Friday, July 04, 2008

What’s it like to be a…Marketing Specialist?

Marketing Specialist at a multi-national footwear company:

A typical day for me starts with checking my email.  Usually there are orders to be filled for the sales people out on the road or questions from the creative department on the projects that we are working on.  Throughout the day I do the majority of my work on the computer.  I use Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Publisher to work on catalogs and buyers guides, filling orders, coming up with and proofing ads, etc. 

This is usually pretty consistent throughout the year.  My focus changes a little bit depending on if we are working on a new line of shoes or not.  A new line of shoes means a new catalog and that makes things a little busier.  Also, after a new line comes out the sales people are making more visits to accounts so usually requests for orders are more frequent. 

I started my career path working in shoe sales, but I also interned on Capitol Hill, worked as an administrative assistant, and managed a retail clothing boutique. 
I came to the company where I am at now because a friend of mine worked here.  I was looking for a new job and she told me that I could forward my resume to her boss.  I came in to meet with him for an informational meeting.  When a position opened up, they thought of me for the job and, after interviewing, I was offered my position.

In terms of educational background, I received a BA in business and political science from Calvin.  I feel that my education, combined with my work experience is very beneficial in my position.  I gained confidence in my writing and presentation skills while an intern.  I learned leadership and problem solving while working in retail and I learned multitasking and office skills while working as an administrative assistant.  I feel that all of those skills make someone in my position successful.

One of the greatest rewards of this position is being able to see a finished product after hard work.  Completing catalogs or seeing the final version of an ad is exciting.  A good day is one that is busy with all different kinds of work.

The biggest trend/change I see in the future is the shift towards technology.  In the next 5-10 years it will be essential for people to have a good understanding of computers and technology because that is where we are headed.

For further information on marketing careers, check out American Marketing Association‘s Career Management/Ask the Expert link.

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 07/04 at 09:47 AM
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Tuesday, July 01, 2008

What’s it like to be a ____? (series intro)

Freshmen ask. Seniors ask. Even grads arrive in my office with variations on the same question. Sometimes even wistfully, they ask something to this effect, “I’d like to know where to go with my major/gifts/talents, but how do I find out what’s out there?”

Good question. How do you know where to head if you don’t know what the destination will look like? What’s it like to be a doctor, lawyer, or social worker? Or going beyond the obvious, what’s it like to be a child life specialist, a credit analyst, an archivist? A marketing specialist or actuary? What do these people do every day and how do you know if it will a good fit for you in particular? 

Of course, there’s always the web. One can start researching careers at sites like Career Browser or the gold standard of them all, O*Net. Great sites. Helpful information but, at best, still generic. Not personalized. Not necessarily what you have been gifted to do.

What I typically suggest is that people follow up with their own informational interviews, i.e. that they spend time with a professional who can pass along rubber-meets-the-road type of advice. Stuff you can’t get from books.

So to help students in that fact finding endeavor, I have decided to put on my own research cap and run a series of blog entries straight from the mouths of professionals in the field. It’s all up and coming under the title of “What’s it like to be a ______?” So check out the forthcoming stories or email if you’re interested in letting students know what you do every day.

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 07/01 at 02:26 PM
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Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Networking 101

What the rest of the country is just beginning to experience has been a way of life for us living in Michigan. Signs of a weakening economy are so ever present that we’re sometimes past the point of noticing. We’ve been driving—or with the increased price of gas, maybe biking—past evidence of a shrinking economy for nigh onto many months.
Which led me to think that it just might be time for some good news in the form of my Person of the Week, alias Theo. Theo’s got one more year of school left, his 5th year, and he admittedly started looking for internships very late this year. What he’s got going for him, however, is a hefty load of sheer persistence and a dash of flexibility (full time/part time/unpaid with part time paid elsewhere—you name it). That plus the ability to network with about everyone he knows.
So, what does that networking look like? In this case, it takes place at the local gym where Theo is well known and well liked. In between bench presses or during water breaks he approaches senior sweaty buffs with a simple question about internship options within their work place or possible referrals. And he’s getting a number of sympathetic and supportive responses, as most of these people would love to have a hard working guy such as Theo around. Nothing is clinched yet but it’s looking pretty optimistic.
What Theo does naturally may seem more of a stretch to others. But networking is a skill which anyone can master. Here are two easy ways to get started:
• First, take a fresh look at your environment. Who do you come into contact with as you work, worship or play? Theo isn’t doing anything different by heading to the gym; he just mined that normal, everyday routine for possibilities.
• Think about what you have to offer an employer and include some of those skills in your conversations, making use of lead in’s when talking about yourself such as the following: adept at, experienced with, comfortable with, trained in, or skilled at.

