Two weeks ago, Her Campus at Kent State hosted a week-long “Her Week” celebration, a series of events and guest speakers, in honor of the 10-year anniversary of the founding of Her Campus at Kent State.
The Her Week events included: Her Media, Her Story: Journalism, Her Story: Literature, Her Future and Her Fashion. From these events, members were able to learn how to network with business professionals, hear advice for their futures and learn other insights into possible career avenues.
The ambition to post whatever
Her Media kicked off Her Week with an event featuring a panel of speakers including Maddy Haberberger, a social producer at NBCUniversal Media, Abigail Forbes, a project manager at On The Marc Media, and Zharia McGlothin, a senior fashion merchandising major.
From this panel, Joy Haugland, a senior school health education major and marketing and publicity director of Her Campus, said she learned to be more confident when posting on social media platforms.
“Just post the content and don’t be afraid [of] what others are thinking,” Haugland said.
Getting over the hurdle of rejection
From the student journalist panel consisting of Kennedy Gotham, a senior journalism major, Sydney Brown, a junior journalism major, and Grace Clarke, a senior journalism major, attendees learned even more. Molly Acquard, a junior fashion design major, said she learned how to accept failure as others struggle with the same issue.
“Especially hearing from [Gotham] during Her Story: Journalism! Instead of phrasing it, ‘You will fail,’ she told her own experience,” Acquard said. “Which I think makes others feel more comfortable in getting rejections.”
You can succeed in whatever field interests you
Her Story Literature started with Amanda Miller, a publishing consultant at My Word Publishing, giving a presentation on self-publishing and careers in the literature industry.
Following Miller’s presentation, Amanda Dew, author of “The Seer” series, took part in a Question and Answer panel. From Dew’s panel, Haughland said it was inspiring to hear your career does not have to correlate with your major.
“It was very inspiring to see that if my own major doesn’t work out, I could always do something else,” Haughland said.
Crafting the perfect resume and profiles
In between panels during Her Future, Aislinn Foran, a junior communications major and president of Her Campus, and Bailey Fair, a sophomore digital media production major and events director of Her Campus, gave presentations pertaining to job searching.
Foran started with a workshop focused on how to improve or create a LinkedIn profile. This advice consisted of how to message individuals you are interested in connecting with on LinkedIn and how to give your profile a professional look.
Fair then followed with a presentation centered around strengthening resumes including using active language, power words and learning to list the proper amount of skills.
From these presentations, Acquard said she was able to learn more about LinkedIn and gain insights on crafting a resume.
“Hearing some younger voices talk about building a resume for more creative fields of employment made me realize I will definitely need to make some changes to mine,” she said.
How to nail that internship interview
Lastly, Her Fashion was kicked off with a panel featuring Nicole Farmer, a senior fashion design major, and Chloe Seeley, a freshman fashion merchandising major, who both spoke about their internship experiences at Dior and Fashion Talks respectively.
During the panel, Farmer said when it comes to internship interviews, she recommends asking at the end of the interview: what three words would the interviewer use to describe the culture of the office?
Farmer and Seeley also said attendees should ask during the interview what would prevent the company from hiring them.
If taking part in an interview through virtual means such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom, Farmer said it is best to have your resume available during the interview. This makes it easier to talk about past work experience with all of the information right in front of you.
From the entirety of Her Week, attendees like Haughland said she was able to learn the importance of networking, allowing for her to feel more confident in her future.
“I also felt very inspired and believed that getting a good job and career was possible, which always seems impossible while I am in college,” she said.