Thursday, February 6, 2014 in the Butler Reception room, the event “The Communications First Jobs Panel” will be held.
Three communications professionals located in the Chicagoland area will be presenting at this event. Those professionals are Carrie Williams, Editor of Today’s Chicago Woman magazine; Chuck Floramo, Video Editor from the Oprah Winfrey Network and the Oprah Winfrey Show; and, James VanOsdol, former DJ at Q101 and current podcaster on the Steve Dahl Network.
During the event students will be able to ask these current professionals any questions they may have regarding their personal careers as well as the communications industry in general. Each of the presenters will be able to share stories with students about working their particular fields of communications.
Peter Kreten, M.Ed., the Director of Student Media, explained how the idea for this event came about. “During the fall semester, I was approached by a few Communications students, about how to obtain their first job in the Communications industry. I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to approach Career Services and the Communications Department about hosting an event where the Communications students would be able to ask current industry professionals and see what they thought. Both organizations thought it was a great idea, and we began planning.”
Not only are all three of these professionals based here in Chicago for their careers, but they all received their educations in the study of communications here in Chicago as well. Both Carrie Williams and Chuck Floramo are alumni of Saint Xavier University and James VanOsdol is an alumnus of Columbia College.
Hopefully, attending this event will help students begin to organize their portfolios, as well as learn the best way to prepare for their first job interviews in the communications field.
Sophomore Communications major Daneesha Tillman stated when she heard about the event that, “I feel like that’s a great variety and experience for communication majors. It’s important to be able to have these opportunities to network for potential careers and jobs. I’m looking forward to this event.”
All Communications students are strongly urged to attend this event. Not only does it give them a chance to meet with current professionals, but they can also begin the networking process, which is becoming even more important for people when they are trying to obtain a job.
Catlyn Hicks
Senior News Editor