I am a sophomore in college and a communications major. I know I want to be a communications major but I don’t know what career path I should pursue, or what I should specialize in. I know that I love to write and I am a good writer. I also love reading and researching anything that comes to my mind. I love learning and watching documentaries about anything. I also know everything about celebrities. I am a introvert but love socializing with new people, networking, and forming strong relationships with people. I always keep up with current pop culture and current events. I love watching tv shows and movies and analyzing them. I used to dream about being a talk show host like Ellen or Oprah, meeting different types of people and celebrities. I thought about being a Public Relations Specialist. Any suggestions or advice? I’ll appreciate it.
Are you going to be able to get some internships through your college/university? It sounds like you might like something within broadcasting and maybe if you can intern it will help you see and clarify your options.
@Empireapple Yes we have plenty of internships in the communications department at my university.
Your internships and some of your classes may help you narrow down what you want to do. Your first job out of college may not be your absolute dream, but that will also help shape what you want to pursue as well. You also don’t have to narrow it down to exactly one - when I finished graduate school with my PhD, I applied to jobs in four different career fields because I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do, but I had a good feeling I’d be happy in any of the four areas.
There are lots of things you can do - market research (writing, reading, researching), corporate communications (writing, researching, gathering information, representing famous companies), public relations (pretty similar to corporate communications), marketing (especially at an entertainment company), social media management/marketing (a subset of marketing but with an aim towards social media). You could also go into television or radio production - even if you aren’t the show host themselves, you may work behind the scenes of such a show arranging travel and negotiating appearances for such celebrities on a show that’s like Oprah, Ellen, Jimmy Kimmel, etc. Someone has to handle all those phone calls, appointments, and negotiations about exactly what the host is allowed to ask about and what they’re not.
One thing that actually sounds really perfect for you is fund development work. That’s working for a big charity and helping to raise funds for it. I’ve known a couple of folks who work in development and fundraising for nonprofits, and it’s actually a lot like what you describe - you have to learn a lot about the big-money donors who can give money to the nonprofit (and sometimes, they are celebrities, especially at big nonprofits); they socialize a lot with other people to endear them to the cause and woo them into giving money; sometimes they host or schmooze at big gala events to earn money; they are focused on networking and forming strong relationships; they often meet and talk with many different types of very rich people. Especially if you end up at a very big nonprofit or a big private university, this job sounds well-suited for your interests.