Gianna Carchia
Journal Staff

Add friends on Facebook. Follow people and companies on Twitter. Hand out and gather business cards. Build your email contact list.

Last Wednesday at Emerson College, “Rock Your Dream Job” consisted of five panelists discussing the importance of social networking to achieve success in a desired career. At the event, mediated by Michael Warshaw, assistant business editor for the Boston Globe, representatives from a number of social media-related companies within various corporate levels shared their own start-up stories, along with advice for finding opportunities to take control of a desired profession.  They all stressed how essential it is for one to discover his or her passion in order to begin considering ways to construct a valuable foundation for promotion up and into a company, or to gather the resources to start one.

However, it is well known that your career interests are not always so clear-cut. Many college students remain undeclared for a substantial amount of time, and countless others change their majors, even in their final years when they’ve suddenly discovered a passion they were unaware they had.

Alan Taylor, creator of “The Big Picture” on Boston.com,  has had over 30 jobs, including one in which he scraped the goo out of the inside of salmon for 8 hours a day. Now he’s working as a software engineer for one of the most popular websites in the city. He had been working as a writer for the Globe when he had the idea for news stories told in photographs, a prime example of being in the right place at the right time.

“I didn’t ask anybody for help, for any sort of guidance,” said Taylor.

He got the green light from the company to create the site, and kept his focus on what he wanted to make, keeping off advertisements and bringing his idea to life. “It’s the most fulfilling thing professionally I’ve ever been able to do,” he said. “It’s a new adventure every day.”

By using the connections he had to bring about his idea, Taylor was able to create his own niche working a job he loves.

Matthew Growney, another panelist, followed a different path. He is currently CEO of Isabella Products, a company he built, that is funded by only seven families and has only 11 employees, hired through their personal connection with Growney. A lawyer by education, he instead began by making smart investments before deciding he could be one of the businessmen he was giving financial trust.

“We wanted to connect things that had been unconnected,” said Growney, referring to Isabella’s fusion of two sources of media.

His company developed the screen for the Kindle, and continues to lead the way in creating its own market. Growney explained how start

Add friends on Facebook. Follow people and companies on Twitter. Hand out and gather business cards. Build your email contact list.

Last Wednesday at Emerson College, “Rock Your Dream Job” consisted of five panelists discussing the importance of social networking to achieve success in a desired career. At the event, mediated by Michael Warshaw, assistant business editor for the Boston Globe, representatives from a number of social media-related companies within various corporate levels shared their own start-up stories, along with advice for finding opportunities to take control of a desired profession.  They all stressed how essential it is for one to discover his or her passion in order to begin considering ways to construct a valuable foundation for promotion up and into a company, or to gather the resources to start one.

However, it is well known that your career interests are not always so clear-cut. Many college students remain undeclared for a substantial amount of time, and countless others change their majors, even in their final years when they’ve suddenly discovered a passion they were unaware they had.

Alan Taylor, creator of “The Big Picture” on Boston.com,  has had over 30 jobs, including one in which he scraped the goo out of the inside of salmon for 8 hours a day. Now he’s working as a software engineer for one of the most popular websites in the city. He had been working as a writer for the Globe when he had the idea for news stories told in photographs, a prime example of being in the right place at the right time.

“I didn’t ask anybody for help, for any sort of guidance,” said Taylor.

He got the green light from the company to create the site, and kept his focus on what he wanted to make, keeping off advertisements and bringing his idea to life. “It’s the most fulfilling thing professionally I’ve ever been able to do,” he said. “It’s a new adventure every day.”

By using the connections he had to bring about his idea, Taylor was able to create his own niche working a job he loves.

Matthew Growney, another panelist, followed a different path. He is currently CEO of Isabella Products, a company he built, that is funded by only seven families and has only 11 employees, hired through their personal connection with Growney. A lawyer by education, he instead began by making smart investments before deciding he could be one of the businessmen he was giving financial trust.

“We wanted to connect things that had been unconnected,” said Growney, referring to Isabella’s fusion of two sources of media.

His company developed the screen for the Kindle, and continues to lead the way in creating its own market. Growney explained how starting your own company is the best way to control your destiny, and that networking is key for any entrepreneur. He helps to fund other aspiring businessmen and women, saying “part of our responsibility is to pay it forward, providing the infrastructure to try it out.”

Another panelist, Katrina Kibben, connects Monster.com with Facebook and Twitter to send information to companies and people interested in becoming engaged in the workforce. When she discovered her passion for social media after internships and working in sales, she moved to Boston to find a job that better suited her interests.

“The empowerment is worth the risk,” Kibben advised about interning.

By leaving her comfort zone, she was able to meet people and make connections that led to her Social Media Ninja position at Monster.com.

Daniel Sussman, former musician and current project director at Harmonix, got his start in the music gaming company by playing basketball with the brother of the organization’s vice president while he worked for Lexicon. Sussman heard they were desperate for help, and one call later he was testing video games. He is a leading developer of Rock Band 3 just ten years later. “It’s incredibly unpredictable. I love that,” he said.

Chemistry between coworkers and a great cultural fit are two incredibly important aspects of his job, two aspects everyone should consider when entering the workforce.

Brenna Cullen, who works in advertising, was the last to speak and stressed the importance of relevancy in any social media occupation.

“We’re not in the Mad Men days anymore,” she said. “In order to stay relevant, we have to stay connected.” Her passion for advertising began in college and has since worked her way up. Cullen believes her job is to give the consumer more of an interactive experience.

“I can never really feel I’m done my job because it’s constantly in flux,” said Cullen.

To remain connected with the public and find out what they like, she uses various sources of social media like Facebook and Twitter.

“It’s about giving people something they would actually seek out,” she said.

Matt Tomkewicz, an attendee and recent graduate of St. Michael’s College, said he came to the panel to get ideas for working in a job he loves. “I didn’t realize how well off Massachusetts is as far as the new media communications field is,” he said. “This is something I’ve started to discover right here in my own backyard. This is definitely where I want to stay. It’s exciting.”