Juniors
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.
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, 𨧻鏆 like to know where to go with my major/gifts/talents, but how do I find out what𠏋 out there?�
Good question. How do you know where to head if you don㦙 know what the destination will look like? What𠏋 it like to be a doctor, lawyer, or social worker? Or going beyond the obvious, what𠏋 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𠏋 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㦙 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𠏋 all up and coming under the title of 㜁hat𠏋 it like to be a ______?� So check out the forthcoming stories or email if you𠆫e interested in letting students know what you do every day.
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
Friday, April 21, 2006
Take the quiz before you get the box
Some of my blog titles have admitedly been a bit obscure. So much so that sometimes I find myself reading a list of previous titles and wondering what I managed to stuff into the blog body.
So let me be right up front about this one. The quiz refers to what’s to follow, namely a quiz on how well you’re doing at your current job. Pass it and you might not receive “the box”, i.e. the one you pack with your personal belongings just before security or someone less scary escorts you out the door. For good. Often as not, that lonely walk happens on a Friday afternoon. So, check out the quiz instead.
(Hint: true or false answers work the best.)
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Resume Objectives--real life examples
I’m looking at a veritable tower of resumes--all real life samples from different colleges and universities--so my desk resembles that of an employer overwhelmed with choices. Lots of competition for perhaps one or two job openings. So since I’ve got this pile of gold here, I thought I’d pass along a number of objectives and let you draw your own conclusions about candidate potential.
Note: Though these objectives are all directed towards education, they highlight typical resume objective foibles.
With no further ado, then, check out the following:
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Job Fair Insights: From the mouth of a recruiter
Put yourself in this person’s place. You’re a recruiter for a coveted school district knowing that it will take the person at the end of the line 90 minutes to reach first place. By the end of the day, you will have collected 400 resumes for two open positions. How do you possibly sort through the crowd?
Well, a lunch time conversation did much to demystify the process. According to one recruiter, candidates are rated on three criteria.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Random questions about resumes
With the job search ramping up for many seniors, I’m getting a lot of scattered and random questions about resumes, questions about small and subtle details, the sum of which ends up being greater than the individual parts.
So, I thought I’d take today to answer a few of the more common inquiries.
Q: If my resume is two pages, do you staple them together?…
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Getting the most out of your references
Someone recently asked me to fill out a reference for them. Thoughtfully, they provided a brief “cheat sheet” so that I’d be up to date on their past experiences. I thought this was a good idea and felt well prepared to gush over them. Until I took one look at the reference form, that is. As it turned out, I could only fill in 50% of the questions about that particular person. Though I knew them well within one context, the reference form asked for information beyond that bandwidth. Sadly, I was not sure whether I’d be of much help at all.
Resulting advice? Make sure you cover your bases when asking for references. If your reference has not observed you within a certain setting--and here’s where it helps to review the questions on the reference form--prep them. Let them know in detail who you are across the spectrum so that they have an adequate base from which to speak.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Would You Steal This Job….
I recently came across a site running what I would love to cover--mini stories of actual people from a rather interesting spectrum of jobs. Check out Would You Steal This Job for at least a cursory introduction to jobs like community director, college recruiter and photographer, just to name a few. If you’ve found yourself wondering, as I have, what’s that job like? Well, here’s a place that will provide you with a quick glimpse. Not exactly a day-in-the-life-of, but at least some sites for further research.
And, a closing note for today. Aunt Bonnie will be taking spring break until the last week of March when blogging will resume.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Marketing yourself…yuck
I realize that today’s title flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Current job search literature is replete with admonitions to market and brand yourself, the end result being a coherent product ready for employers to pick off the shelf, as it were.
Personally, however, I find the idea mildly repugnant. And a number of Calvin students seem to agree. Modesty rules, putting us at a seeming disadvantage in job search situations.
But, there’s nothing wrong with communicating who you are, right? I mean, how else will an employer know who they’re hiring?
So, in lieu of marketing yourself, may I suggest the following strategy:
Monday, February 13, 2006
Hiring for attitude….
