BIO

My name is Holly and I am a second-year majoring in Management Information Systems and Marketing, with a minor in Business Analytics. As a participant of the UROP program, I collaborated with my mentor, Dr. Kelly Kelly, school of communication, and three other team members to conduct research on factors that lead to student success in leading a great job upon graduation for communication and advertising majors. Approaching qualitative research, we interview 13 participants in four research areas of academics, internships, extracurriculars, and networking to gain a deeper perspective of what graduates feel is most important throughout the job search process.

Our study noted that internship is the most important factor upon building skills and experience when securing a full-time job offer. The ranking from most important to least is internships, extracurriculars, networking, and academics. Additionally, our participant’s average job satisfaction was around 4 out of 5 with a salary satisfaction of 69% of just working 1-3 years within their field.

Landing that Job: A Study of Communication Graduates, Contacts, and Careers

Abstract

The time period following college graduation marks a significant transition in an individual’s life and often involves searching for full-time employment. Beyond simply finding a job at all, an important aspect of someone’s job search involves finding a career that they love. By reviewing literature in the field and conducting interviews with recent college graduates, this project defines what is considered to be a “great job” and examines the factors that lead to success in securing one. The factors explored fall into four areas: academic performance, extracurricular activities, networking, and internships or part-time employment. Participants were selected using a prospective sampling method (all were graduates of Florida State University’s School of Communication) and were asked a series of questions regarding their satisfaction with their current job, involvements in their undergraduate career, and what they thought helped them stick out to employers the most. Our findings consistently showed that internship experience provided the most relevant experience for their respective career paths and was also viewed as the most important area (of those studied) for landing a job.

Keywords: Communication, advertising, full-time job, internship