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 06/04 at 02:44 PM
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The Buzz About Strengths

If you haven’t heard about Strengths, i.e. naturally occurring abilities resulting in consistent excellence in a given activity, the concept is soon to be part and parcel of every water cooler discussion. As popularized in widely circulated books such as Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham, strengths talk has infiltrated selected college campuses and and become part of corporate culture as well. It’s not uncommon for someone to list their top five strengths on their resume, figuring that “those who know, know”.  Marcus Buckingham himself is scheduled to appear on Oprah this week and reveal his secret to a better life, a better you.

There’s a lot to be said for the theory. In brief, the Strengths assessments enable an individual to discover their top five strengths out of a list of thirty four possibilities. Time and energy then can be devoted to developing those strengths rather than endlessly trying to shore up weaknesses, an endeavor which at best leads to mediocrity.

For some, personal strengths discovery has been incredibly encouraging, providing language to express what may have only been intuited on a gut level. For others, I’ve noticed a more tepid response. But in those cases, little has been done beyond reading through the results in a cursory sort of way.

Interested? If you’re a current student at Calvin, you can find out more about Strengths Finder by emailing Aunt Bonnie. Or call the Career Development Office and ask for Karen.

All the best from Aunt Bonnie, aka Ideation/Strategic/Input/Adaptability/Empathy

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 04/16 at 01:55 PM
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Wednesday, April 02, 2008

How to communicate strengths to your boss

The buzz is all about using Strengths at work. So much so that employees sometimes get confused.
Check out the following readers question.

Dear Aunt Bonnie-
Discovering my personal strengths made me pretty excited, especially about using them at work. But when I started sharing my discoveries with my co-workers, their response was to basically say that I need to forget about my strengths and just do my job. After all, that’s what I’m getting paid to do.
And now I’m confused. I was going to talk to my boss about my strengths and opportunities to use them in the office. But what if he reacts the same way?
Signed, Achiever/Command/Developer/Discipline/Maximizer

Dear A/C/D/D/M-
Though it’s unfortunate that everyone at work didn’t share your enthusiasm over Strengths, approaching your boss might still be a good idea. Depending on how you approach him. Anything smacking of entitlement--like, these are my strengths and I don’t want to do anything that would not make use of them--will not go over. Every single position on the face of this earth includes interesting as well as uninteresting tasks which simply need to be completed.

If, however, you approach your boss using wording which helps him understand how you can be most productive in reaching office goals, he/she might be more receptive. The key is to make this a conversation rather than ultimatum.

There’s a great book out, Lifescripts by Stephan Pollan and Mark Levine. Though it won’t cover your Strengths discussion specifically, it does provide a helpful grid for pre-planning conversations such as this.

All the best in using your strengths!
Aunt Bonnie

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 04/02 at 04:13 PM
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Getting back in gear…

Re-starting a blog is just like any other lapsed activity. One has to exert a significant amount of energy to kick start before momentum takes over. Take exercise, for example. Due to a lengthy post-surgery recovery last summer, I found myself slouching rather than standing, panting rather than breathing and discouraged rather than hopeful. The way back to functional fitness looked like the proverbial mountain. But with a little help from my trainer-friends at the local health club and a lot of persistence, I’m back to where I was a year ago--or almost.

So too with the job search. Seniors arrive on my (office) door step in various stages of preparedness, from those just getting started to those in need of an encouraging word after months of seemingly fruitless searching. The point is, they come. One at a time. Scared or enthused.

If you find yourself with your head in the sand, ignoring all that awaits after graduation, start the first step by showing up. Because despite the dismal prognosis filling even the most positive of publications, people are still uncovering opportunities, finding jobs and moving on.

To quote The Source: as your day, so shall your strength be.

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 04/02 at 02:41 PM
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Friday, September 28, 2007

Job Fairs: Looking Good on Less

You don’t need big bucks to avoid looking like a job fair horror. It’s unfortunate, but these are events where first impressions count--a lot. Not beauty necessarily. But certainly Neat and Tidy.

