Start Preparing Now

Start building your professional writing portfolio by publishing work in the student newspaper and literary journals.

Volunteer to write press releases or other writing projects for local organizations.

Visit the Office of Career Services at least once an academic year.

Create a LinkedIn profile and shoot to add 300 connections before you graduate.

Look up people on LinkedIn who are doing what you want to do and email them asking to do a 30-minute phone call. If you don’t get a response, you could still study where they worked and their job titles before they arrived at their current role.

Ask family friends for career guidance while home for breaks.

Notice which academic assignments were your favorite and see if they correspond to a job.

Join campus organizations and gain transferable work skills—social media strategy, recruitment, event planning, budget management, etc.

Entry-Level Job Titles

• Content Creator
• Executive Assistant
• Social Media Manager
• Events Coordinator
• Communications Manager
• Public Relations Assistant
• Copywriter
• Sales Manager

Keep Writing After You Graduate

Forming a supportive writing group is one of the most impactful things you can do for yourself as a writer. You could meet monthly and send each other up to 15 pages ahead of time. This way, everyone reads each other's work carefully, writes feedback in the document, and then meets in person to engage in lively conversations. You could also choose to read your work aloud during group time, which is also beneficial.

Try writing short stories, poems, and essays with regularity. The more consistent you are, the stronger you'll become, and it will help you hone your craft for when you decide to write a longer-form project.

Once you have a short story, essay, or poem you're happy with, try to submit it to literary magazines. At the very least, it'll give you practice with writing a pitch and cover letter, which will be useful for when you are looking for an agent.