By Mahjabeen Malik
Thanks, God! I’m really very thankful to my Allah Almighty for the strength and his blessing to secure master degree in English Literature. Allah has bestowed me shrewdness to choose a luxuriant subject, English Literature, for my master degree program. Special appreciation goes to my loving parents and all family members for guidance, supervision, patience and support. Although people around me were against my decision of acquiring MA English but I remained as steadfast as a rock. The harsh stormy wind was blowing against me, and I was standing alone on high deserted rock of my decision. People around me made me feel guilty as if I had committed a deadly sin. Perhaps I was mad (crazy is more positive/appropriate word but I like the word “mad” for myself) hunting my goal. As it is commonly said that there are only two honorable professions; one is Doctor and the other is writer; you may say science and literature. English Literature has enhanced my wisdom and understanding, patience and tolerance, strength and confidence. It has not only painted my personality with vibrant colour brush but has opened doors of multiple professions for me. In my personal opinion English Literature is the best master degree program in Arts Subjects.
After accomplishment of education, carrier choice is another grueling task. It is really a crucial task to choose the right career option in everyone’s life. Students may go through a dilemma of choosing a career after completing their education. The job anticipations of the field and the interest of the candidate are the most crucial factors to consider while choosing a career. People, who have qualified their MA degree in English, have a lot of opportunities to find a very fruitful career choice. There are several job opportunities for MA English in the government sector as well as in private sector. Candidates of MA English can get jobs in abroad as well. An MA English acquires comprehensive knowledge and relative understanding of the English language. After MA in English, one can enter the research field by applying for a Ph.D. program. The knowledge of linguistic and analytical skills enable a student to hunt a career in communications, publishing, etc. An MA in English Literature can easily find jobs in various agencies for translation. Some of the posts include copywriter, editor or even as a proof-reader. Now I am going to mention the name of some profession for new students and degree holders who are unaware of those vast fields for MA English. Particularly our female students too innocent to know. For certain reasons female are compelled to choose teaching as profession; whether they are interested in teaching or not. Actually same is the situation with me. My basic interest is in writing and painting but I have been forced to join teaching as profession. No doubt teaching is a prophetic profession; it is worthy and appropriate for female particularly but it is also true that everyone cannot become a teacher as Allah Almighty has created human beings with multifarious habit of thoughts. There is a list of professions below:
Professions for MA English
- Teaching
- Journalism
- Technical writer
- Reporter
- Creative Writing
- Copy Writing
- Editorial assistant
- Novelist
- Freelance writer
- Business communications and Technical Writing
- Advertising:
- Social media manager
- Media researcher
- Web content manager
- Lawyers
- Public Relation Officer
- CSP Officer
- Civil Services
- Decoders
- Insurance
- Interpreter
- Law schools
- Library
- Linguists
- Lecturers
- Tourist guides
- Translators
There are several job opportunities in government sector as well as in private sector for MA English degree holders. They have bright chances to settle in abroad as well. Only sky is the limit for them. The many fields of entertainment also present postgraduate students of English literature with ample career opportunities. Those candidates who have good skills in writing can find them employed as campaign managers, speech writers and other positions that require the sophisticated use of written and spoken English. I would like to suggest to the students, who appear as private candidates, please never seek any short cut. There is no short cut in literature. It is a vast sea of books. Read, read and read if you want to succeed. Read and comprehend text books instead of only cramming publishers’ notes. One more thing I would like to suggest to the students of MA English literature that they should choose Linguistics as an optional subject in part two; because Linguistics is the only subject that enables the students to learn/improve better pronunciation skills ,grammar skills, sentence structure, accent by learning stress pattern and intonation etc. Linguistics also enhance the students listening , speaking , reading and writing skills. Dear readers, Insha’Allah! I shall write my next article on the importance of Linguistics.
