Category: Career

Thank you to the panelists, and everyone who came out! The Dress for Success Fashion Show begins in just 10 minutes in the Warwick Ballroom… see you there!

How do you maintain professionalism at social events?

Consensus: There’s a time for work and there’s a time for play.

Panelists on goals they haven’t reached yet:

Ashlie: It’s about staying hungry.

Networking session to come! Stay tuned for pictures!

Is Spanish seeping into the market place?

Consensus: YES! It may be required for some positions soon!

What kind of technology and computer programs do you use in the workplace?

Excel, web design, coding.Do whatever you can with a computer, every job that you take you will think I never thought I would be doing this!

What was the transition like between graduating and getting on a career path?

Ryan: I was lucky because I had an internship. Your life after graduation begins before you graduate. Have a couple different plans, and hopefully one of them will work out.

Sarah: Maintaining the relationships you make at school will help, using any kind of network that you can.

Ryan: Use your opportunities to better yourself. Ask what you can do. Make sure your employer just knows that you’re a good employee.

Ashlyn: You’re going to have to do things you don’t want to do. You’re not going to start out making the money you want to make, I’m still not making the kind of money I want to make.

Ashlie: (The career path) sounds really glitzy and glamorous, but it’s not.

Eric: Take the upper level classes, that is where you get more meat and more substance. I use what I learned in Public Relations everyday, you never know what you will pick up!

How did you go about finding internships? How helpful did you find them?

Sarah: I highly recommend reaching out to Joe Browning. I hounded him about interning for him. I arranged my schedule so I could work for him. I showed him my writing and I was like I will be here in the fall whether you like it or not.

Consensus: Internships are worth it, pursue them and be persistent!

How do you balance family life and professional life?

Ashlie: I have a four year old and a two year old. I work full time and so does my husband. You just figure out a way to make it work. I have a huge support system around me.

Ryan: I definitely agree that you have to have a support system. Without my mom, I don’t know what we would do. You make it work, if something happens you make the best of it.

Ashlyn: I don’t even have time to date. I’ve just been so focused on my career, it hasn’t bothered me.

Group consensus: Flexibility and balance are key!

Looking back, would you still have taken the time off before entering graduate school or entered straight after undergraduate school?

Panelist consensus: The time off helps to prepare you for the work load. Too much time off makes it harder to get back into the swing of the school schedule.

What was something that you did that got you in the door or really impressed your supervisor?

Ashlyn: Personality, confidence, and knowing what you want to do. They want somebody that wants the job and can get the job the done. You have to be 150 percent I think.

Ashlie: Express that you know their company, stalk them online.

Eric: One of the weirdest interviews I had was a graduate school interview, when they asked me what questions I had and they wanted to base the interview of that. That is something to be prepared for.

Group Consensus: NETWORK! NETWORK! NETWORK!

Panel one has officially kicked off! The panelists are: Sarah Briney, Ashlyn Burke, Ashlie Lanning, Ryan Koresko, and Eric Sneeden.  A huge thank you to the panelists for coming back to share their knowledge!

So far Ms. Chin and Dr. Weber have gotten the first shout outs! Ashlyn Burke reminded us of Dr. Weber’s warning that most COM majors don’t have jobs that work 9 to 5 shifts. Sarah Briney credited Ms. Chin for the helpful knowledge she gained in Public Relations to Ms. Chin’s classes.

Were any of you totally sure of what you wanted to do?

Ashlyn Burke: I expect my career not to be boring, but I’m still not sure I want to do.

Sarah Briney: I never thought I would be working in market research. Went back to school for teaching and realized that wasn’t for me either.

Ryan Koresko: I’m still doing a similar job to what I thought I would, I think you just have to be focused but have some breathing room so that if something else comes you could go in that direction to.

How has social media changed your career?

Ashlie Lanning: Well it is my career. It means I’m always on. There’s definitely a shift towards “Real Time Marketing.”

Ashlyn Burke: Make sure that there’s nothing on social media that can harm your career. I can not tell you the impact it has.

Ryan Koresko: It’s just not acceptable to wait anymore, from a news perspective. You have to get the information out as it is happening.