1. Anna Marie Trester
Career Linguist
www.CareerLinguist.com
@CareerLinguist

2. What’s in a frame?

Q: “You
study
linguistics?”

3. Reframe!!

Instead of “what can you do with a degree in linguistics?”, “what
do you want to do” and let’s think about how
linguistics can get you there!
NAVIGATE your career!!!!

4. Becoming more aware of
stories

Story
finding
Story
listening
Story
telling

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. ….for your career journey

9. #1 Linguist, know
thyself!

 By taking stock of the skills and abilities you are
cultivating as part of your study of linguistics

10. # 2 Learn about your
workstyle preference

Source: Karen Newhouse Beyond the Ivory Tower

11. #3 Educate Yourself
About Careers


12. ….by conducting
informational interviews


13. …by listening to linguists’ stories
(links from www.careerlinguist.com)

 PhDs at Work
 Stories from other professional linguists (from me
shared on Career Linguist)
 From PhD to Life
 Lousy Linguist
 All Things Linguistic
 Others?

14. # 4 Join Professional Associations
(links from www.careerlinguist.com)

 Linguistic Society of America Housed in Washington,
D.C. the LSA is the largest linguistic society in the
world. Membership is required to search their jobs
site, but resources accessible to the public include
this piece on Jobs and Interviewing in Linguistics.
 American Association of Applied Linguistics
 American Anthropological Association
 What others?

15. #5 Join online communities
(links from www.careerlinguist.com)

 Linguist List The LINGUIST List, housed at Eastern
Michigan University, bills itself as “The world’s largest
on-line linguistic resource
 Linguists Outside Academia
 Others?

16. # 6 Talk about yourself:
By crafting a resume

that tells a story

17. Talk about yourself: By
creating a cover Letter

“from the inside”
From:
“I want this job”
To:
“This is why you need me”

18. Talk about yourself:
by creating (at least) five

pocket examples
 Little stories that SHOW
you exhibiting qualities
you are telling them you
possess
 For any networking
event, job interview,
you want to have at
least 5 prepared

19. # 7 Tell your stories!

Informational
Interviews
Elevators
External
Events
Job
Interviews
JOB FAIRS!
YOUR STORIES

20. # 8 Network


21. #9 Search for jobs
(links from www.careerlinguist.com)

 Indeed (a powerful aggregate engine: you can set up a daily search for
jobs related to your key words)
 Idealist.org (jobs dedicated to particular issues and causes (e.g. env.
policy, women’s issues, NGOs, etc))
 USA Jobs (Federal government jobs)
 Making the Difference: (A source for federal jobs and internships)
 OPM – Job Seekers (Federal government’s Office of Personnel
Management’s Job Seekers site)
 Opportunity Knocks (insight into the nonprofit world)
 Diversity Jobs (directory of current positions in companies committed to
diversity)
 NAFSA Job Registry (international education; open positions in a variety of
fields)
 International Career Employment Weekly (jobs in the US and overseas)
 Jobs in the Humanities and Social Sciences (jobs in secondary and higher
ed.; social science in industry)

22. #10 last but definitely

 Get in!!!
not least

23. More Resources

 mlc.linguistics.georgetown.edu
 Your career center (help them help you)
 Alum from your dep’t
 Career Linguist
 www.careerlinguist.com
 On Twitter: @CareerLinguist
 My book - from Multilingual Matters Press
(god willing) in Spring 2015
 What other sources?