Communication students network at annual Career Panel and Fair

Following their passions, taking care of themselves, and not being scared to change jobs or career trajectories are just some of the tips School of Communication (SOC) students picked up from East Carolina University alumni during the school’s annual career panel.

The SOC holds a career panel and fair each winter to help communication students learn, network, and submit their resumes for potential internship and job opportunities. About 20 ECU departments and outside companies

Sharing their experience and wisdom with students this year during the Feb. 10 career panel were:

• Zac Giffin ’23 (MA in Health Communication), senior marketing and sales manager for global research organization Rho
• Nina Rose ’10 (BS Communication, double concentrations in public relations and journalism), president of Rose Sales Inc.
• James “J.L.” Summers III ’13 (BS Communication, mass communication/media students), social media coordinator for N.C. Department of Revenue

Rose and Summers especially shared their internship journey while undergraduates, and all three alumni shared journeys through different jobs before reaching their current roles. Summers noted he even has two side jobs, and encouraged students to be willing to learn different skills.

“Being willing to learn will take you places,” he said. “Get really comfortable with Adobe Creative Suite; you need to know how to edit videos, edit sound, graphic design, all of that. Make a stellar reel, or portfolio,  It’s going to set you apart from people, because (others) are still using Word documents; they’re still using PowerPoint.”

Giffin said another skill students should work on is writing, especially as artificial intelligence technology continues to advance.

“Be open to feedback from your professors,” he said. “Rely on your own skills. Be open to building those skills.”

Rose added to be flexible, and to push now for opportunities the students want to experience, like study abroad. She said her seven internships was “not normal,” but to find those opportunities that students will put the most of themselves into.

“And not in an aggressive way at all, but in a way where you’re showing you’re curious; you’re showing you’re interested,” she said. “That’s actually rare.”

Giffin told students that a lot if hard work, even less glamorous tasks, can be a good experience, and Rose and Summers agreed when he told students not to be intimidated bu challenges.

“Everybody puts their pants on the same way that you do,” Giffin said. “Don’t let that be a deterrent or make you feel like you don’t belong in that room, because you do, and you have contributions to make.”

One student in the audience asked the guests about negative situations in their lives that helped set them up for their current careers. Summers cited being a black man and facing discrimination “every day.” He said it makes him work harder, and plans to pursue a doctoral degree.

“I want to educate the next generation of storytellers, to let them know that people who look like me don’t have to be athletes or entertainers, or any other box that they want to put us in,” he said. “Don’t let those discriminations and those tough times deter you from who you are as a professional because your voice matters.”

Rose shared challenges as a petite woman who “sounds younger than I am,” and said she has used those features as “ammo to keep going.” She reminded students to keep proving they are kind, and that they care.

As a self-described, straight-presenting white man, Giffin said he has not faced workplace discrimination, though the atmosphere sometimes changes when it comes up that he is gay. Nonetheless, he said he tries to use his position to stand up for others in the workplace who might not share his experience.

“Use your platform to uplift others around you,” he said.

Down the Main Campus Student Center hallway, after the panel, students mingled, handed out resumes, and conversed with companies like Greenville Utilities and local media outlets. One student said it helped to hear during the panel that you don’t have to stay in a job forever, especially when a new opportunity presents itself.

Kristina Meadows, a junior in her first year at ECU, said she came into the career fair ready to be open to possibilities for her next move after graduation, after feeling behind.

“That’s where the best connections come from,” she said.