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For many humanities graduates, a communications career is one of the most viable and lucrative paths outside of academia. Whether they majored in communication or media studies, journalism or English, those passionate about words who possess outstanding writing and speaking skills can easily find a rewarding position in the field of communications. Here is a list of top career choices in communications you should consider.

Public Relations Specialist

For many organizations and companies, how they are perceived by the public is an important facet of success. A negative public perception can even impede them from conducting normal activity. For example, a company known for unethical practices might have its products boycotted by consumers. This is where the public relations specialist comes into play.

PR professionals organize press conferences, maintain media relations or write press releases about the company’s activities, all to ensure that the public has a positive and accurate perception of the company. In this communications career, there are many possibilities for advancement.

Social Media Manager

With the meteoric growth of social media, new jobs appeared on the market and social media manager is one of them. When it comes to deciding on a profitable and creative, social media is a good niche to stop at because it gives you space to advance. The main goal of social media managers is to maintain engaging communication with an audience that already expressed interest in the organization or company they represent.

The duties don’t stop here because the social media manager must also develop plans for increasing brand awareness and brand recognition, making the company more visible in the market and thus attracting new potential clients. All this is achieved by composing compelling messages and using various media formats to gauge interest. Without creativity and persuasion skills, it’s difficult to be successful, however.

Brand Manager

Communications and advertising go hand in hand, this is why brand manager is a great position to seek as a humanities graduate. The role of brand managers is to make sure that the products or services that their company develops will reach the public eye. To achieve this, they supervise advertising and promotion and analyze customer reactions.

As a brand manager, you will use your strong communication skills to ensure smooth cooperation between several departments of the company. You will also use your analytical and critical thinking skills to evaluate the success potential of an ad or marketing copy.

Writer

If you’re passionate about communications and the written word, but prefer to stay far from the spotlight and public speaking gives you nightmares, you can use your credentials and skills to pursue a career as a writer.  You can create magazine articles, blog posts, press releases, books or ad scrips, depending on your personal preferences.

A bachelor’s in communications or English is enough to get your foot in the door, but you might have to choose a niche such as technical writing, grant application writing, creative writing, corporate copywriting or other. You can apply for any position that interests you, either freelance or contract-based, and your skills remain transferable so you can always transition to something else.            

If you love to explore the power of words to inspire and inform, a career in communications will prove satisfying at both a professional and personal level.