CCI Career Paths

Hear James Schonzeit ’10, Manager of Design at Block, talk about human-centered product design in the next MIDDVantage: Careers in Creative Design episode.


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In this week’s MIDDVantage: Careers in Creative Design episode, James Schonzeit, Middlebury class of 2010 and Manager of Design with Block, chats with Masud Tyree Lewis ‘22 about human-centered product design. Check it out:

James leads the product design and research efforts for the Restaurants Team at Block. A whole lot has changed for restaurants in the past couple of years–to put it lightly. QR codes! Ghost kitchens?! Handheld ordering!! The pace of change doesn’t look to be slowing down any time soon and James’ team focuses on meeting the changing needs of their customers through Block’s product offering. Prior to joining Block, he gained experience in product strategy development, UX research, and product design with IDEO, fuseproject, IA collaborative, Webb deVlam, and marketing Evolution. James has a B.A. in Economics and Film & Media Culture from Middlebury

About the Creative Design series: Design is absolutely everywhere—from the clothes we wear to the apps we use; from the cars we drive to the chairs we sit on. As a designer, you have the power to shape the world in which we live. The global market for design services is expected to be nearly $250 billion by 2022. This series includes interviews with many professionals who will share their vantage points on how they use creative design in their career roles, their paths from campus to career, and career advice they would have for students interested in this career space.

Exploring Careers in Creative Design is a collaborative series developed by the Center for Careers and Internships and Middlebury in DC with content contributions from members of the Middlebury Professional Network and Middlebury students.

Explore Arts, Media, and Communications with CCI Career Advisor, Alicia Gomez


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Curious about a career in the arts, media, or communications? Then you are in the right place!

Meet Alicia Gomez, Associate Director of Career Advising at CCI.

Here are 5 quick ways to get started towards a career in the arts, media, or communications:

  1. Need help with your resume and/or cover letter? We recommend you come to Quick Question hours with our Peer Career Advisors.
  2. Want to schedule an advising appointment with Alicia? You can schedule via Handshake.
  3. Sign up to receive Alicia’s weekly newsletter. Learn about coming events, alumni guests, and top jobs in the weekly newsletter curated by Alicia. Sign up for the newsletter online.
  4. Learn about top resources for this career path. Review some of the best information we think is available to help you learn about this career path.
  5. Connect with alumni working in this career path via Midd2Midd. Peruse Midd2Midd to find alumni working in your field of interest. Grow your network. Start conversations now that can grow through the year.

You are invited to the Vermont Virtual Job Fair on Thursday, February 23 from noon to 4:00 pm.


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Save the Date for the Vermont Virtual Job Fair!

We are excited to announce that the Center for Careers and Internships has partnered with the University of Vermont Career Center, Norwich University Career and Internship Center, St. Michael’s College Career Education Center, Champlain College Career Collaborative, the Bennington College Career Development and Field Work Team, and the Vermont Department of Labor to bring you a job fair focused only on Vermont employers. 

This virtual event is super convenient and will take place in Handshake. You can attend from the comfort of your room! 

Please save the following date: 

  • Date: Thursday, February 23, 2023 
  • Time: 12:00-4:00 PM 
  • Location: Handshake 

Our Middlebury team has been integral in helping to choose Vermont employers with you in mind. To name a few of our favorites: 

  • Darn Tough Vermont 
  • ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain 
  • Howard Center 
  • Vermont Mutual Insurance Group 

We hope to see you in Handshake! Register in Handshake.

Win a $500 flight gift card by completing CCI’s resume approval process. The next drawing is on Friday, February 17. Make sure you are entered into the drawing by completing the resume approval process!


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CCI is offering a $500 AIRLINE GIFT CARD just for completing the résumé approval process.

There are 7 drawings, the first 6 will be for $20 gift certificates to local eateries and the final (cumulative) drawing will be for the $500 airline gift card.

All you have to do to enter is complete your Handshake profile and have your résumé reviewed and approved by a CCI Peer Career Advisor (PCA) – (go/PCAs for their drop in hours to have your résumé reviewed.) The earlier you complete your profile and have an approved résumé, the more chances you will have to win!

Learn how to enter!

Hear About the Personal Communications Side of Data Analytics in Our Next MIDDVantage Episode with Raffie Parke ’13, Account Executive Data & AI, at IBM


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This week, we bring you Raffie Parke ’13, Account Executive Data & AI at IBM. Interviewed by John Cambefort ’22, Raffie talks about the personal communications side of data analytics.

Raffie Parke ‘13 serves as her client’s main point of contact for IBM’s Information Architecture portfolio (in other words, the infrastructure that businesses need to manage and analyze their data). Before joining IBM, she spent eight years in consulting: first in CPG shopper marketing at Kantar Retail, then in nonprofit strategy at Community Wealth Partners. She graduated from Middlebury College in 2013 with a BA in Psychology and a minor in French. She is currently pursuing a part-time MBA at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business.

Exploring Careers in Data Analytics is a collaborative series developed by the Center for Careers and Internships and @MiddleburyinDC with content contributions from members of the Middlebury Professional Network and Middlebury students.

Check out the latest episode at go.middlebury.edu/MiddVantageDA.

Identifying Fraudulent Employment Opportunities


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Unfortunately, not every job posting or offer is an opportunity. Scammers know that job opportunities are a powerful tool for gathering personal information, so you need to know how to distinguish legitimate job postings from scam attempts.  Below are some tips to follow and red flags to look out for.

