Shirley Wu graduated from the department in 2020 with a Bachelor’s degree. She is currently working as the Assistant Director of Industry Connections within the College of Arts and Sciences, Center for Career and Professional Success. Shirley agreed to share some of what she’s been up to since graduation and to give advice to current students.
Tell us about your job: Where are you working, and what is your current job title?
I currently work for Ohio State, within the College of Arts and Sciences, Center for Career and Professional Success (Career Services). My job title is Assistant Director of Industry Connections—I connect with employers and recruiters and enable them to better connect with Arts and Sciences students looking for jobs and internships.
How did you get your current job?
I got the job that I currently have by applying as an external candidate through OSU Workday. However, I came to career services because I first started out interning at the Ohio Department of Education in my undergrad. The person who hired me there loved that I was a Linguistics major—I was able to do heavy data-work that they needed and also clearly showed, demonstrated, and emphasized a love of learning and the importance of education.
When I was at the Department of Education, I worked in the Office of Career-Technical Education, which also taught me about not only how important education was to career, but also career to education. Many of the students that chose to pursue career-tech were able to do experiential learning during high school, earn money in work, and then utilize their learned and applied knowledge to further future education plans and ultimately their careers. It taught me that the skills you have and the opportunities you're exposed to (both immediately and even 10 years after graduation) are often the most important aspects of building a career—not just what you study (even as I do truly love Linguistics!)
I went on from there to do student advising work with both K-12 and in higher education, but it wasn't until I met with an alum of a shared program that I started to think about career services (I myself didn't really use career services in undergrad, but hindsight is always 20/20). I really love how in its most ideal sense, career services can empower students to study what they want and feel confident securing work after school.
What do you do during a typical work week?
I often meet with employers to discuss their hiring needs, and set up opportunities for engagement with ASC students, both graduate and undergraduate. This can look like informational sessions, alumni/employer mixers, on-site interviews, or career fairs. My days are usually taken up by emails for planning the engagements and meetings with my team and external partners. I will occasionally have off-site/intensive engagements such as employer site-visits with students or career fairs, which are always fun for me!
What do you enjoy about your job?
I really love that in its best iteration, career services can help students from the humanities and liberal arts feel confident in their futures. College is expensive, and there is a lot of pressure to have a "good job" after graduating. That mindset can push people away from the humanities—but we in career services know that career is hardly ever linear, and that the skills and benefits you get from college and education are so much more than just a piece of paper or a line on a resume. I want students to be able to study the things they love, especially at a huge R1 university like Ohio State. We have one of the largest language programs in the country—students should feel empowered to benefit from the amazing courses we offer! I love helping students understand their worth and find opportunities that work for them. It takes a bit of work, but Linguistics students learn so many necessary skills in writing, pattern-solving, logic, data analysis, and more. I get to help these students realize their worth and how to market themselves, and I really love that I can give back to the student I was!
Do you have any advice for students who may be thinking about taking a similar career path?
Working in Higher Education as a staff person is a great field, but it is also a bureaucracy and often very bloated. It can be frustrating and depends very highly on the office you are in and the people on your team. If you do work in Higher Education, take advantage of the tuition remission that is offered by most universities—I got my Master's degree for only something like $3000 out of pocket over 2 years, which is a real steal.
Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?
General advice to students:
- Think about your values and what you want out of life, not just career. People change jobs 12 times on average throughout their lives, careers even two or three times! Recognize the themes that come up through your educational history: what classes did you love and why? What skills did you practice and hone? Applying for jobs is pretty much always terrible, but applying to everything with no rhyme or reason is not helping you. Figure out your why and what you would be happy doing, and how what you do can fit into that why.
- Any experience is good experience—getting your foot in the door is 100% your most important step. Make sure you use those opportunities well to network and build your actual skill set, however, as a resume line item is only as good as you make it.
- Don't trust what job applications say about "desired" majors, because that is very limiting and often demoralizing. You have the skills, and a degree. Linguistics can absolutely be a related major for many industries—many of the most prominent, high paying jobs (i.e., project manager, consultant, etc.) don't even have majors attached to them! For women and minoritized individuals especially, recognize that you don't need to meet even half of the desired qualifications to apply. As long as you can prove that you did some research and are a good skills fit for the role, you can sell yourself for really anything.
- I hated this advice as an undergrad, but it's honestly gotten me so far in the years since—do informational interviews with people that have careers you want. People are generally very nice and open to talking with students and young professionals, as long as they do it professionally. It's the best way to learn about fields you're interested in, the skills you need, and what their bosses value in new hires. In more than a couple of instances, informational interviewing gave me the opportunity to talk with other cool people and even into interviews for full-time roles.
