This is my fourth year of participation in Professional Discovery Week. I’ve been eager to learn as much about the real world as possible while at Elon, and I highly encourage other students to go to these events. This year I began PDW by attending “Careers with Communications Alumni.” Featuring a panel of four recent alumns, including Lindsey Porter (2005), Scott Adams (2007), Alex Chrictmen (2008), and Kathryn McWade (2007), the session held in McEwen 011 was over filled. The highlight of the event was this video of Larry King talking directly to Elon students. As expected, all of the alumns were involved in extra curriculars and internships while students here and usually got their jobs through networking. Scott Adams volunteered in Kenya the summer after he graduated, and he used this as a major benefit when interviewing for jobs. International service work is something that also interests me, and perhaps I can volunteer in another country in the future. Kathryn McWade is Larry King’s research assistant. She goes to his house almost everyday and debriefs him on the interviews. That seems like a pretty impressive job, being face-t0-face on a daily basis with such a well known face in journalism.
Although I attended Elon at the same time with three of the alumni, they all seemed very different from a college student. I wonder how long it took them to distance themselves from the “college look.” Apparently, not too long — Alex Chrictmen graduated in 2008. I’m not wanting to change who I am or anything, but I am eager to shake of the apprehensiveness and uncertainty of the future and be more like them.
I also attended “Getting The Job You Want,” featuring Elon alumn Kristi Kienzle and Andrew DiDomenico, a hiring manager at Talecris Inc. In this session students learned about the process that occurs at the other end of the table. What are employers looking for in candidates? What are they attracted to? Why do they ask the kinds of questions they ask?
The speakers were very strong advocates of using objectives in resumes, something I’m personally against. Despite our differences, I did observe a few new things and am glad I went. Kristi Kienzle began the session by quizzing us on Elon knowledge. I wasn’t sure what sports division we were in, but if anyone ever needs to know I can tell them it’s NCAA Division 1. I can imagine how stupid one would look if an interviewer, trying to warm up to me, asked me that question and I didn’t know the answer. I also learned that any employer is looking for three types of skills: technical, functional, and personal/adaptive. I think too often people are so concerned with staying current with technical skills that they might forget to hone in on the other important skills. It’s important to be well rounded in order to get the job you want.
