Not sure what to do with your English degree? Keep reading: we have 12 fun and interesting remote jobs for English majors!
Everyone has their own reasons for becoming an English major. For me, the girl who spent countless hours in detention for reading a fantasy novel instead of doing my algebra and filled volumes of spiral notebooks and Lisa Frank journals with short stories and poems, it was the only thing that made sense. While I have to admit there was a long time in my career path that I felt limited by my education, I’ve come to realize over the past decade or so that my English degree is the key to unlocking some of the best remote job opportunities.
Once I let go of the notion that I needed a traditional job with a conventional work schedule, a world of opportunities opened up for me. Not only does remote communications work give me a chance to tap into my love for language and words while utilizing all the knowledge I accumulated at Northeastern State University, but it also gives me a work-life balance I never dreamed possible in my younger post-graduate years.
If you’re an English major and you’ve been itching to make use of your writing skills in a remote job, here’s a long list of solid remote job opportunities to get you started.
1. Communications Specialist
A communications specialist is one of those roles that most mid- to large-sized operations need. At the same time, more and more of these organizations are realizing they don’t need an on-site communications specialist, which opens the door for remote work opportunities.
While the role can vary from one organization to the next, communications professionals are typically responsible for ensuring that all outbound messaging and public relations communications align with the company’s mission and values, and they may also be responsible for managing internal communications. Job duties might include online content creation, press releases, newsletters, and company-wide updates.
Many listings for communications specialist roles are full-time positions with benefits packages and funding for a fabulous home office setup.
2. Content Writer
I’ve been working full-time as a web content writer for years, and I love it. There’s a huge and ever-expanding need for business blogging and website content writing since these areas help drive web traffic. In a world where AI is encroaching on many careers, many organizations still want skilled writers who can create well-researched, engaging content in a natural but professional voice, and there are many full-time job opportunities for content writers.
And unlike many jobs that require an internship to get your foot in the door, it’s fairly easy to get into business content writing. Before I had a writing portfolio, I wrote a couple of sample blogs mirroring the type of content I was looking to sell, then used them to pick up clients in social media groups. In my time as a business blog writer, I blogged for a wide variety of industries, from chiropractic to roofing companies, and found it a challenging way to build up my skills.
If business blogging is a little uninspiring for your taste and you’d rather be following your passions, you can do what I did and move into features writing for more entertainment-focused websites. Most of these opportunities are freelance, but if you get picked up by a good media company, you can still turn that into full-time remote work.
3. Copywriter
Are you good with punchy, persuasive writing and serious research? There are always plenty of companies looking for copywriters. Similar to web content writers, copywriters are focused on generating high rankings in search engines, but their focus is more on the marketing side.
Copywriters often work with a team of other professionals like graphic designers and editors to develop entire marketing campaigns, beginning with market research. Work tends to be widely varied, which can make for an interesting workflow. One day, you might be coming up with an email campaign, and the next, you might be working on a mailer. And similar to content creation roles, copywriters are in demand for full-time, part-time, and freelance work.
4. Editor
If you’ve got an eagle eye for punctuation and you’re great at refining content to edit for tone or conciseness, you can find countless editor opportunities online. I’ve been freelancing as an editor since I graduated from college. Not only have I found the work very fulfilling, but it can also pay pretty well depending on the job.
If you’re looking for full-time work, you can potentially leverage a strong editing background into a remote career with a publishing house. I’ve also found plenty of work as a freelancer, editing everything from business communications to dissertations.
5. Grant Writer
Grant writing is a very challenging but potentially lucrative career opportunity for English majors who are great with details, research, and understanding processes. The work isn’t actually writing out grants; rather, it involves working with organizations or individuals applying for grants and then researching and writing out a well-developed grant proposal intended to help them land the grant.
I have a good friend who got into grant writing a few years back, and I was lucky enough to work with her on a few projects to get a feel for what the workload is like. Most of it really just comes down to understanding what makes a good grant proposal and how these types of grants are funded. Since many grants are highly competitive and can often make or break an organization’s success, it’s another career that always seems to be in demand.
