Jobs

The Paul & Louise Miller Distinguished Professor and the School of Print Media presented Virgil Smith on October 27^th, discussing “Finding News Media Jobs When the Future of Media is Unknown.” Smith is the VP of Talent Management at Gannett Co., Inc—responsible for employee acquisition, leadership development, and leadership and diversity initiatives.

With today’s economy, any college student is worried about job placement after graduation. Smith discussed the concern about the future within the media industry and shared ideas on how to prepare for entering the workforce. He recommends creating a website to talk about yourself and show who you are as an individual. Also, it is one location where you can showcase your work (photographs, print media, design pieces) and supply your resume and references. Today, many employers want to have all information readily available and easy to find.

Smith stressed being able to learn new skills throughout your career to stay on top of the trends. This allows you to “develop new muscles.” In addition, Smith highlighted the fact that knowledge is a plus, but people skills, problem solving, and analytical thinking are top skills employers are seeking in candidates.

Some tips Smith introduced for managing your career include:

1. Take responsibility for building your career. It is your responsibility; develop a vision for yourself.
2. Define career satisfaction for yourself. Know yourself and identify what gives you personal and professional satisfaction.
3. Determine what you are good at and where you need development. Then develop a plan to improve your knowledge and skill level to ensure you are competitive for the career opportunity you want. Keep your resume updated.
4. Build your own brand. Determine what you want to be known for, professionally and personally.
5. Track your accomplishments.
6. Build relationships.
7. Know your value in the organization.

It is important for you to continuously work on your skill set. As Smith stated, “You have to embrace change and be willing to do things differently.” To be successful in today’s industry you must know yourself, but be willing to expand into different mediums.

To look for jobs within the Gannett Corporation visit http://www.gannett.com/career/.

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Left to right: Steve Matteson (Ascender Corporation), Tom Rickner (Ascender Corporation), Michelle Perham (Microsoft), Chuck Bigelow (RIT)

On October 28th, 2009 a panel of typographic experts gathered to impart the wisdom they have gathered over years in the typography industry.

Led by Charles Bigelow, typography professor in the School of Print Media and a co-creator of the Lucida fonts, the panel discussed the paths their careers followed leading them to the high-ranking typography positions in which they currently reside.

All three of the panel members attended RIT and graduated from the School of Print Media. Steve Matteson and Tom Rickner currently operate Ascender Corporation as Type Design Diriector and Type Designer and Font Producer respectively. Ascender Corporation has been contracted by major corporations like Google, Microsoft, Apple and designed the typefaces used in the Microsoft Zune player as well as the Android G2 Google phone.

Michelle Perham currently works for Microsoft Typography Group as a project manager and oversees international type design for all Microsoft products including the recent Windows 7. Her group currently has over 250 different fonts with more foreign fonts than latin fonts. According to Perham, less than 10% of world computers running Microsoft are using latin fonts.

The panel discussion covered a wide range of typographic topics including the increase in display fonts and the decrease in newspapers. According to Charles Bigelow, as the display technology and “hinting” of fonts become more refined, people are more comfortable reading off of a display. There is a linear relationship between this refinement and the demise of the newspaper industry.

A major focus of this panel discussion was job opportunities in the world of typography and design. The panel all seemed to agree that you have to follow the aspect of your education that held your attention the most no matter if it was your core focus of study. Chuck Bigelow has a degree in Anthropology and Michelle Perham has a degree in Photography, both took a type class and have based their careers around this particular facet of their education.

In addition to following your passion, the panelists from Ascender discussed the importance of hand drawing and the ability to have a strong grasp on the tools needed for type design before considering entering the field. A strong understanding of type was stressed as well as the need to practice with font revivals before attempting to put a person’s own work onto the screen.

If one thing was clear in this discussion it is that type is in high demand.

