A Career With A Communications Degree
As you all may already know I am currently in school for my bachelor’s degree in communications. What a lot of students leaving college are wondering, will they get a job in their perspective career choice and which route will they take. A degree in communications can lead to a lot of different avenues. It doesn’t immediately mean you have to be a journalist or sitting and creating content in a basement somewhere. While both are something you can do, there are other areas that you can explore.
A lucrative road, that you may not have thought about, is grant writing. I have taken a few classes on this possibility. While many non-profits seek grants, they often do not know the ins and outs of how to apply. The writing is very much involved, and you must be very specific in the way you go about requesting a grant. You need to know your audience, the people you are working with, and the background of the grant you are applying for. If you don’t mind the time and effort it takes to write out a complete grant package, it is something that can make you a lot of money utilizing organization and writing skills.
Digital content creation, which in the last few decades has been on the rise, for obvious reasons. Many companies that have been around for decades need a facelift and get out in the digital world. With that said, they will need people like you who know the trends, the niche market for the companies, and what platforms they should be advertising themselves. This can be under the same umbrella as marketing.
Since I mentioned marketing, that is another option you can take with a communications degree. Getting involved with a company to help either rebrand or to give them a stronger branding is a way to utilize your talents. It involves working with a team and the company to come up with an agreed upon method and way to get the word out. Teamwork is key and knowing when to compromise is something you will learn with the people you are teamed with. While I am in the marketing arena, it is not all about writing, there are many different facets to the job. So, be sure you are aware of the job description and what the company wants from you.
One other area that you may be interested in would be copy editing. This was something that I was looking into and may still eventually go into. My writing is where I excel, and I want to utilize what I am good at. I already over-edit a lot of my own material and I think I have a pretty good eye when it comes to readability. I will get there eventually.
Overall, there are many different areas that you can explore. You just need to know where your strengths are and what sounds the most interesting. Remember working in a company versus just learning about it, is a very different beast. There are a lot of people that have different views and likes, you need to be ready to be shot down a couple of times. But you keep moving forward and you will find the right place and career for you!
