|
|
|
|
Photo courtesy of Career Planning and Placement
“Make good relationships with people, but don’t let someone waste your talent and time,” said Jim DeRogatis (far left, in front of room) during the journalism and writing panel.
|
Making and keeping contacts the key, say alumni |
by Billy O'Keefe
Editor-in-Chief/New Media Editor |
A Saturday morning, in the heart of the semester break. By all accounts, the Hokin Center should have been completely deserted.
“So many eager faces, on a Saturday morning too,” remarked Executive Vice President Bert Gall. “Obviously, the students get the message.”
That message? Two simple words: You’re next.
Presented by Columbia’s Career Planning and Placement Department, the ninth annual Student/Alumni Career Conference gave nearly 100 current students a chance to rub elbows with and pick the brains of some of Columbia’s working alumni.
Nine separate departments, ranging from radio to management to performing arts, hosted intimate panels in which students and alumni could debunk myths, share tips and quell—or amplify—common fears about getting a job and holding on to it.
The panels were followed by a keynote address in the Hokin Annex by author and Chicago Sun-Times Pop Music Critic Jim DeRogatis.
Despite the different demands of each field of study, a universal lesson emerged: Getting the job of your dreams is about making an effort to create ties with the right people—and making an even bigger effort to keep those ties strong.
Sarah Willingham, a former journalism student who graduated from Columbia in 1998, said that while looking for a good job can indeed be a process, the ideal opportunity might be right under your nose, as her tryout assignment at Pioneer Press, a large chain of suburban newspapers, illustrated.
“I basically had my clips from the school paper and the story of how I got a quote from Michael Jordan in the Bulls’ locker room once to go on,” Willingham said. “Suddenly, I was being asked to cover high school football games. I had to learn as I was going along.”
Today, Willingham covers high school sports full time at Pioneer Press and says that she loves her work.
“It was basically about touching base with the right people,” she added. “It didn’t matter that I didn’t have a ton of experience covering high school football games. They knew me and my work, and liked me enough to teach me the ropes.”
DeRogatis, who is in his second stint at the Sun-Times after an abbreviated stay at Rolling Stone, says you can plan all you want for the future, but getting the right job requires some improvisation and a lot of risk.
“I basically stumbled into almost every job I’ve ever had,” said DeRogatis, who has made a home on two separate occasions in New York, Minnesota, and Chicago. “The only time I actually moved with a job in tow was when I went to Rolling Stone, and look how that turned out.”
DeRogatis was fired from Rolling Stone in 1996 for comments he made after publisher Jann S. Wenner yanked his negative review of Hootie and the Blowfish’s second album and replaced it with a positive one. DeRogatis told the press that “that son of a bitch would give any band that sells 13 million records a positive review.”
Naturally, DeRogatis doesn’t recommend Columbia students necessarily follow his behavior in that respect. But he does urge students to occasionally follow their heart in addition to their conscience.
“Make good relationships with people, but don’t let someone waste your talent and time. If your boss’ competitor is offering you an opportunity that your boss won’t give you, don’t just dismiss it because you’ll lose a contact in the business. Take a risk.”
DeRogatis, who is not a Columbia graduate, said that he enjoys speaking at Columbia nonetheless, and notes the students’ enthusiasm as a major reason.
“I go to speak at DePaul and Northwestern, and they just sit there, writing everything I say into their notebooks,” he told the crowd during his keynote. “I’d tell them that they shouldn’t just write everything down as I say it, and they’d then write that down and still not say anything.
“Columbia students, however, ask questions. You guys look alive out there.”
Jeryl Levin, director of alumni relations and a 1985 graduate of Columbia’s fiction writing program, encouraged students to join The Alumni Network, which gives students additional opportunities to meet and learn from former Columbia students in the working world. Additionally, students can attend career workshops and conferences and receive discounts on continuing education opportunities and at participating museums, retailers and restaurants.
Students can receive more information on the Alumni Network by contacting the Office of Alumni Relations at (312) 344-7472, or by e-mailing Levin at jlevin@popmail.colum.edu.
|
|
|
