Good Morning, Researchers:

I am an Administrative Assistant at a medium-sized company in
California.  The company provides tuition reimbursement to students
whose course is related to their work at the company.  I'd like to
enroll in an English Literature degree program at Berkeley, but my
company is saying that English is not relevant to my job.  I say it
is, and I'd like them to pay for it.  The company's specific policy
states:

'The Tuition Reimbursement Plan offers eligible employees up to $3,000
in financial assistance per calendar year for degree programs and
formal certificate programs related to your current job, or likely to
prepare you for prospective future positions at (Company). The plan
covers tuition, registration, course and testing fees, and books.'

A good answer will list various relevances of an English Literature
Bachelors course to the position of Administrative Assistant, *quoting
sources*.  The sources would preferably be educational institutions,
or company representatives singing the praises of English Lit courses
and their relevance to my job.  For example, "A degree in English
Literature prepares a student for the business world by enhancing his
critical thinking ability/editing skills/whatever".

At this time my employer has declined to state a potential career path
for Administrative Assistants within the company so it's a little hard
to say how my degree would be relevant to 'prospective future
positions'.  Please assume, however, that my next position would be as
an Executive Assitant to a high-level manager, and would require me to
deal confidently and professionally with similar executives both
inside and outside the company.  How would English Lit help me?

Please don't hesitate to request clarification if my question is not
sufficiently clear.

Hello statestraveller-ga,

You don’t say why you want to major in English Literature and how you
think it will contribute to your career. Your employer’s requirement
is that the education you pursue should be related to your current job
or prepare you for a future position with the company. You don’t say
what kind of company you work for in order to give specific avenues
for advancement if you get a college degree. I've collected some
general information that should answer your question, but be sure to
ask for clarification if you need additional information for the
specics of your situation.

Fortunately, there is quite a lot of information available online
about tuition reimbursement programs and policies. Before addressing
your issue of justifying your English major, it will be helpful to
look at your company’s perspective on employee development. What are
the main company objectives for this benefit? Does your company
strongly support employee training and development? Are there
established avenues for advancement? You say that your company “has
declined to state a potential career path for Administrative
Assistants.” Are there suggested career paths for other job families
in your company as opposed to the lack of a path for Administrative
Assistants? In any case, how you want to advance in the company is
largely up to you.

What opportunities would you like to pursue? Administrative Assistants
can frequently transition into other positions in various functional
areas that exist in most companies. Customer support, client services,
database administration, sales and marketing support, and HR assistant
some positions that are available in many medium-sized companies and
can be seen as a good stepping-stone from administrative assistant
positions to the professional ranks. In order to develop a proposal to
convince your manager to support your quest for a BA in English, you
need to be able to envision where your added education will add
benefit to the company. You have to decide what target jobs
(marketing, HR, business development, technical writing, web content
development, etc.) in your company could benefit from the skills of an
English major.

In order to marshal your arguments, you need to become familiar with
the major skills you will gain by getting a degree in English. Once
you’ve identified the skills, you can explain how and why they will
enhance your ability to do your current job and prepare you for
advancement to new responsibilities through promotion or reassignment.

I’ve collected a variety of resources to help you make your case. Many
university English departments have prepared excellent materials that
cover the skills and occupational possibilities for English majors and
frequently also list the jobs their alumni found. You should find this
helpful for developing your case that the skills you’ll learn will be
related to your current job. The occupational information should help
you look for possible target jobs in your own company that could lead
to career advancement. I’ve also included a few Administrative and
Executive Assistant job postings that require a BA degree to help you
with giving some examples of how the skills you’ll acquire as an
English major relate to this type of jobs.

In addition, I’ve collected some articles on tuition reimbursement
policies and practices that should help you understand the company’s
perspective. The tax implications are especially interesting and may
be important to both you and your company.

I hope that this research will give you sufficient ammunition so that
you can convince your boss that English majors can do anything. Show
him the list of famous English majors if he needs additional evidence.

