But, there is more to it than that. My career goals must live in the shadow of the mission for my life. I have several personal objectives that must be maintained for my career to be successful.

     Thus, my mission is to lead a life that’s centered on God, and His guiding principles of growth, integrity, potential, and trust. I will try to put Him at both the center of my career and my home, while also focusing on family, friends, happiness, and economic stability. I will admire and revere those people I meet who are creative, witty, caring, educated, fun, and trustworthy, and focus on those areas of my own life. I will use my imagination, my creativity, my adaptability, and my intelligence as driving forces in my life. I will acknowledge that I am disorganized and impulsive, and that I tend procrastinate, but I will try to transform these weaknesses into strengths.

     Because I wish to give credit where credit is due, I feel I must point out that this mission statement was developed with the help of FranklinCovey.com. On their website, they have a useful interactive tool to help people construct personal mission statements. The tool is located at http://www.franlincovey.com/missionbuilder/index.html.
 

     Recruitment for most English jobs is done very little at college, since that arena tends to lend itself more to technical vocations (Vogt).  Instead, most writers are drawn in the old-fashioned way, through job postings in local newspapers.  Increasingly, jobs are being posted on Internet-based classifieds, especially for Technical Writers.

     The BLS website says, "[M]ost jobs require a college degree either in the liberal arts—communications, journalism, and English are preferred—or a technical subject for technical writing positions" ("Writers").  Further background knowledge is required dependant upon the subject matter being written, so that, for instance, a person who has had a great deal of experience working with computers is more likely to get a job writing for a computing or technology magazine.

     Competition could be fierce from other graduates of English.  However, the industry is growing too fast for colleges to provide English majors for the new career positions.  Most unemployed writers are out of work either by choice (as freelance writers) or by downsizing.  These latter may provide a greater degree of competition, as they already have experience in the field and can more easily get the more lucrative writing jobs.

     As technology has been increasing, so too have technology based jobs for writers.  Companies dealing in new technologies need technical writers to explain their new products to their prospective customers.  Other companies have branched out their services to include Internet based services which require writers with a background in the language and colloquialisms used on the Internet. 

     Salaries for writers vary greatly depending upon the nature of the job.  Technical writers have the highest median salary, at $47,790, while staff editors have the lowest at $39,370.  However, pay rate can be as low as $20,290 and as high as $81,370 for staff writers, whose pay seems to be mostly based on talent and experience.

Works Consulted
Vogt, Peter. "What Can English Majors Do Besides Teach?" Monster.ca. 27 Apr. 2003 <assessment.monster.ca/articles/english_degree/>.
"Writers and Editors." Bureau of Labor Statistics. 27 Apr. 2003 <www.bls.gov/oco/ocos089.htm>.

Place
     If I am living in Tulsa, I would expect to make $42,000 a year. In Los Angeles, I would expect $70,000 a year as is appropriate to the higher cost of living. In Seattle, $48,000

Product
     I will have a Bachelor's Degree in English with a GPA at graduation of approximately 3.8. I will continue to advance in my studies of the English Language by working towards a Master's, and later a Doctorate.

Promotion
     My sincerest hope will be that my freelance writing will promote itself, but I do not intend to rest on my laurels.  I will actively pursue a career through my résumé and my cover letter distributed to many firms seeking writers through job placement programs and Internet websites.