This panel featured four members of the AAF of Buffalo and the president of the Buffalo chapter. The main topic of the panel was their experiences early in their careers, and how those experiences could help guide the students in attendance in their final years in college or in their job search. There was one woman in particular that talked about her experiences in the workforce as a graphic designer. She actually talked a bit about age differences in the workplace and how she was asked “You are the youngest person we’re interviewing, why should we even consider you?” at an interview. She talked a lot about not letting your age be a hindrance to becoming a professional and not to allow anyone to look down on you at a company because you’re just starting.

Other than that, the panelists talked about the job search, not expecting to find “the dream job” immediately after graduation, and interviewing tips. They all made it a point to say that when you’re being interviewed, you should also be interviewing them by asking questions to get to know how things work there and if you think that company would be a good fit for you.

I’m really glad I ended up going to this event because I am considering a career in the advertising field. I’m not sure yet if I want to ultimately focus on the creative side as a graphic designer or focus on marketing, so it was really nice to meet people from different career paths. Even though I’m a very introverted person, I did enjoy the event. The panelists represented a wide array of career paths and talked about a lot of topics that are very relevant to me in the job search.