While writing this, job fair horrors from the past float through my mind. Rumpled and crumbled clothes. Wild and wind blown hair. Random resumes sticking out at odd angles. Nothing, however, that could not be fixed with an iron, a comb and a folder. You get the point. Finesse the small things for a put together look. Neat and Tidy opens doors. 

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 09/28 at 10:19 AM
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Job Fairs 101

October 10. Big crowds. Meet and greet. Schmooze. Introduce yourself. Gulp. It’s enough to make the most intrepid extrovert freeze.

So here’s a tip on breaking the ice at job fairs, especially helpful if you’re a new-bie.

Upon entering, take a deep breath and pause long enough to survey the room. Invariably, there are a few lonely recruiters. Tables with no student lines where recruiters sit or stand in lonely and sometimes bored attendance. Start there. Whether or not you’re interested in that company is not the point. The point is breaking the ice and establishing a toe hold in a sea of new faces. And, chances are, that lonely recruiter will welcome the chance to talk with someone. Who knows, you might learn something new along the way.

See you at Careerfest. Wednesday, October 10 from 2:00-6:00 at the DeVos Convention Center in downtown Grand Rapids.

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 09/28 at 10:02 AM
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Sunday, September 16, 2007

Major Selection: a long distance view

I started the morning with a question for my Brain Trust, a group of professionals I see on a regular basis. What career regrets do you have? A number of them said that they were doing exactly what they had always wanted to. One always wanted to be a nurse and that’s exactly what she’s currently doing. Another said she would be doing something else if only she could make enough money doing it--which resulted in a sizable tangential discussion of exactly what that other non-lucrative job would look like.

Yet another friend came up with the follow gem. She said that she wished she had not given up so easily on her college dream. It seems that during the summer following her junior year, she took a few pre-law classes at Stanford. One of them, a course on argumentation, turned out to be a beast, leaving her with the impression that law consisted entirely of adversarial encounters within a court room. As she later discovered, the legal field is extremely broad and filled with multiple options for using a JD degree. By then she was well on the way to another less satisfying direction.

So for all of you undergrads hitting a few bumps in the road, talk with someone who knows your dream job well before you give up its pursuit.

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 09/16 at 04:15 PM
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Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Job Search Traps: What To Do With a History Major

I find this particular mental trap frequently expressed by recent graduates. It runs something like this: “I majored in chemistry so should find a job in the science field.” Well, that may be true—but then again, maybe not. If that were always the case, what would those with more esoteric majors such as philosophy do?

To set yourself free from the Major=Job trap, I would suggest getting some insightful feedback on what others see as your abilities.

By way of illustration, consider Toby (name disguised), a guy with personality plus. He enters a room and the room comes alive. Everyone knows he’s there; and if you were to ask his friends about his skills, the word charisma would come up more than once. So what does Toby choose to major in? Public relations? Psychology? Business? No. He chose history. So Toby upon graduation found himself puzzling about what to do with that history major. “Hmmmmm,” he often mumbled. “Exactly what was I thinking when I chose THIS major? And Now what am I going to do?”

Fortunately for Toby, he listened to positive feedback from others—career counselors included—and landed a job in sales where his personal charisma is valued as an asset.

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 09/05 at 05:01 PM
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Thursday, July 19, 2007

Thoughts for Parents from the Director

Glenn Triezenberg, Director of Career Development, brings years of experience in the field to his annual talks to parents of in-coming freshmen. With wit and warmth, he connects with parents on a number of levels. In case you missed that talk, here’s what he had to say:

Four points which parents need to know now:
1) It’s normal for freshmen not to know what their major is and future career will be.
2) It’s normal for students to switch ideas on major and career as they grow and mature. These are developmentally linked and experientially based changes.  What’s a parent to do in the meantime? Be patient while they develop and while God develops his will in their lives.
3) It’s normal for parents, seeing the struggle, to want to provide answers. But sometimes open ended questions prove to be more effective. Questions such as: what are you learning; what are you liking; how are you growing; what are you involved in (encouraging balance in their life style). And finally, are you doing your job? Meaning the job of being a good and faithful student.
4) It’s normal for parents to encourage students to see a career counselor within the first year of college (took a few editorial liberties with this tip to retain consistency...though not necessarily Normal, this idea is Highly Suggested). Why? Because career counselors want to get to know students as persons, find out where they are developmentally, establish a relationship and help them discover God’s will for their lives as well as how they can best spend their time and talents.

