Ariane Beldi '99
Anthropology Major, Communications

Although Ariane Beldi, Class of 1999, is currently returning to Academia (pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Geneva), she still sees herself as a working woman: “I'm not paid for this and work pretty much independently. However, as I see my present situation as a Ph.D. candidate, I consider myself as a sort of entrepreneur trying to build her own company.” Beldi has worked in a variety of communications jobs, but has always maintained a great deal of interest in her own academic pursuits. She says that her professional career path is “a bit complex, because I have never completely left the academia, continuing my higher-education while garnering professional experiences. I have basically had one foot in the university and the other in usually international organization, most of the time in communication positions.”

Beldi still remembers the somewhat unusual circumstances under which she attained her first Communications position. While searching for jobs, Beldi came across a position filling in for a Communications Assistant on maternity leave at the time.  Although she was initially part of a group of ten qualified candidates, Beldi says that it was likely the fact that she was “the only one who agreed to work for only 6 months with no guarantee of a longer term contract after that, and who could start immediately” that helped seal the deal. Luckily, she says, “One month before the end of that person's maternity leave, I was told that she wouldn't come back and that I could keep the position on a long-term basis.” She accepted the position and was then awarded a full-time contract. Beldi says that t is this kind of flexibility that pays off the most when looking for one’s first job.  Along with flexibility and hard work, Beldi recommends preparing for work in Communications by participating in writing workshops, literary clubs, and newspapers. She also encourages anybody with an interest in Communications to keep a blog. “Blogs are an amazing training grounds for all kinds of skills that can come in really handy in the various communication-related professions,” she says.

As a Communications insider, Beldi has excellent advice on how to approach the Communications industry as a potential employee: “As the field of communication is so wide and large, I would recommend reviewing it with the help of a career counselor or even a professor teaching in Media & Communication. Try to find people working in the field who are willing to share their experiences” Speaking with people directly and avoiding web-based research is especially important because, she warns,  websites often play the role of shop fronts and essentially all say the same thing, no matter the
industrial sector. “Textually speaking, the websites are often completely uninformative,” she says.  As in most professions, there is no replacement for direct person-to-person interactions.

Finally, regarding her Bates career, Beldi believes that it was the fundamentals of her Liberal Arts education that influenced her most of all. “In a way,” she says, “the Bates constant leitmotiv of questioning assumptions, keeping an open mind, that is, to demonstrate a constant intellectual curiosity, represents for me one of the most
important tools in professional life.”

Kristiane Schmitt
Bates College ‘08