TONI ANN BUCHALSKI
On Friday, October 30, St. Thomas Aquinas College’s Career Development center offered the student body a wonderful opportunity to participate in its trip to Simon and Schuster, Inc. This company is a subdivision of the CBS Corporation. Simon and Schuster, Inc. is a publishing company that was founded in 1924 in New York City. Its main headquarters are located right outside Rockefeller Center and just a few doors down from NBC Studios.
A STAC alum was very kind to assist in setting up the college’s visit to the publishing company. The visit consisted of a presentation given by four employees who have been successfully working and enjoying their time within the publishing industry. The presenters opened up with explaining how publishing opportunities can reach all types of print, such as trade, academic/scholarly, religious, and university presses, to name a few. The PowerPoint presentation touched upon all of the major areas, also known as “imprints,” in which the industry offers employment opportunities. In one of the first sections, what the presenters spoke about pertained to Corporate Functions. This area includes employment in operations, legal contracts, finance, human resources, corporate services and information technology. From there, the presentation was further broken down into differing areas of employment. Some of these opportunities include marketing, publicity, advertising and promotional sales, digital sales, art/design, production, human resources, and legality issues regarding concerns such as subsidiary rights. I can honestly say that this presentation was extremely helpful. I was unaware of how much work is really needed to publish a book, let alone how many career opportunities can be found within the publishing industry.
Simon and Schuster also spoke in depth about their company’s internship opportunities. The company offers 10 week-long internships in the fall, spring, and summer. The fall and spring internship require a minimum of 16-20 hours per week, where the summer internship requires a minimum of 35 hours per week. The human resources assistant, Ashley Orlando, elaborated upon the internship topic by explaining how students can work for credit and/or pay within a certain focus or “imprint” in the company. For example, a student interested in marketing could work alongside and shadow one of the marketing assistants at Simon and Schuster for 10 weeks. Another detail that Ashley provided for that group is the company’s “lunch ‘n learn” sessions. These meetings occur regularly at Simon and Schuster. It is an opportunity for interns to sit down and speak with an employee of the imprint in which they wish to pursue future endeavors. Talk about gaining experience and knowledge of how an industry works!
Simon and Schuster, in my opinion, would be a wonderful company to intern and potentially even work for. The presenters were all very welcoming and friendly. They provided the STAC students with plenty of insightful information, and eagerly answered any questions we had. In addition, the Simon and Schuster crew laid out a number of books they had previously published on the conference table. At the end of the presentation, the head presenter told us that all of those books were for the STAC students to take home and keep! Aside from gaining some free books and very helpful knowledge about a popular industry, it was apparent that Simon and Schuster really does care about their company and extending their opportunities to any student willing to learn.
The Thoma 