The semester’s professional in residence speeches came to a close Monday evening with the Alumni Career Panel. For professionals, all of which have studied in the Ball State journalism program. They discussed both their careers, and how they got there after graduation.
First on the panel was Tom Demeropolis from the Dayton Business Journal. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati and is currently working on his masters at Ball State.
He got to his job because of an internship. After his internship, he continued on as a freelance journalist through his senior year of college. Later on a job opened up with the paper he interned with and he was notified and received the position with the Dayton Business Journal.
Also on the Panel was Susan Westick, Marketing Project Coordinator at Vera Bradley in Fort Wayne. Westick graduated from Ball State with a bachelor’s degree in advertising and a minor in marketing.
She started off as the marketing director at Home Builder in Fort Wayne. She was the entire marketing department of that company. She felt it was a lot to take on right out of college. She thought that she had all the experience that she needed, but it was not quite the case.
She left there voluntarily and went on to an ad agency in Fort Wayne, where Vera Bradley was one of her clients. Working for Vera Bradley was her dream job when she was getting ready to graduate.
“I applied there several times with no luck,” Westick said. Experience at the agency helped her build relationships that got her in the door.
Third was Sarah Swan, Public Affairs Specialist from the National Museum of the US Air Force. She received a bachelor’s degree from Ball State in magazine journalism and later returned to complete her master’s.
“I actually got my position at the museum through a class assignment for one of my classes for the graduate program,” Swan said.
She had a part time job at the academy of model aeronautics. Someone she worked with suggested that she interview the public relations department for a project. She went to interview them and they had an opening, so swan joined the staff as a coop student. She would finish her master’s degree while working there.
“A class assignment paid off,” Swan said.
The final member of the panel was Daniel Cooper, former senior designer Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Cooper is at Ball State pursuing his master’s in digital storytelling.
Got his job at the Star-Telegram though a contact he had made during his post-grad internship at the New York Star-Ledger.
All of the panelists seem to believe and confirm through their actions that what they did in school was a large part of what got them the job at the end of the day.
“It really goes beyond what you do in the classroom in Journalism,” Demeropolis said. “You have to have real world experience and internships are obviously the best way to do that.”
He finds that they’re the best way to get your foot in the door. Maybe not necessarily at the papers you work for during your internships, but with the editors and reporters there. Demeropolis said it was a way to really start to build the network and contacts necessary for when it came time to find a job.
The panel also spoke on their opinions over starting into a Graduate program immediately after undergraduate studies. The consensus seemed to be that working in the real world was necessary to really make the experience worthwhile.
“I would recommend getting some work experience before you pursue a master’s degree. I think you would bring more to your graduate program if you wait,” said Cooper.
The Panel had one other big focus while speaking to students. They spoke about the differences between working at larger companies and smaller companies.
The panel said that working at a larger company gives you a much more structured job. The things that you have to do at larger firms are more spelled out. Workers know what is expected of them.
They said that smaller companies on the other hand offer a lot more diversity in the career path. At a smaller company the jobs that you do may vary from day to day.
Students left the panel with a lot of information on what they can expect while searching for a job after graduation. One big piece of advice was to be sure and network. Make a good name for yourself. There was also one final suggestion students were left with.
“Don’t text during your internship,” Swan said. Swan pointed out that even though an internship may only be temporary, the impression you make is important for the future.
