Hi parent,
This is your child writing to you. You know, your child who’s studying English?
(Or maybe I’m just thinking about studying English but haven’t decided yet.)
We need to talk about the problem in education.… Continue Reading
Have you ever arrived at the airport, only to find the security line is an hour (or more) long?
You’re not alone. Security clearance is the longest, least efficient part of traveling. Since everyone has to do it, it’s a major bottleneck for travelers. What if there was another way?… Continue Reading
Are you a grammar snob? Do you derive pleasure in correcting misplaced commas, run-on sentences, and other errors most people can’t even see? Do you feel rage when forced to read terrible grammar in text messages?
If so, you’re going to love this new sticker pack.… Continue Reading
I wanted to write and share what we’ve been creating for you. We’ve taken a step back to evaluate how The English Major’s Guide (formerly Proofwriting) can better prepare English majors (like you) to have a great career.
More importantly, we wanted to determine why we are working to create the best career prep resource in the world for English majors.
Today, I’d like to share some of the things we’ve created, what’s coming next, and how you can benefit.… Continue Reading
Writers need to stand out. It’s hard to get a job when you’re writing blends into the array of bloggers on the web. How do you set your writing above the rest? The secret is “The 5 Hour Rule”.… Continue Reading
Ellen Petry Leanse, entrepreneur and former employee of Apple and Google, noticed a startlingly high frequency of the word “just” among her female coworkers in conversation and email. Sentences starting in “I was just wondering” or “I just wanted to” left the speaker submissive and apologetic before making a request. This gave more authority and control to the recipient.
As covered in her post on LinkedIn, Leanse and her coworkers omitted “just” from their speech as an experiment, and this is what she concluded:… Continue Reading
One of the requests I got while writing The English Major’s Guide to Getting a Job was to make it available on Kindle. Rather than sell the guide through Amazon’s storefront, I decided to build my own site (at my own expense) and sell it directly.
I’d like to briefly explain why I’m doing this the hard way – and why I think it’s worth it.… Continue Reading
In The English Major’s Guide to Getting a Job, I explain how you can freelance as a student and earn 2x, 4x, or even many more times what your classmates earn working minimum wage jobs.
However, finding the kind of high-paying freelance gigs that make this possible is a challenge. How can you get the experience needed to deserve high fees without spending years gaining experience?
The answer is to use Shane Snow’s Frank Sinatra method. I used this to leverage several high-paying freelance gigs, many of which paid me up to $400 per 500-word article.… Continue Reading
Breaking into your dream career (the one where you’re paid to live your passion) can seem like waiting to win the lottery. But it’s not necessarily about the luck of the draw. In a recent 99U article featuring an interview with Catie Lazarus, host of Employee of the Month, Lazarus points out that the world is in fact “not a meritocracy”, as well as the differences between what we can control and what we can’t when working toward career goals.
Part of the problem we get ourselves into is having ridiculous expectations. Many of us have career idols that seem to have reached success completely on their own, without having to rely on support from loved ones. We think that if we are good enough, it shouldn’t matter who we’re connected to, and we shouldn’t have to look to others for help getting interviews or valuable work experience.… Continue Reading
We all have to start somewhere, and sometimes somewhere is the land where you work for free. But you don’t always have to work for free to get experience or to build your portfolio. So how can you know whether you should work for free or find a gig that pays?
This helpful infographic walks you through various situations where you might be tempted to work for free, and tells you whether or not it’s a good idea.
(Click to view the full infographic)
One main thing to walk away from the Flowchart knowing is to avoid employers that seem sketchy. This might mean employers who promise outlandish future rewards in place of immediate cash, employers that push the “build your portfolio” card to get you to agree to the work, or employers who fall back on being a “start-up” company as an excuse to pay you less.… Continue Reading