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Mike Morisco, a fourth year New Media Publishing student in the School of Print Media just returned from a co-op at Modono Glass based in Chili, NY. Modono Glass, formerly a part of Bausch and Lomb, was looking to expanding their dichroic tile collection into a giftware collection including clocks, mirrors, picture frames, and more. Mike had quite a bit to say about his experience with Modono Glass:

“When I was hired, it was under the umbrella title of ‘designer’ with a very vague description of what that would entail. I was under the impression I was going to be doing some collateral for the company as well as designing and coding their website. I very quickly came to know that this was not going to be the case. By the end of the first week, I was given an assignment to design a set of clocks from top to bottom for the new giftware collection.

Being the only member of the company that had design experience, I was put in charge of nearly everything that we were going to produce. I was the final say on what patterns and colors we were going to use for the different demo products and deciding what patterns and color to offer as a whole for the collection.

In addition to make major design decisions, I was also the one in charge of finding a place to produce the different products we were offering as well as any collateral we needed. I was surprised as to how much RIT’s resources came in handy for recommendations and in some cases production. The knowledge-base of the RIT faculty to point me in the right direction allowed me to make decisions for the company that I knew would be trustworthy.

Being essentially the creative designer for the entire company was a role that I was not expecting, but was one that I greatly enjoyed. One downside to this job that I thought was going to be the best part of it was the need to work from home. Working 5 feet from your bed is not the easiest way to get work done and is not the best way to expand your professional network. My recommendation to other co-op students is to avoid work from home jobs in order to get a real feel for the work world.”

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This past week three alumni, Adam Peck ‘06, Matt Swain ‘07, and Bryan Yeager ‘08, shared their experience working at InfoTrends, Inc. with the School of Print Media. InfoTrends is a corporation that specializes in market research and consulting with digital imaging. Both Swain and Yeager work at InfoTrends as Senior Research Analysts; Peck is a consultant for the company. “As an industry analyst/consultant you have the opportunity to keep in touch with every hardware and software vendor in the industry and learn from several different perspectives. The number of people you get to meet and network with is invaluable,” Peck stated about his position.

Their presentation covered several aspects ranging from their career to the company while also discussing the industry. However, the alumni reflected mostly on their time here at RIT and shared their knowledge of how students can prepare for entering the workforce. They encouraged students to get involved with not just the SPM activities, but also outside activities that go on at our campus, saying this was the best way to prepare for employment.

All three agreed that connecting among your peers provides an opportunity for personal growth and develops your intrapersonal skills; Yeager was the President of Technical Association of the Graphic Arts (TAGA), Peck was President of PUB, and Swain worked at Standard Register in marketing support while obtaining his masters. These gentlemen looked for different ways to become involved within the School of Print Media (SPM) and also through other organizations. During the lecture, Peck, Swain, and Yeager advised students to become involved in organizations, intramural teams, and anything that would expand their social circle and knowledge of life.

Yeager commented, “When I was at RIT I tried to be involved with activities related to SPM, but also outside of SPM. It helped me get experience in a number of different areas and meet new people. Expanding your knowledge base and social base can definitely help not only academically, but also when going into the workforce. There are lots of opportunities at RIT to gain knowledge and experience, as well as work with world-renowned people within the school and through its partnerships. Take full advantage of it while you’re at RIT. It will pay off in leaps and bounds.”

Not only did they advocate for students to expand their knowledge and experience, they highlighted that networking is highly important while at RIT. As Peck stated, “To quote Paul Stella, my public relations professor at RIT, ‘It’s all about relationships.’ Grades, co-ops, honors, TAGA projects, and everything else will definitely give you an edge, but networking with the people that you meet in class, at trade shows, co-ops, and around campus will pay-off the most. It’s a small industry [print/publishing] and I can guarantee you’ll cross paths with the majority of your classmates and other industry contacts more often than not.”

The alumni were enthusiastic in encouraging students to try new things, become involved in projects, and step out of comfort zones. Through various organizations one can meet new people, gain new insight, and learn more about themselves.

And to end on Swain’s quote, “This is borrowed wisdom, but still a humorous perspective. The day you walk across the stage for graduation, two things happen:

1.    You go from being a student to being unemployed
2.    Your peers become your colleagues, and your best resources,”

So, go out and join clubs, meet new people and become more involved at RIT. It will only benefit you down the road and open many more doors for you.

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