As a language student, you never know where life will take you after graduation. “In the olden days”, the general perception of language students’ career choices were either translating, teaching or research. Nowadays, however, the choices are more diverse and these options are also more openly promoted to students.
Graduation can also be a very intimidating thing for people who haven’t quite figured out what they want to do for a living. Coming from someone who spent half of her university studies dreading the day of graduation as she was sure that she would have walk straight to the social welfare office, the situation for humanists and language students really isn’t that bad.
I came to the university thinking I wanted to be a translator. Turns out, I didn’t – I wasn’t brave enough to live the life of a freelancer. Then I thought I wanted to be an English teacher. Turns out that all those years I spent as a camp counselor and kids’ club instructor were enough and I didn’t really have that “fire” they say you need to have as an teacher. So I was left with the third alternative, research. I like reading and I like writing, but for some reason the idea of doing research for living seemed like the worst option. But, alas, there was a fourth option – literally anything.
In today’s world learning new skills is no biggie. Just open Youtube, watch a tutorial or two and boom! You know how to code. Alright, it might not be quite that easy, but still, we are not limited to the things dictated by our degree. I ended up taking a quick 7-month visit to a translation agency, after which I was lured into a communications and marketing agency. I had been quite satisfied in my position as a project coordinator and working in the interesting field of translations, but the new position as a communications consultant provided me with things I hadn’t realized I needed: more creativity, more interaction with language(s), more writing, more opportunities in general.
And the lesson here is this: I had zero professional experience in the field of marketing and communications beforehand. I also did not take either of those subjects as my minor. What got me the job, I think, was my genuine interest towards the job and my language skills. I came in to do translations and write content, but in the end I’ve done so much more. So if you’re reading this and still feel scared and uncertain about your future, here are my three pieces of advice:
- Think about what you want to do, not only what you can do: A combination of these to aspects is of course the ideal situation, but in my experience it is important to not limit yourself to only what you can do, but what it is that you actually want to spend your time doing. If you feel like you lack some essential skill, go out there and obtain it! Which leads us to my next piece of advice:
- Develop your skills, be ready to learn: Is there still time to take another minor that might help you get closer to your goal? Are there any extra curricular activities you might take up that could be beneficial? Showing the potential employer that you are interested enough to spend your free time on the subject can mean more than just study credits.
- Be brave enough to at least try: For myself, this was possibly the most important lesson. I don’t even want to think about all those positions I didn’t apply for simply because I didn’t meet every single requirement in the job ad. It is time we all got rid of that ridiculous imposter syndrome and send out all those applications for the positions we want but don’t think are good enough for! Seriously, you never know if you don’t even try – the worst thing that could happen is that you don’t hear anything back (which is super annoying, btw). Go, try, fail, try again, succeed.