When I began my first communications internship at Calgon Corporation, I was assigned a mentor as part of the Inroads Pittsburgh career development program.  My mentor Jeff happened to be African American and head of the company’s IT department.  He would check in on me from time to time. However, I didn’t quite understand why he was assigned to me given that we were in two completely different fields.  I learned later that it was intentionally set up that way as Jeff was there to be a sounding board and to be objective about my success.  [Read More]

A good image and a positive attitude can go a long way.  The image we are ultimately building in the workforce is a team player who is positive, flexible and a hard worker.  No one wants to be around negative people no matter how well they perform on the job. I generally refer to these people as “Negative Nellies or Marty Whiners.”

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Approximately five years out of college, I was downsized from my marketing and public relations position at Calgon Corporation. I had interned with the company for three summers and was hired for a full-time position before college graduation. Hence, this was the first time I had to look for employment as a professional. [Read More]