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Life just got easier for English majors
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Slowly taking a few breaths of fresh air, you stand up and walk across the stage. It’s the moment you’ve anticipated your entire life: graduation. Taking the diploma into your hands, suddenly dozens of questions begin registering in your mind- the constant theme: What now?
Figuring out what to do after graduation is a mind-wrenching experience for some students since many do not understand the possibilities their majors provide. Specifically, English majors tend to hold the misconception that only a career teaching awaits or graduate school.
However, help arrives and in the form of a book. Writer, teacher and mentor, Tim Lemire, brings students “I’m an English Major- Now What?” which provides English majors with insight into the possibilities their futures may hold using his own experience as an example and interviews from others.
The two-year project consists of 260 pages presenting career tips, advice, information on a variety of fields including the inside look into dozens of jobs available to English majors using their talent and skills. Separated into two parts, the book educates readers on Lemire’s own experience in numerous professions, which includes “behind-the-scenes” material, while the second area illustrates careers on over a dozen English majors and how they’ve established themselves in their fields.
The 38-year-old Rhode Island resident hopes people reading his book will see their options are varied and exciting. “The English major is a great foundation major: you can combine it with your own interests and passions in life and apply it to a wide spectrum of jobs,” Lemire said.
Finding a career that’s enjoyable is something Lemire continues to pursue after graduating from Boston College in 1989. Lemire’s employment history includes jobs as a newspaper editor, reporter, production editor for a book publisher, magazine writer, as well as a freelance proofreader and copy editor. Currently, he holds a career as a copywriter for Hasbro- the company responsible for Mr. Potato Head.
The idea for the paperback came after five to six years attending Boston College’s “Career Night and the Arts.” This event invites alumni to discuss their careers with current undergraduates. After receiving the same questions annually, Lemire decided to put the FAQs into a manuscript.
“If I could go back in time and tell myself everything I wish someone has told me about journalism, publishing, corporate communications, teaching and M.F.A. programs-things I later found out through experience-what would I tell myself?” Lemire said, “That became the book.”
The interviews include successful individuals such as George Donnelly, the editor-in-chief of the Boston Business Journal, a children’s book author named Margaret Park Bridges, also the editor for Houghton Mifflin Company, and Jacque Goddard, speechwriter for Angela Menino, the wife of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.
Lemire’s most inspirational story expresses a man’s experience becoming a sales representative for a book publisher. Refusing to wait for a job opening, the man conducted his own sales reports by talking to local bookstores, students, etc. When finally landing an interview, he showed his already written report. The man got the job instantly.
In the future, Lemire plans to write additional books, many coming from writing projects he says will keep him busy for the next 10 years. “I write about what I’m passionate about, because if it never gets published, it’ll still be worth it,” Lemire said.
The book is currently available wherever books are sold and for the price of $15. According to Lemire, “it’s a bargain just for the interviews alone.”
Daniel Kedish
Culture Writer
