Kirkus taught history and English at a [[private school]] from 1917 to 1919 before leaving Delaware for New York in the 1920s. In New York, Kirkus was an assistant editor for ''[[Pictorial Review]]'''s fashion department and an editor for ''[[McCall's]]''.<ref name=nasso/><ref name=brittanica/> Kirkus moved to [[Harper & Brothers]] in 1925 and led the publisher's children's books section.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Kirkus, Virginia |encyclopedia=Webster's dictionary of American women |year=1996 |publisher=Merriam-Webster Inc. |location=New York |page=340 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_0765197936/page/340 |isbn=0765197936}}</ref> When Harper & Brothers closed the children's department in 1932, Kirkus declined another job with the publisher and left the company.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Candee |editor-first=Majorie Dent |title=Kirkus, Virginia |encyclopedia=Current biography 1954 |year=1954 |publisher=H.W. Wilson Company |location=New York |page=382 |url=https://archive.org/details/currentbiography1954thom/page/382 |lccn=40-27432}}</ref>
While returning from a trip to Europe in 1932, Kirkus came up with the idea of creating brief reviews on upcoming books for bookshops. The following year, Kirkus created the Kirkus Bookshop Service in 1933 as president and held the position of president until 1962.<ref name=pennsylvania>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Glick, Virginia Kirkus |encyclopedia=Pennsylvania Biographical Dictionary |year=1999 |publisher=Somerset Publishers |location=St Clair Shores, Michigan |pages=468-469 |edition=Third |volume=1 |url=https://books.google.ca/books?id=0HqhGvQF4CQC&lpg=PA468 |isbn=0403099501}}</ref> After she had left the company in 1962, Kirkus's service was renamed multiple times before becoming ''[[Kirkus Reviews]]'' in 1969.<ref name=kirkusreviews>{{cite web |title=Our History |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/about/history/ |website=Kirkus Reviews |accessdate=4 November 2019}}</ref> During her career, Kirkus had reviewed sixteen thousand books during the three decades with her bookshop service.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Jackson |editor-first=Kenneth T. |editor2-last=Maroke |editor2-first=Karen E. |editor3-last=Maroke |editor3-first=Arnold |title=Kirkus, Virginia |encyclopedia=Dictionary of American biography |edition=Supplement Ten |year=1995 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |location=New York |page=418 |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer00jack/page/418 |isbn=068419399X}}</ref> Apart from book reviews, Kirkus published a book about health in 1922 and edited two children's books in the 1930s.<ref>Candee 1954, pp. 382-383</ref> Later on, Kirkus released a book about home renovation in 1940 and a gardening book in 1956.<ref name=brittanica/>
