Communication Department Online Magazine

What's It Like To Be That Major?
Description of each major in the communication field.

Learning in All Seasons: Summer and Winter Terms
Information about summer and winter terms.

Real Life, Right Now: The Alumni Experience
Alumni talk about post-college experiences.

What Class is That?
A detailed description your upcoming classes.

Real Life, Right Now cont'd...
Jeanette Crump's Experience

Jeanette Crump
The Hunt May Be Sparse

A harsh reality in today’s economy is that getting your diploma doesn’t necessarily equal a job in your desired field. The role of college graduate: full time job hunter is one that Whitewater alum Jeanette Crump has gotten to know quite well over the past several months. Jeanette graduated in May 2008 with both an advertising degree and elementary education license. During her years at Whitewater she participated in the Whitewater Advertising Association and earned a cumulative GPA of 3.6. Although Jeanette has a teaching career to fall back on, it is her dream to land a job as an account coordinator at an advertising agency in downtown Milwaukee; and she’s not giving up without a fight. She routinely monitors all of the job boards for available account executive positions, whether it is with an agency or a company. She’s also learned that many advertising jobs aren’t posted on the internet and in some cases not even to the company web site. For that reason Jeanette has also sent out resumes to more than 20 Milwaukee-area ad agencies hoping for some type of response. She received one phone call back and it was simply to thank her for her interest in the company.

Missed Opportunities

Looking back on her time at Whitewater, Jeanette regrets missing some of the opportunities that were available to her as a student. She highly recommends looking at job ads early in your college career to get an idea of what the market is like. This can also give you a leg-up because you can tailor your studies to that of in-demand fields and thus make yourself more employable. She also wishes she would have had professors critique her resume and cover letter to make it as rock solid as possible. Jeanette has an internship while she was in school, but recommends taking on as many interning positions as possible during college. She points out, “Advertising was always known as a competitive field. In this economy, as jobs are being lost, this competition is being magnified!” Internships are a great way to gain experience in different fields and can definitely give you an edge over others competing for the same job. Internships will also help you build for professional network, which can be irreplaceable. Jeanette also wants future college graduates to prepare themselves for how important it is to have a professional network. She encounters many recent grads who proudly admit that they snagged their position through networking. “This is very frustrating for me,” she says, “It wasn’t their resume, GPA, or a well-written cover letter. The saying holds so true: ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.’ It seems unfair, but it is a reality in the job hunt.”