For a full list of Career Development Services, visit http://www.calvin.edu/admin/career/handouts/

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 07/19 at 03:53 PM
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Choosing a Major--Initial Thoughts

In all my summers as a career counselor, this one stands out for a single reason—the uptick in the number of incoming freshmen I’m seeing.

I find their initiative impressive. Meeting with a career counselor early on in their college career makes a good deal of sense on a number of levels. In addition to getting some initial questions answered, they have also begun a relationship which will grow over the next 4 years. When I meet with seniors I’ve known since freshman year, I’m well acquainted with them historically. They are comfortable, relaxed and we can continue our conversation where we left off.

But in some senses, I am dismayed by the pressure and stress the freshmen exhibit. Pressure and resulting stress over the question of choosing a major, a perfect major to set them up for career and life success. That’s a heavy load to carry since most college freshmen are just beginning to discover who they are, one of the essential building blocks of good career decision making. Values, priorities, dreams, gifts, talents, interests, and most importantly, calling—all of these are in process and subject to re-evaluation throughout life. And most importantly during that freshman year.

So what do I really want to say to the freshmen on the verge of tears over the ‘major’ question? Unless someone is considering a pre-professional program with prescribed coursework, my advice is to just relax. Give yourself time, a year at minimum, to explore. Try out dorm activities, campus clubs, service-learning opportunities, on-campus jobs and later, off-campus programs. Exploring on the outset will go a long way in preventing comments like this from seniors: “If I had to choose a major all over again, it would be a lot different from the one I chose as a freshman.”

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 07/19 at 02:28 PM
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Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Aunt Bonnie Returns

One would think that a near-year with no postings would be enough of a break. And what has prompted this sudden return?  Perhaps the fact that there are just too many great un-told stories floating around. Some of them untold for legitimate and embarrassing reasons—which will become obvious in the soon to be told Story of the Protruding Thong. But there are other stories which surface on a daily basis as people wrestle with everything from weighty to not-so-weighty issues. For instance, the question “What should I major in?” feels like a huge, life impacting and stress-provoking question for freshmen, closely tied to worry about making an irreversible decison. And “What do I do now that I’m out of college?” is often code for “Who am I now that my friends have moved on and I no longer have the security of a student identity or even a (good) job?” These are just two areas where people grace me with an opportunity to share in their story—its stresses, struggles and ultimate joys.

So Aunt Bonnie is back. To observe, to record and to pass along.

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 07/11 at 02:09 PM
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Friday, September 08, 2006

Is the degree worth it?

Most freshmen are still on their early college honeymoon. Still meeting new people, making new friends, mastering what seems to be at first glance a manageable homework load. But I suspect that by week five, the bubble will burst.  Bright-eyed students will soon gain the glassy glare of the sleep deprived. And in moments of weakness, some may begin to wonder if all the work--academic blood, sweat and tears--is worth it. I mean, the lure of a regular pay check and easier life style may be hard to resist.

For those future moments of weakness, print out and tape to your cell phone the following:

YES YES YES it is and will be more than worth the effort to start and complete the task.

The degree is worth every sleepless night, every missed social opportunity, every day of student poverty. And it’s worth it for more than strictly personal reasons, of which there are admittedly many (more on that in the coming days).

Yesterday’s New York Times ran an article--Report Finds U.S. Students Lagging in Finishing College--which should sound an alarm bell for every person in Congress. We can’t keep up as a nation without an educated work force. Seems obvious but evidently not obvious for a national outcry.

That’s probably further than I want to go in this first blog after my extended blog-drought. And it’s on a global scale which few of us can impact. At least today.

So back to my, at this point, happy freshmen. When week five hits, keep the goal in mind and persevere. Listen to your Aunt Bonnie. You’ll be glad you did.

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 09/08 at 09:36 AM
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Friday, April 28, 2006

Readers Question: Should I go to law school?

Dear Aunt Bonnie-
I’m a junior who’s finally chosen a major. After considering a number of them, including education and social work, I finally chose English because I love to write. I also want to help people, as you can see from the majors I considered but did not choose. It seems like my best choice might be law. Then I can write and help people at the same time. What do you think about my idea?
James

READ MORE...

Posted by Bonnie Speyers on 04/28 at 09:19 AM
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