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Many college students find themselves wondering where they will take their degree after they graduate; finding a career that you enjoy can feel difficult. Class of 1996 Elizabethtown College graduate Alison Labbate can certainly relate to those concerns.

Labbate graduated with an English literature degree. When she was in college, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do with her degree, but her experiences at Etown helped her find a career path.

In particular, her work as a research assistant for former associate professor of English Dr. Maria Frawley on her book “Anne Brontë” led her to her current career.

“I was checking resources, proofreading, line editing and I loved working on that,” Labbate said. “I loved working on that so much, so when the internship came up, I took it.”

When she was a senior, she applied for a paid internship with a trade magazine through the English Honor Society, Sigma Tau Delta. After graduation, the internship turned into a job working with academic publishing, the field she has remained in since.

She currently works as senior director for John Wiley & Sons, Inc., also known as Wiley, the company behind the “Dummies” educational book series. They also publish a variety of peer-reviewed research journals, which is the side Labbate works on.

Her job involves managing, developing and growing a number of different journals. Prior to her position as senior director, she worked as editorial director for the U.S. Health Sciences Society Management team.

“The sheer variety of what we must think about and respond to from our market is exhilarating,” Labbate wrote in a newsletter interview with Wiley. “While I prefer straightforward answers and solutions — the black and white, if you like — I live in a world of gray, and that is a fun challenge. I’m also constantly inspired by the people in my life. The individuals I regularly work with at Wiley are talented, smart and hard-working — they care deeply about what we do, and I learn from them every day.”

While she was at Etown, Labbate was also involved in Student Senate, played intramural tennis and studied abroad for a semester in France.

“This will sound so nerdy, but I love the library and I love studying,” Labbate said in response to what her fondest memories at Etown were. “I worked in the library, and afterwards a friend and I had a radio show.”

She also mentioned that professor of English Dr. Louis Martin helped her appreciate and fall in love with the work of Charles Dickens.

Labbate emphasized the importance of the humanities and strong communication skills, noting that those are things that become important when she is hiring people.

In her experience, she has found that when it comes to communication, she “doesn’t need to worry” about people who have experience in the humanities.

“I need everyone on my team to be able to communicate well,” she said. “If you can’t communicate, you can get stuck.”

Her advice for current students is to try to get experience working in an office, whether that is getting a job on- or off-campus, or doing an internship. Having experience in business situations prior to graduation can help with the transition to working, both in terms of the pace of work required and standards of behavior.

“It’s really valuable, because college is so different from the corporate world,” Labbate said. “Also, I love people who come into my office and have ideas and contribute. They tend to rise up the ranks, and that goes for any field or workplace.”

Labbate said that if students wished to reach out to her for career advice, they should feel free to contact her at alison.labbate@gmail.com.