6. Instructional Designer
Think of an instructional designer as the corporate version of a college professor. These professionals apply adult learning principles to create interactive course materials for a variety of jobs and fields where the onboarding process is much more involved. You’ll also need to understand evaluation methods and develop regular assessment tools.
You will need to pursue specific courses or continuing education with a focus on instructional design to get into this field. It’s a very similar process to school-based adult learning, but with a much more rigid structure and highly specialized industry language – something I learned the hard way when I interviewed for a corporate instructional design role with only eight years of writing center management experience. However, there are many remote jobs in this sector, and the pay can be astonishingly high compared to most English major jobs.
7. Online Teacher
There are quite a few ways to pick up work as an online teacher. If you’ve got education certifications, you can pick up work for an online charter or private school operation as a full-time or part-time educator helping kids get through school. Or if you’re more interested in creativity, try getting hired on a platform like Wimzee, where they’re searching for educators to teach creative pursuits like writing, acting, or music.
If you’re interested in building your own courses and you’ve got hustle, you can get started on a course-building site like Teachable or ThriveCart. Just be sure to research your platforms before getting started, since some online course platforms require user fees to make the most of them.
For online teaching jobs, you can explore Stride Learning, Connections Academy, Fullmind Learning, and Proximity Learning.
8. Online Tutor
Cuts to school funding have had more parents turning to online tutoring. It’s a drag, but it means there are more job opportunities for English majors with a knack for breaking down complicated ideas into simple terms and the patience to make it a positive experience for their students.
I’ve been able to make a decent side income simply by generating word-of-mouth client recommendations through the years. But many families would prefer to use online tutor sites where their tutors are properly vetted, and who can blame them? The good news is that it’s really easy to get hired on many of these platforms if you’ve got the credentials.
Platforms like Tutor.com provide tutoring services and test prep to K-12 students, college students, and adult learners seeking professional development. Since most of these platforms allow students to search for tutors, seasoned tutors recommend finding a way to differentiate yourself to stand out better while building a clientele. You can also potentially make big bucks on Studypool, where tutors bid to answer students’ posted questions.
9. Proofreader
If you’re an English major looking for gig work, you can almost always find someone searching for a proofreader on a platform like Fiverr and Upwork or even by listing your services on social media groups. In the era of Grammarly and ChatGPT, I’ve found there are plenty of folks, especially those not based in the U.S., who want a native English speaker with a strong grounding in punctuation to look over their work. And let’s face it, English majors like us can spot a comma error from a mile away.
10. Researcher
If your English major personality falls more on the nerdy, book-reading, deep-diving side than the writing geek side, you can make seriously good money as a web researcher in a variety of fields. Digital strategy researchers, for example, examine things like marketing studies and consumer behavior to help businesses decide on a strategy. Depending on your background, you could also get paid to work as an academic or scientific researcher.
11. Technical Writer
Technical writers are all about creating a technical writing product to fit a specific need. Like research work, technical writers can work across a variety of disciplines. It’s an excellent, in-demand job for folks with a serious eye for detail. Their work involves writing up things like technical manuals, financial reports, assembly instructions, and anything else highly technical that you can think of.
If you’re willing to pick up a few classes, the income opportunities can increase dramatically. I once knew someone who made a six-figure salary writing technical manuals within the airline industry.
12. UX Writer
A UX writer’s role focuses specifically on user experience, e.g., making it easy for users to engage with a platform or technology product. They might, for example, develop the copy for each button on a website to ensure it is easy to understand and accessible for users of all capabilities. This job also involves conducting what’s known as A/B testing, which basically assesses which version of a button or site users find easy to navigate and which they find confusing.
Final Advice: Try Everything
I mentor a lot of English majors who worry about whether they need to be marketing to this job or that job. But a lady’s gotta get paid, and in this job market, there’s no shame in the game of throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. If you’ve got good, marketable writing skills, I recommend letting go of the notion that you need to focus on one specific area and looking for remote work in everything that interests you.
English majors, let me know where you got your college degree in the comments and what’s been working for you, and good luck with your job search, fellow bookworms!
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