Rudimentary image-doctoring is just one of the many skills I have honed as a linguist
Today I’d like to address one of the most common questions we get here at DUS Headquarters: What kind of job can I get with a linguistics degree?
I mean, what kind of job CAN’T you get with a linguistics degree? As a major in Linguistics, you’ll build lots of skills that will serve you well in nearly any career you might pursue: you’ll be able to critically assess research in a subject area, to write in a way that builds an argument from evidence, and to deploy a variety of qualitative and quantitative analytic methods, for starters.
::whispers:: this is essentially true of any liberal arts degree, whatever the major - that’s the whole point of the liberal arts, to make you a well-rounded person with critical thinking skills and pluripotent competence who can take on whatever the world gives you!!
“OK Dr DUS”, I hear you say, “I get it, you ~love~ the liberal arts, and I know my linguistics major will equip me with various skills which IN THEORY will prepare me for numerous hypothetical jobs. But EMPIRICALLY SPEAKING, what actual, specific things do linguistics grads go on to do?”
Fair enough! We can certainly look to some data. The Cawley Career Center’s Post Graduation Outcomes survey, for example, shows that Georgetown’s 2021 Linguistics graduates currently work in industries such as Scientific and Technical Consulting, K-12 Education, Management Consulting, Accounting, Advertising/PR/Marketing, Defense, and International Affairs, holding job titles such as Analyst, Development Assistant, Researcher, ELL Teacher, Senior Associate, and Associate Strategic Planner. It’s hard to know what some of those titles really mean in terms of your day-to-day tasks (Richard Scarry BusyTown jobs, they are not), but fortunately, there are resources that can give you fuller, more narrative senses of what those with linguistics training do with their lives. Here are just a few:
• Dr Lauren Gawne's Superlinguo Job Interviews. Dr Gawne co-hosts the Lingthusiasm podcast and blogs at Superlinguo. Over the past 7 years she has interviewed over 60 people with degrees in Linguistics about their jobs, which span quite a range - even just looking at the list will give some ideas about possible career paths.
• Dr Anna Trester's Career Linguist site is geared specifically towards those with linguistics background who are looking for jobs - read her career profiles in linguistics as well as her list of 50 Linguist-Friendly Organizations.
Finally, for those studying at Georgetown, check out our Masters in Language and Communication (MLC) program. You don't need to be IN the MLC to attend its programming, which includes guest speakers, networking events, and panels designed to introduce students to a range of careers.