"I reached out to USF alumna Melanie Baybay ’15 MS ’18 on LinkedIn. She’s working as a health technician at Kaiser Permanente, and I asked her if she could put in a good word for me. She was happy to forward my online portfolio to their main recruiter. Within a couple of days, I received an email for an interview. Now I really understand how networking can make a huge difference. It is my hope to pay it forward and help out a fellow USF design student someday."
"My dad always told me, ‘There is no such thing as good luck — only hard work and preparation.’ I attended the USF Career Fair when I was a sophomore even though I knew there weren’t many opportunities for art and design. But I didn’t care. I shook hands with every employer, handed out my resume, and kept asking if they needed a new logo or infographics for their pamphlets — anything, really. Then afterwards I laid out all their business cards on my dorm room floor and sent each recruiter and follow-up email along with a link to my portfolio. Finally, one company asked me to come in for an interview. That ended up being my very first internship, at Vituity, a health care practice management organization. My advice: if you really want something, work hard with no excuses and go get it."