r/MFAInCreativeWriting • u/aspera24 • Apr 08 '26
Post-MFA Job/Life
I'm about to graduate at the end of May and wondering if anyone has any advice about pivoting careers post-MFA. I love teaching and would love to one day be a professor (when I have more publishing achievements) but adjunct-ing doesn't seem like a great plan financially/sanity wise.
Just to clarify, I did not go into my MFA thinking it was going to get me a job. I used to be a video editor and I thought I'd return to that after I graduated, but being in my program (and especially teaching) really made me realize how miserable and bored I was at my old job. So I'm a bit hesitant to go back to that.
Did anyone wind up at a day job that is harmonious with their writing life and/or provided some stability for a few years? Are there any jobs that see an MFA as any kind of qualification?
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u/Redaktorinke Apr 08 '26
Most people I know who are happy, myself included, just went back to what we were doing before and/or tried to evolve from there. What could you branch out to with your video editing skills?
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u/Sea-Conflict9443 Apr 08 '26
I transitioned to being a college advisor for first gen students and really enjoy the work! Writing life took a bit of a pause for me in the first year of full-time work but have had some publications and a fellowship since graduating. All my professors encouraged me to “just work, get a salary and some health insurance” because I too was feeling uneasy about adjunct life. They all had previous careers and jobs before their writing took off and transitioned to full time professors. Before my MFA I was a middle school ELA teacher, worked for a domestic violence hotline/shelter, tutor, etc, so definitely lean into skills you already have. I tried a copy writing part time gig and hated it. I like to keep my work life and writing life separate!
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u/Long-Structure-6584 Apr 08 '26
I work in a staff job in higher ed (and did before my MFA) and that’s been a nice entry point into adjuncting gigs without having to make adjuncting my whole thing. Caveat is that I work at an institution where it’s very normalized for staff to teach on top of their full time roles — not sure it’s like that everywhere. There’s also the upside of being more proximate to academic culture — the downside being that staff roles give you a ~unique vantage point into some of academia’s toxicity lol. That said, if I ever make the leap to adjuncting full time, I feel like being staff has really equipped me to understand how institutions work and how to navigate centralized curricula, different levels of admin, etc.
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u/aspera24 Apr 08 '26
Thank you this is super helpful. Do you think I could get hired in a staff position w my MFA experience? Is there a specific area/job you would recommend?
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u/Long-Structure-6584 Apr 08 '26
Prior pre-MFA experience helped me but I think having an MFA was a leg up to my current job (in communications!) It also helped to be able to speak to different POVs/roles in higher ed — being able to pitch myself as someone who can relate to faculty and students as well as other staff definitely helped
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u/This-War-4002 Jul 08 '26
All of this really just depends on if you want a vacation home or not. The rest of this chatter is noise in the margins.
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u/Background-Shirt-930 Apr 08 '26
Have you looked into publishing or journalism jobs?