Good luck with your education.

czh

==========================
CAREERS FOR ENGLISH MAJORS
==========================

http://www.flsouthern.edu/eng/careers.htm
Careers for English Majors
"An English major?  What can you do with that?"
Actually, the question is, "What can't you do as an English major?" 
Consider this: an employer can train you to do a specific job, but an
employer cannot teach you to think critically, to respond
intelligently, to analyze and synthesize, to communicate your thoughts
and ideas, especially in writing.  Having these skills--which you
develop as an English major--gives the opportunity to do almost
anything.  Certainly some fields will require additional education and
experience (you can't walk off the stage at graduation and into the
courtroom as a trial attorney), but the skills and knowledge you will
have gained from being an English major at Florida Southern College
will give you a decided advantage in whatever field you choose.
English majors have gone into many fields--law, journalism, editing,
publishing, education, social services, computer services, acting,
management, sales, government services, even the medical field.

http://www.albion.edu/english/careers.asp
Or, What can I do with an English Major?
Many students who are attracted to English as a major wonder to what
gainful employment an English major can lead. The broad answer to that
question is that many of the skills learned in English
classes--analytical thinking, competence in reading and interpreting
texts, and the ability to write clear, intelligible prose--will stand
you in good stead in numerous careers. (Some of the companies who have
recruited on the Albion campus in recent years, in fact, have asked to
interview English majors for just that reason.) For more specific
answers to the question, though, we can turn to surveys recently given
to English majors of the class of 1989. They are now engaged in
several different fields, including the following:

http://www.mun.ca/english/mess/business.html
The Business of English
Career Opportunites for Majors in English
Skills and Abilities of English Majors
The skills and abilities one learns as an English major can be more
generally applied to any career requiring expertise in the use of
language as a means of communication. For example, despite their
differing responsibilities, journalists, teachers, sales
representatives, and politicians all use their skill with language to
perform their jobs, Representatives skills and abilities of holders of
degrees in English are listed below.
***** See long list of transferable skills categorized under:
Speaking, Research, Critical Thinking and Analysis, Writing. See also
the list of occupational possibilities and jobs help by alumni.

http://www.uncwil.edu/stuaff/career/Majors/english.htm
ENGLISH
Related Career Titles     Related Major Skills     Related Web Sites
Many occupations today require a college educated individual who can
write and speak well, solve problems, learn new information quickly
and work well with others on a team This means that college graduates
use their education in a wide variety of fields, and your future
career may relate more to your personal career interests, work values
and transferable skills than any specific academic major. However, the
following list contains a representative sample of job titles of
former graduates with an English major. Use this as an idea list, and
remember that it represents some, but certainly not all, of the
careers you might consider.
 
http://www2.gasou.edu/litphi/major/whatyoucando.htm#emp%20sett
What You Can Do With An English Major
Description:  Listed below is a brief sampling of occupational titles
and employment settings which relate to a major in English.  While
special knowledge of specific subject matter is necessary for certain
occupational settings, not employment settings require specialization.
 Some employers prefer liberal arts graduates who possess broad
liberal skills such as: problem solving, critical thinking, management
and administration, and communication.  These functional transferable
skills combined with specific content knowledge are most useable and
marketable in broad span of occupational settings.
***** Provides good lists for functional skills, typical work
activities and occupational settings.

http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cswebpg/Menglish.html
Career Opportunities for Majors in English 
A bachelor's degree in English provides you with skills for a variety
of positions in business, research organizations, educational
settings, publishing companies, financial institutions, and in the
cultural, entertainment, communications and health care industries.
English majors very often seek out careers in publishing, public
relations, advertising, media or teaching. Occupations to be
considered are copywriter, columnist, commentator, critic, editor,
production assistant, public relations representative, reporter,
correspondent, technical writer or writer/author.
English as a major, however, is versatile and helps develop skills
useful anywhere. Your major is only one of many variables to be
considered. Many careers do not require a specific major, but rather a
wide range of demonstrated skills and accomplishments. Effective
career decision making is based on the thorough assessment of one's
skills, interests, values and experiences.
A Sample of Related Occupations
Types of Employers
Jobs Obtained by Rutgers Graduates

http://www.lhup.edu/English/gradjobs.htm
Our graduates with a B. A. in English report the following positions:
***** See long list of jobs held by English majors.

http://www.snead.edu/humanities/job_outlook1.htm
Famous English Majors
***** Lots of writers, actors, performers, journalists (all showing
the importance of communication skills and the power of expression)
but also some big names in science and business, including:
Carol Browner - Head of the Environmental Protection Agency	
Mario Cuomo - Governor of New York 			
Michael Eisner - Walt Disney CEO 		
Kathryn Fuller - World Wildlife Fund CEO			
A. Bartlett Giamatti - President, Yale University and Commissioner of
Baseball
Joe Paterno - football coach, Penn State 
Sally Ride - astronaut
Marty Shottenheimer - Former coach of Kansas City Chiefs
Brandon Tartikoff - television executive 
Clarence Thomas - U.S. Supreme Court Justice   
Grant Tinker - TV Executive and Producer   
Pete Wilson - Former governor of California
Harold Varmus - Nobel laureate in medicine, Director of National
Institute of Health

