Carmichael with two fellow Kappa Delta students, Kayla Thompson and Vanessa Radatus.

By Amanda Weber -

On May 22, Britt Carmichael (BA, 1997) stopped by to share her 15 years of workplace wisdom with Communication undergrads. A paralegal in the anti-piracy division of Microsoft’s legal and corporate affairs group, Carmichael has worked in many vastly different fields of communication. While, traditionally, a resume displaying a number of seemingly incomparable jobs would not be appealing to an employer, Carmichael insists that “all experience is good experience.” Communication skills translate across many professional fields, no matter what kind of project you’re working on.

When Carmichael graduated from UW, she knew she wanted to be in TV news, and had worked in many internships to give her that experience. She didn’t want to move out of the Seattle market, so she applied to Northwest Cable News for the role of production assistant and got the job.

For just over two years, Carmichael worked in the TV news business, producing cut-ins (three-minute weather and news updates), and writing and producing the news for KING-TV and KOMO-TV. Her work schedule was uncommon, as she often worked 11pm-7am, or longer, and came into the studio on the weekends. In 1999, Carmichael came to a breaking point where she had become an insomniac. She just couldn’t live that life anymore.

She decided it was time to make a move and quickly became the assistant account executive at a public relations firm. Unfortunately, working in public relations wasn’t what she had thought it would be either. She found herself cold-calling, and trying to force sales, which she says didn’t match her personality. After one year she left the firm.

While attending a symposium on breaking into episodal TV at the Seattle International Film Festival, Carmichael learned of an opening for an assistant executive producer.  With her confidence and past experience she landed the job, and began working on a number of shows and movies for a period of nearly four years.

She followed her executive producer around from job to job, with a summer hiatus in between work. After working on shows including, “The Fugitive,” “Pasadena,” and “Fastlane,” she began working for Warner Brothers in the legal clearance department where she determined the rights on artwork.

After moving around for quite a while, from Seattle, to Vancouver, BC, to Los Angeles, Carmichael wanted to return home for good, especially having become a wife and mother. In 2004, she went back to UW and earned her certificate for work as a paralegal. She worked in-house at Perkins Coie for four years, and in 2008 she was hired on at Microsoft as a vendor with legal compliance. Now in anti-piracy, she makes sure that people who are selling software are doing it properly and legally.

With all of her experience in various fields of communication, Carmichael had these tips for students:

• Learn where your interest lies, but also work on core communication skills, verbal and written.
• Take various kinds of classes and internships to test the waters. As an undergrad, Carmichael interned for KIRO Radio, the Almost Live TV show, The Seattle Times, and The Daily.
• Read, What Color Is Your Parachute?. It can help to focus down interests and abilities to find the perfect career for one’s personality.
• Don’t rule out continuing education after you graduate, whether that be grad school, or earning a certificate. If it’s not the right choice for you right now, it could be a good idea later in life.
• “Any job will provide you with experience, connections and networking.” If not through jobs, look for connections in other places. Perhaps ask to speak with one of your friends’ parents about their career. Set up casual coffee meetings, or go to events sponsored by companies. But don’t throw your resume around to the people helping you out.
• When you do get an interview, there are certain rules you should follow if you want to land the job. First, make sure you tailor your resume, cover letter, and interview to the job. How does your skill set apply to the job posting? Second, come with confidence to your interview. If you aren’t confident that you are the best choice for the job, why should they hire you? Lastly, be sure to send a thank you card to your interviewer – via REAL mail. “There’s something to be said about taking the time to write something and personalize it in your own handwriting.”