Basic Tips

  • If a job sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
  • Don’t provide financial information or your Social Security number! Legitimate employers won’t ask for your bank account details or your SSN.
  • Do not send money! Legitimate employers will not ask you to wire money or pay for services.
  • When in doubt, look for the job posting on the employer’s official website.  Much like phishing emails, scam job postings often capitalize on well-known names and images. Do not follow links from the suspicious posting, which could take you to a cosmetically similar page, and check the employment page to be sure the opening is real. Calling the company in question (again, using publicly available contact information) is another good strategy.
  • If you experience anything unusual about a job posting in Handshake, please contact CCI as soon as possible and flag the posting in Handshake.

Red Flags

  • The same warning signs that signal fraudulent emails and websites: bad grammar and spelling, requests for personal information, and difficulty contacting or identifying the poster are all clear signs of trouble.
  • Request for an initial investment.
  • Request for bank account access.
  • Requests for payment or transferring money.
  • Offers to pay a large amount of money for little work.
  • Offers you a job without interviewing/interacting with you.
  • You are contacted by phone, and the number is not available.
  • Vague descriptions that focus on money rather than the job.
  • Email domain that doesn’t match the employer’s official domain.
  • Email domain of a free provider is used such as live.com, yahoo.com, hotmail.com, gmail.com etc. Legitimate organizations almost always have their own email systems.
  • Website that has information only on the job you’re applying for, rather than about the company in general.

What if I’m already involved in a scam?

  • End all communication and immediately contact the local police and Public Safety.
  • Get in touch with your bank or credit card company and dispute any fraudulent activity immediately.
  • If the scam happened online, file a report with the FTC’s cybercrime division.

Resources from Handshake

Best Practices for Job Searches

Protecting Your Personal Information

Handshake Privacy Policy

Handshake Terms of Service

More Resources

Middlebury College – Tips on spotting phishing

Federal Trade Commission – Avoiding and Reporting Scams

World Privacy Forum, Consumer Tips: Critical Tips For Job Seekers to Avoid Job Scams

Better Business Bureau, Scam Tracker

Michelle Roman ’17, Senior Manager of Analytics at uAspire talks about data analytics in a non-profit environment in this week’s MIDDVantage: Careers in Data Analytics episode.


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Watch the latest MIDDVantage episode below:

Exploring Careers in Data Analytics is a collaborative series developed by the Center for Careers and Internships and Middlebury in DC with content contributions from members of the Middlebury Professional Network and Middlebury students.

Data analytics is broken down into four basic types. Descriptive analytics describes what has happened over a given period. Diagnostic analytics focuses more on why something happened and predictive analytics moves to what is likely going to happen in the near term. Finally, prescriptive analytics suggests a course of action. Market watchers project the number of jobs for data professionals in the U.S will increase to over 3 million by 2022. This series includes interviews with many professionals who will share their vantage points on how they use data analytics in their career roles, their paths from campus to career, and career advice they would have for students interested in this career space.

Hear about the intersection of creative design and data visualization in the latest MIDDVantage episode with Leah Welch ’11.


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This week’s MIDDVantage: Careers in Creative Design interview is hosted by Sol Manual Garza ’22. Sol interviews Leah Welch ’11, Data Visualization Designer at Bottomline Technologies.

Leah is a transdisciplinary designer crossing boundaries between art, graphic design, data science, storytelling, and front-end development. She creates interactive data-driven experiences, algorithmic animations, and illustrated information design artifacts. Prior to her experiences with Bottomline, Leah worked with ModMan Enterprises as a Design Director developing brand identity through logo, web, and store designs. She also has been an Art & Design Teacher with Zhejiang Ivy International Academy and Director of College Counseling at The Orme School. Leah majored in History of Art & Architecture while at Middlebury and is currently pursuing an MFA in Information Design & Data Visualization at Northeastern University.

Exploring Careers in Creative Design is a collaborative series developed by the Center for Careers and Internships and Middlebury in DC with content contributions from members of the Middlebury Professional Network and Middlebury students.

See the full series at go/MiddVantageCD.

Learn about building data models and the role of operational data analytics in a tech company in this week’s MIDDVantage episode with Archer Newell ’16


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Exploring Careers in Data Analytics is a collaborative series developed by the Center for Careers and Internships and Middlebury in DC with content contributions from members of the Middlebury Professional Network and Middlebury students.

Episode 8: Operational Data Analytics in a Tech Company
Guest Speaker: Archer Newell ‘16, Senior Data Analyst, Fivetran
Interviewer: Josh Rosenstein ‘24
Video: 25 minutes

Archer Newell ‘16, Senior Data Analyst at Fivetran. In her role at Fivetran, Archer focuses on building data models to support financial and operational reporting and analysis which enable the company to make more informed business decisions. Prior to her time with her present employer, she worked with Lucis LLC as a Business Intelligence (BI) Analyst and then as a BI Engineer. While at Middlebury, she worked in the Media Lab and through her Geography coursework exposed her to GIS which stimulated her interest in data and technology. Archer graduated from Middlebury with a major in Environmental Studies and Geography, minor in Spanish.

Learn How Data Science Research Supports Technical Infrastructure in the next MIDDVantage: Careers in Data Analytics episode


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This week, Lila Kosowsky ’24, interviews Trisha Singh ’18, Research Data Scientist at Meta.

Trisha uses applied math and machine learning techniques to support Meta’s infrastructure. Prior to working at Meta, she worked at Analysis Group in Health and Economics Outcomes Research. She holds an MS in Statistics from Stanford University and a BA in Math and Economics from Middlebury.

Exploring Careers in Data Analytics is a collaborative series developed by the Center for Careers and Internships and Middlebury in DC with content contributions from members of the Middlebury Professional Network and Middlebury students.

Check out the latest episode on YouTube:

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