================================
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT JOB POSTINGS
================================

://www.google.com.tw/jobs/admins.html
Administrative
Join us and make an immediate impact on a service relied upon by
people around the world.
Candidates must have exceptional communications skills, possess the
ability to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and work productively in
a fast-paced, team-oriented environment.
***** Requirements include: BA/BS or equivalent experience.

http://corporate.globalsources.com/CAREERS/SCHINA.HTM#EA
Executive Assistant
You will assist the Regional Sales Manager to develop and manage local
market to increase the sales achievement and objectives. A bachelor's
degree with at least two years of sales and management experience,
good command of oral and written English communication skills and
knowledge of computer applications are essential requirements.
Candidates with strong interest and passion to sales job are
preferred.

http://www.craigslist.org/pen/ofc/14808607.html
Web Services Sales Assistant
REQUIREMENTS: BS or BA degree or equivalent education and/or
experience

http://www.craigslist.org/sfc/ofc/14550192.html
Business Office Assistant
EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE 
Bachelor's degree from a four-year college or university, two years
related experience, or an equivalent combination.

==============================
TUITION REIMBURSEMENT POLICIES
==============================

http://www.salary.com/learning/layouthtmls/leal_display_nocat_Ser29_Par69.html
Tuition Reimbursement

http://www2.hrnext.com/Article.cfm/Nav/1.39.346.0.10295.10295
Tuition Assistance Programs
Work-related aid
Employees generally do not have to pay taxes on the value of
work-related tuition assistance. Work-related educational assistance
is deductible by the employer and tax free to the employee as an
employer business expense under IRC Sec. 162. There is no dollar limit
on work-related educational assistance. There is also no requirement
that the program be in writing, although written guidelines are
advisable.
A course only qualifies as work-related education if it maintains or
improves the skills required by the business or trade or meets an
employer’s express requirements or requirements imposed by law to stay
in a particular job. The most obvious example of work-related courses
are courses taken to fulfill continuing education requirements for
licenses or certificates that must be held to perform a particular
job. Other courses that will usually qualify are refresher courses or
courses on the latest developments in an employee’s field.
Warning: To qualify as work related, a course must maintain or improve
the employee’s skills for the current job, not for a promotion or
transfer to another job.

http://www.hrmaster.com/PPP/chap01/trends8.asp
Personnel Policies & Procedures - the Law in Perspective
Educational Assistance
Assistance for education in the form of tuition reimbursement or paid
study leave is not consistent across all companies. Only the larger
companies can usually afford this benefit and about half of all such
companies provide tuition reimbursement in some form or another.
Tuition reimbursement is typically provided for work related courses.
The Department Manager and/or Training Manager are the decision makers
on what is work related. ….
Employees rarely receive any financial reward or promotion as a result
of their additional qualifications. However, their eligibility for
internally advertised positions within the company is greatly
improved.

http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/articles/distance/distance_employee.asp
Savvy Employees Can Learn While They Earn
Legal issues may also affect corporate tuition aid policies. At times,
the law defines tuition aid as a benefit free of tax implications only
when the advanced education is job-related. Some employers then
support only programs identified as job-related, a concept that is
sometimes difficult to define. Accounting courses for an employee of
the accounting department are clearly job-related, but the question of
whether liberal arts courses are job-related is more ambiguous, and
tuition reimbursement policies vary widely. In some legal
environments, tuition aid is defined as additional income and is
treated as taxable.

http://www.smartpros.com/x18309.xml
Tuition for Talent -- Demand for Non-Core Course Reimbursement Running
Low
Greater flexibility in tuition reimbursement benefits generally can be
found at the undergraduate level, where Telcordia will cover "almost
anything the school says is necessary to earn a degree," Doctor said.
In addition to paying for computer science, business management and
marketing courses, coverage extends to English, social sciences and
other basic subjects.

http://www.scisstudyguides.addr.com/tuition_reimbursement.htm
Tuition Reimbursement - Thinking of changing jobs in the near future?
This page provides a list of companies and their current tuition
reimbursement policies for GSCIS programs.
Is your tuition reimbursement tax deductible? (This is a nice flow
chart for figuring out tax obligations.)

http://www.employersgroup.com/Data/Newsletter/2003/03/HR_economic.asp
Tuition Reimbursements

http://www.negotiationskills.com/qawork30.html
How Can I Get More Tuition Assistance From My Company?
***** This is a good article that gives you some excellent points on
how to negotiate for your tuition assistance payments.


