As graduating seniors face the reality of entering into an uncertain job market, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) and the Office of Alumni Relations recently hosted several virtual panels of alumni, offering advice to SBS students.
On Thursday afternoon, April 23, the SBS career and professional development team welcomed four journalism and communication alumni: Dan Lamothe ’04, staff writer for the Washington Post; Victoria Graves-Carillo ’00 ’02MPA, communications manager for the Harvard Kennedy School's Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government; Karyn Martin ’01, founder and chief strategy officer of Golden Thread Agency; and Dave Erickson '93, writer and producer for Paramount Studios, co-creator of Fear the Walking Dead.
Each panelist shared lessons on how to break into specialized and exclusive fields, and how to continuously improve in order to achieve sometimes seemingly impossible goals.
“Solicit criticism from as many people you can from people whose work you value,” said Lamothe. “Seek mentors.”
“UMass made me understand there are a lot of options and opportunities and I could take advantage of them later on,” said Graves-Carillo.
“Bring something to the table, more than just your resume,” said Martin. “Find a mentor. Just write; just sit down and do it.”
“I took the right class with the right teacher,” said Erikson. “It was sort of like a fine tuner for me. I wrote a lot of TV movies that I wouldn’t wish on anybody. But all of my key moments came from being at UMass specifically.”
That evening on April 23, the Office of Alumni Relations held its own panel, featuring: Michael Balbanov ’08, SVP of sales, North America at Guardian News and Media; Samm Smith ’08, associate editor of digital content at UMass Amherst; and Gregory Walters, Jr. ’09, program manager at FluentStream.
Panelists shared their experiences graduating in 2008 into a significant recession, and how they adapted and succeeded in spite of a bleak market.
“I got a sense of humility,” said Smith, “and I became a lot more malleable in what I was looking for and much more willing to keep an open mind in what I was looking for in a job after that.”
“It’s not about finding the perfect job or any job, it’s finding a job where there’s parts of it you like,” said Balbanov. “It’s kind of about finding the right fit for a number of things for you.”
“Getting a mentor, that’s the best thing you can do to help guide you,” said Walters.
The following day, the SBS career and professional development team hosted a second panel.
Paul Hohenberger ’87, principal gifts officer for The Pew Charitable Trusts, was joined by several undergraduates interested in communications, policy and development. He let students know to expect small bumps and setbacks in their careers.
“Sometimes the job you didn’t get is a great thing,” said Hohenberger.
And on April 30, Alumni Relations held a second panel featuring Shaneka Davis ’09, Stuart J. Novick Legal Fellow at the Office of the General Counsel at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Davis, and her fellow panelists gave attendees a look at alternative paths worth considering after graduation instead of joining the workforce, such as graduate school, the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps or national service.