OXFORD, Miss. - John Thomas said to students, "we took things into our own hands." Thomas and his former partner started the Oxford Times right after graduating from the University of Mississippi. Thomas returned to his roots as a journalist at his alma mater to talk to aspiring journalists about his experiences in the journalism world and his leap into public affairs.
         Thomas was second in his journalism class at the University of Mississippi and is now VP of Investor Relations at Abbot, a healthcare company. He started his career at the Oxford Times, which he started with a friend, and then after his writing job at Better Homes and Garden he found that he wanted to pursue a career in public affairs.
        With his public affairs job he was able to mix the journalism and business worlds. Today he works a Abbot where he helps promote Abbot through social media like Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. By using social media sites, he converted a "very conservative company" to an up-to-date one, Thomas said.
        Thomas said that he started in the real world when the job market was not very good; therefore, he had to take matters into his own hands. He and his partner started the Oxford Times with just "$500 in our pockets between the two of us," said Thomas. He hoped to students to also take matter into their own hands in finding opprortunities in the tight job market.
Thomas is now vice president investor relations and public affairs at Abbot. In his job he uses his journalism background in communicating working with the media and press. He calls his job, "very dynamic."
         He urged journalism students to be a critical thinkers, be responsive, trust your gut, and do not fear the spreadsheet. His advice was for journalists, but also could translate into the business world. A lot of journalistic approaches can be used in the investor world.
       "Relationships are important" said Thomas. "Ask them a lot of questions." In the journalism world as a journalist you have to ask lots of questions to get a good story, and in the public relation investor world you have to ask lots of questions and be face to face to form a good relationship with investors. He ended by telling students to "have no fear" and "be a rebel" and you will succeed.