===============
SEARCH STRATEGY
===============
famous english majors
jobs for english majors
"executive assistant" "job description"
company tuition reimbursement assistance/programs/policies

---

Request for Answer Clarification by statestraveller-ga on 14 Aug 2003 10:19 PDT

czh-ga:

Many thanks for such a comprehensive answer to my question.  The
material you offered was extremely interesting reading and very
useful.  The company I work for is in the tech industry, and is
experiencing some financial difficulties at the moment.  I suspect
this may be one reason it is relucant to offer me tuition assistance. 
However, the program still exists and while it does, I feel I should
take advantage of it.

To answer your specific questions, I'd say that on the whole, there
are very few specific avenues for development within the company.  It
seems to be more a case of a position opening up due to someone
leaving the company, or a position being created for a person with
specific skills when a department has a matching need.  Needless to
say, this makes career planning rather difficult!  The career path for
Administrative Assistants has been particularly hard to define, as it
has been 'in development' for many months now.  The company says it
supports employee training, but it doesn't provide much supporting
evidence.

If you are interested, and for a $5 tip, I will paste a first draft of
a proposal to the company below.  I'd be interested in your thoughts
and comments on it.  (I can take constructive criticism of my
writing!)  If you are not interested, please accept my thanks anyway
for a job well done - I'll post a five star rating.

Proposal Requesting Financial Support for (My) Education

(Company)’s employee handbook states:

‘Developing our employees is an essential part of our mission, and
critical to (Company)’s long-term success. (Company) is committed to
providing you with the tools to do your job today and in the future.’
This proposal is to show the relevance of my intended course of study,
a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature, to (Company)’s
long-term success, and to request financial assistance under the
Tuition Reimbursement Plan.
Since (Company) has yet to define a career path for Administrative
Assistants, and since there appears to be almost no information
available on (Company)’s requirements for candidates applying for
specific positions, I am having a difficult time defining a career
path for myself.  My plan is not to have (Company) pay for my degree
and then cut and run, but to use the skills I have learned to benefit
the company.  Two possible moves for me within the company are to an
Executive Assistant or a Human Resources Generalist.  I know that
there are no such positions available at this time, and since
(Company) is understandably unwilling to commit to their being such
positions available when I complete my studies in approximately four
years, I am stranded in a Catch-22 situation: attempting to prove the
relevance of my studies to a particular career path, while the
certainty of that very career path is in no way guaranteed.  I am not
asking (Company) to have a position in the HR department waiting for
me at the end of my studies, but I am asking it to acknowledge that
the skills I gain on an English Literature course will benefit me in
such a position, and as such to provide me with financial assistance.

It has been noted that an English Literature degree will not benefit
me in my current or future jobs at (Company).  I submit that the
skills and abilities one learns as an English major can be generally
applied to any career requiring expertise in the use of language as a
means of communication.  For example:
Speaking
·	Assessing needs of an audience 
·	Influencing and persuading 
·	Entertaining and inspiring 
·	Presenting alternative viewpoints 
·	Clarifying ideas 
·	Making oral presentations 
·	Shaping general ideas into specific points and programs 

Research 
·	Designing/directing projects 
·	Organizing ideas/information 
·	Developing hypotheses 
·	Solving problems 
·	Using information resources 
·	Comparing arguments 

Critical Thinking and Analysis 
·	Summarizing ideas 
·	Comparing information 
·	Using theoretical approaches 
·	Developing critical evaluations 
·	Thinking independently 
·	Synthesizing issues 
·	Applying close reading and interpretation 

Writing 
·	Abstracting information 
·	Interpreting data 
·	Editing 
·	Writing concisely 
·	Writing creatively 
·	Drafting documents 
·	Writing reports 

The highlighted points (note: about 50% of the skills are highlighted
- it doesn't transfer over:-)) indicate skills I already use on a
daily basis in my work as an Administrative Assistant.  Almost all the
remaining skills could be used regularly as my career progresses at
(Company).
 
