by Carey Spence
I’m back again with another alumni spotlight, this time featuring Hannah Silvers, an Elon 2017 graduate. As our Professional Writing and Rhetoric professors love to say, PWR prepares students for jobs in every field. And Hannah Silvers proves this is true. After graduation, during the job search, Hannah said that she was applying to entry level writing jobs. After being hired by a marketing agency for a software company for one of those jobs, Hannah didn’t anticipate the next step in her career.
After six months with the agency, she was approached by the software company for a different kind of position. Now, Hannah works in business-to-business sales for the software company as part of the lead marketing initiative. But make no mistake, her skills from the Professional Writing and Rhetoric program are still essential.
One of the main aspects of Hannah’s job is to communicate with other software companies. She works with them to figure out how much each company is going to sell its products for. She also says that she writes all day. From emails, to contracts, proposals, and other forms of writing no one anticipates, her writing skills are essential. Hannah says that rhetoric plays an important role in her writing. For example, she is currently working on a partnership with another company and is emailing both the CEO and an employee on the technical side of the company. When she emails both people, she talks to them in different ways, focusing on either the technical or marketing aspect to effectively reach her audience.
Hannah also offered some advice for current PWR students. She never would have thought she would end up in B2B sales, but she loves her job. For that reason, she recommends not limiting yourself to writing-centric jobs. Find something you are passionate about, and use your skills you learned in PWR to get it!
Carey Spence is the 2018-2019 social media intern for Professional Writing & Rhetoric. Carey is double majoring in English Literature and Strategic Communications, with a minor in Professional Writing.
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