As the world is becoming increasingly globalized and interconnected, the role of English as a global language has become all the more important.
Since English is used widely all across the globe, it has become the primary means of communication between different communities.
This means that with a good grip over this language, you can land yourself a multinational job and can communicate effectively in a foreign country. In short, English has great scope in today’s world, and with an advanced English degree, there is a remarkable number of job options you can choose from.
What makes it even better is that most such jobs are well-paying.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the median annual wage for English major employees was $51,000 greater than all other occupations in the United States in 2019.
If you are currently completing an advanced English degree or already have one, the following are some wonderful career choices you should consider:
Language Translator
This job has to do with English’s global scope. Today numerous people require an English translator because of how important it is for international communication.
You can join a Translation company if you are proficient in any language besides English and have an advanced English degree.
A Translation company offers translation services to tourists, ex-pats, and businesses worldwide. Translators are also needed in education, medicine, and a range of other industries that require any amount of international communication.
As a translator in a language translation company, you can expect an average of $20.06 per hour. But, some companies might offer as much as $51.
You can also become a self-employed translator if you prefer to have flexible schedules and irregular work hours.
As a translator, you will be required to translate written and oral communication, typically from books, journals, articles, etc., and conduct extensive research.
Some tasks would need you to look up cultural references and understand the context in which phrases or sentences are used to develop accurate replacement expressions and jargon.
Newspaper journalist
The English media is ever active, if not more, today as it was before and will continue to demand employees’ proficiency in English.
Newspaper journalists are hired to write news stories for the local, regional, and national media and cover a broad range of topics, from sports and culture to science and business.
Within newspaper journalism, you can apply for the post of junior reporters, news editors, correspondents, feature writers, and so on.
A junior reporter writes the stories, the editors and sub-editors edit the work, correspondents specialize in a particular domain, and feature writers cover topics in greater detail than other writers.
Salaries in this job are variable depending on which post you are at. According to the US BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics), the average (median) income for journalists in 2018 was $35,860.
As expected, the requirements entail excellent oral and written communication skills, accurate grammar and syntax, and an interest in news and current affairs.
Attention to detail, persistence, and knowledge of the main software packages are also traits that will increase your chances of success as a journalist.
To join this field, you can begin by publishing work privately using any available platform so that you can develop your CV.
Foreign Language Teacher
A vast majority across the globe are learning English as a foreign language, and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers are in high demand. EFL teachers deliver English Language lessons to various age groups, make tests and exams, provide feedback on written and oral language use, create new teaching audio and visual resources, etc.
EFL teachers also get hired overseas on fixed-term contracts, but permanent employment is not very common, although possible. Often EFL teachers work simultaneously for multiple employers.
You can expect a variable starting salary depending on the country of employment. Still, with experience, you can make much more, especially if you teach in a higher education institute. The average salary for an EFL teacher is $30,183 per year.
Web-content manager
The online platform has become very important in marketing campaigns for all businesses, big and small. A web content manager must ensure website online content is up to par.
As a web content manager, you will be looking over the content on web pages, videos, images, blog posts, reviews, social media, etc.
Sometimes you might need to create and edit content, but on most other occasions, especially for larger websites, you would be acting as a coordinator or project manager; content writers hired separately for the task would be writing the content.
In addition to being proficient and qualified in English, you would require good technological knowledge since web content is written in HTML using CSS. Relevant technical knowledge would be a must in most situations.
The national average salary for a web content manager is $56,411 annually.
Editor
Editors are needed in all domains where content writers work. Editors are hired to oversee written content before it gets published.
If you apply for the editor post, remember that you must first be confident in your English language proficiency, especially in grammar and spelling. As an editor, you would work on books, newspapers, journals, websites, etc., and your primary responsibility is to ensure that the spelling, grammar, and overall layout are accurate.
Salaries in this job vary depending on the work’s nature and the employer’s. In general, corporate publishers pay their employers more than traditional publishers do. Editors make an average of $17.46 an hour.
Private tutor
If you are good at delivering information to others, one career choice you should consider is private tutoring. As a private tutor, you would be offering specialist training skills to individual students. One of the primary advantages of private tutoring is the flexibility of work hours.
You can schedule your teaching sessions around another part-time main job or other commitments, according to your requirement.
The expected salary is variable depending on the subject you are teaching, your experience and qualification, the level of education of the student, and the number of sessions you take in a week.
Final words
With an advanced English degree, you can open doors to various career paths and even explore jobs internationally.
You can apply for the employment of a language translator, EFL teacher, web-content manager, editor, and tutor, among others.
Most of these career options are very high paying, and others can be if you have a certain degree of experience and qualification. So if you are interested in English, you should pursue an advanced degree.