While special knowledge of specific subject matter is necessary for
certain occupational settings, not all positions require
specialization.  Some employers prefer liberal arts graduates who
possess broad liberal skills such as problem solving, critical
thinking, management and administration, and communication.  These
functional transferable skills combined with specific content
knowledge are most useable and marketable in broad span of
occupational settings.  Indeed, the little information I was able to
discover regarding the requirements for an Executive Assistant-level
candidate were as broad as the skills I am attempting to acquire:
knowledge of the MS Office suite, attention to detail, the ability to
multitask; BA preferred.  Note: no specific BA preferred.  If a
specific degree subject is not required for this position, I fail to
understand how the relevance of any specific course of study could be
called into question as irrelevant to the position.  Lastly, it
contradicts my own interactions with the HR department: before
(Company) had even hired me as a permanent employee, I had a
conversation with (individual in HR dept) about Tuition Reimbursement.
 She gave me the standard information about (Company)’s benefits,
including Tuition Reimbursement for relevant courses of study.  I said
that I don’t have a Bachelors Degree, and asked if the pursuit of such
a degree would be considered ‘relevant’.  She said ‘Oh, yes,
definitely’.

I don’t believe that offering me Tuition Reimbursement requires a real
leap of faith in me.  I have been a reliable temporary employee for a
year.  Within weeks of becoming a permanent employee, I had made an
agreement with another Administrative Assistant in a mentor-mentoree
situation so I might learn from her.  I am actively brainstorming ways
of helping the Administrative Assistants feel part of a cohesive,
company-wide team.  I have participated in Business Objects and WISE
training so I can provide better service to my team.  I am making use
of the internal resources available for my personal development, and I
don’t feel that I’m ‘getting’ more than I’m ‘giving’ to the company. 
I’d be interested to follow up on this with discussions with the HR
department to find out why Tuition Reimbursement is offered to
employees.  Are the reimbursements offered to keep employees happy?
Committed to the company for the long term? Provided in order to raise
the skill level of the workforce?  If I can better understand what
(Company) can get out of my education, I can better tailor it to suit
the company’s needs.

Who knows?  Maybe (Company) could keep me happy, committed to the
company and raise the skill level of the workforce.

---

Clarification of Answer by czh-ga on 14 Aug 2003 12:09 PDT

Hello again statestraveller-ga,

I’m glad to hear that my research was helpful to you. I’ve done some
quick research to give you some additional ideas on how to present
your request for tuition reimbursement to your company. I suggest that
you focus first on the company’s perspective and develop your
arguments to show that your proposal is aligned with the company’s
goals and objectives and how your college degree will benefit the
organization.

Reviewing your proposal is beyond the scope of your original question.
I suggest that you take a look at the materials I’ve collected and do
a revision yourself and then post a new question to ask for a review.
You can direct the new question to me and I’ll be happy to assist you
further.

Good luck on making your case.

czh

http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/wemba/sponsors/sponsored_feature.html
Asking for Sponsorship: Advice from WEMBA Students
Putting together a formal document outlining your reasons for wanting
to go to school can be very useful, especially in a large firm where
approval for sponsorship may come from several layers above you.
***** You can use the ideas presented in this article about how to
convince your boss to sponsor you for an expensive EMBA program to
help you with your proposal to your company on why they should
reimburse you for your BA in English.

http://www.iaap-hq.org/
The International  Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP)
is the world’s largest association for administrative support staff,
with over 600 chapters and 40,000 members and affiliates worldwide.
http://www.iaap-hq.org/researchtrends/research_trends.htm
***** The articles offered here might be helpful for developing your
proposal.

http://www.iaap-hq.org/officepro/OParchive/OCT02_CovStory.pdf
Training Day 
***** This article gives you lots of statistics about the value of
employee development. Be sure to look for additional ideas to help
bolster your proposal in the article archives.

http://www.centeronline.org/knowledge/whitepaper.cfm?ID=642&
A Winning Proposition: Tips on Effective Proposal Writing Writing
Read this article to learn tips and tricks to improve the process of
writing proposals as well as tools and advice that may improve your
business writing overall.  This article will be especially useful for
association professionals engaged in proposal writing, communications,
public relations, grant writing, editing, contract negotiation,
finance, RFP development and administration.

http://www.class.uidaho.edu/adv_tech_wrt/week4/proposal_intro/what_is_a_proposal.htm
Introduction to Proposal Writing (Part 1)
***** This is an excellent outline of a course that should help you
write your proposal.

http://www.class.uidaho.edu/adv_tech_wrt/resources/outlines/proposal_outline.htm
Proposal: General Outline
***** Although this is an outline for writing a business proposal you
should be able to adapt it for writing your proposal for approval of
your course of study.

Thanks for the additional information.

I worked for a number of years as an administrative assistant. While a
good command of the English language was a necessity, I do not think
my degree in English Literature was of any particular use in
performing the duties of this job. I wish I'd taken a degree in a
business-related field.

statestraveller-ga,

Thank you for the tip and the 5 stars. Good luck on convincing your
company to help you pay for your degree.

czh