It’s officially 10:08 p.m. I have survived another 8 a.m. day with nothing more than 10 minutes between each class. This evening I have prepared my resume for tomorrow’s career fair, read four journal articles, took one quiz, cried once, and have almost crossed out all the listed items in my agenda (some of them I shifted to tomorrow’s list for the sake of my sanity). Most people would be watching Hulu, out with friends, maybe even asleep by now, but I have learned that sleep is a luxury for graduate students, especially at a tier one communication school such as the S.I Newhouse School of Public Communications.
How does this relate at all to the human resource panel I listened to tonight? Well, let me tell you. Earlier this evening President of ABW Solutions, Donna Renella, moderated a panel of eight women who work within communications and human resources. The panel was a mix of fresh graduates such as Leah Cooper (account associate at W20) and seasoned professionals from a variety of firms like Mindy Gikas (principal at MSG Consulting Group). Of course all of them had great information regarding the hiring process, how to prepare for career fairs and top cities to work in. However, what resonated with me most about the panel was just how human they were.
Panelists shared their advice on balancing work and home life, which is especially relevant to students like me who feel kind of hopeless on these seemingly never-ending days. Multiple women shared that the way they balance it is by focusing on work while at work, which enables them to give their families the attention they deserve after they leave the office. I think that advice is something that students can try to apply to their lives. It’s difficult to compartmentalize your thoughts, but the least we could do is avoid bringing work with us when we hang out with friends on weekend nights.
As a single student out of 1,999 (exactly) that Newhouse holds, I can see clearly that the competition is fierce. I’m an instructional assistant for an upper level ethics course and on the first day of class, the senior students blew me away with the fabulous internships that they already conquered— L'Oreal, Goldman Sachs and other house names were mentioned. Although the underclassmen seem to have their lives together more so than I, Renella spoke so boldly stating “don’t get discouraged from your passion, just find another place to find it.” It reminded me that although communications is a competitive market, I will be OK if I continue to work hard and apply to careers I’m passionate about.
Renella was a gold mine of advice tonight, one of the most impactful things she said was that although the communications market in New York City is the most competitive in the world, “you owe it to yourself to work in New York City.” I don’t want to work in New York, I’m more inclined to go to Boston; however, I agreed. I do owe it to myself. I owe it to myself to sleep, to apply to jobs I want, to move to a cool city, to be successful.
If you’re a college student, you know how hard times can get. However, on the days that you’re sleep deprived, hungry, anxious and scared, always remember that you owe it to yourself to move forward, because you’ve already gotten so far.
This was such a refreshing blog post to read. As a graduate student in the same program, a lot of what you mentioned spoke closely to my experiences. I feel like I definitely missed out on this event, but that kind of ties into your post. We are all doing our best to do what we have to do.
While you were at this event, I was in a little nook in the Bird Library working on homework. Although you mentioned separating work and home life, as a student we are unfortunately bound to the seemingly endless piles of homework.
Another unfortunate thing I am learning is that PR can be a job that doesn't stop when you clock out.…
Absolutely agree with you Maya, being a graduate student in the PR program means you have no life for the next few months of your life. I literally feel burnt out being seeing women like the ones you mention inspires me to keep the torch burning.