writer?
While a degree provides an added advantage to your writing skills, it is not required to become a content writer. What matters is your knowledge and understanding of writing.
Final Thoughts
You can have multiple career options after English Honours course completion. It is not an easy three years for those who opt for it. There is the matter of presenting your views on entirely subjective topics and hoping the person grading you would have a similar or objective opinion. The degree takes a lot of courage and time to finish. If you have gotten this coveted degree, you should be proud of yourself.
You also have a host of career options after English Honours course completion ahead of you. So it is a matter of upgrading your existing skills and maybe picking up new skills on the way. We hope the best for your journey!
