Iris Grossman, senior manager for global communications at Johnson & Johnson and a Daily Collegian alum, told current Collegian students in a Zoom roundtable, “The Collegian set me up to get my first job.”
Nancy B. Kennedy, another Collegian alum and a published author of nonfiction books for young adults, including most recently, “Women Win the Vote!: 19 for the 19th Amendment,” agreed, saying that at The Collegian she learned the skills that enabled her to sell herself and her ideas to an agent and a publisher. She said that is partly because work at The Collegian taught her persistence. “I do not stop until I get what I want,” she said.
Grossman and Kennedy spoke in a roundtable on April 26 sponsored by The Collegian Alumni Interest Group (AIG) and moderated by Lilliana N. Forsyth, vice president of The Collegian business division and a former editor and reporter for the news division.
Forsyth, a graduating senior, quizzed Grossman and Kennedy about securing internships and gaining the experience employers are seeking.
Grossman recommended, “Just be open to experiences you might not have considered before.”
Kennedy said the relationships students form at The Collegian are important. She noted that her first job was at a small newspaper in New Jersey, and shortly after she started, the paper had two openings. She was able to get two friends from The Daily Collegian hired.
Grossman said The Collegian taught her to be accountable to an editor, basically a boss, because it is run so professionally. “It sets you up for what the real world is,” she said.