I visited a place yesterday where precision counts. Well, okay, I was just getting a haircut but the opening line still applies, right? I mean, who wants a bad haircut. The point is that during our extended one-way conversation (stylist as speaker and me as listener), she went on to talk about who gets hired now days and why. To quote, “We hire for attitude. Technique and skills we can teach but not attitude.”
Attitude in that setting means bending over backwards, doing more than what’s expected. And smiling graciously in the process.
So those summer and part time job experiences? Great forays into the Land of the Great Attitude, where you can perfect your approach and collect stories along the way to demonstrate your successes.
Friday, February 10, 2006
MySpace…not just for kids
Looks there are plenty of people finding fascinating material on MySpace this week. That would include local high school administrators who found pics of their students drinking at a weekend party. And there’s no closure yet as some students and parents alike refuse to accept the two week extra-curricular suspension penalty. We’ll see whether or not the issue ends up in court but the issue leaves a divided student body and another illustration of unanticipated MySpace consequences.
A recent issue of Money magazine (February 2006) advises parents to “counsel teens and even post college kids to be aware of the potential long-term consequences...” (Talkin’ ‘bout MySpace Generation, p. 27). But 2 minutes and a very cursory glance at MySpace contributors makes it plain that post college kids aren’t the only ones who need advice. How about 27 year olds who admit that they are the type of person who will wait in the car to drive you away after you, the perpetrator, commit a nasty prank? Hmmmm. And the employment sector for this person would be.....?
Evidently, removing injurious information may not be enough, as Money mag goes on to talk about search engines, such as Archive.org, designed to cull information assumed to be deleted from the the web.
Best course of action, my 27 year old “friend”, is to change your profile, edit your entry and alter your on-line persona. You’ve got a larger audience than happy stud muffins reading about your meant-to-be-humorous, but nonetheless deviant, predilections.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Xanga and Facebook aficionados: Beware of what you post…
I googled myself the other day. Not the real me. Just the Aunt-Bonnie me, which turned out to be scary enough. I came up second only to an Aunt Bonnie cookie maker. This blog has evidently increased my web presence, more than I would have wished when I first began the project. Hopefully, I’ll feel comfortable with my writings ten years from now when they’ll still be floating around the Internet.
Which leads me to today’s topic.
Blogging, Facebooking and Xanga-ing. Or Vlogging if you’re on the cutting edge. All open ended venues where self expression rules. But, a word to the wise, as they say. Let’s face it. The Xanga page which looks great to other college students might not have the same appeal to potential/future employers. I mean, who wants to see your room mate posing in a slip? Or pics of last weekend’s party? Or read your innermost thoughts on your latest relationship? It’s all out there, folks, for any and everyone to read and quite possibly to judge you by.
In fact, it’s happening already. Employers as close to home as those hiring for on-campus jobs are researching the above named sites before hiring. Want a job in maintenance sweeping floors and emptying professors’ waste baskets? Well, think twice about trumping your latest dorm prank on your Facebook page.
Fortunately, what’s done can still be undone. As spring winds blow through campus and graduation looms, consider moving web presence refurbishment to the top of your priority list.
Monday, January 23, 2006
New Years, Aunt Bonnie style….
With all the schedule-destroying intrusions which have happened this past month, my actual Aunt Bonnie’s New Year’s celebration day this year is going to occur on Feb. 1. Yup. The New Years resolutions, fresh starts. All that stuff begins on my very own, personally declared “new year.”
I’ve been known to do this sort of thing in the past. Move a scheduled date to one which works better. So, for instance, if my birthday comes on a Monday, or some other “dull” day, I might move it to a Friday for that year. Given that my birthday falls on Sept. 11, I had a few years where I celebrated on every good day for a whole month.
Okay, so where’s this heading??? It’s actually more than sheer babble, as it has job search implications as well.
If you’re one of those moderately to very frustrated job searchers, someone whose job search is lasting way longer than planned, why not look at the calendar and choose a new DAY ONE? Make it at least a week away to allow yourself time to reassess what you’ve been doing and why you’ve not achieved results (the most common cause being too much time spent on Internet job boards). Revise your plan and re-launch. Fresh-spirited and enthused.
So Happy New Years...on whichever day you choose.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Passion
There’s a little plaque which graces my wall. It’s rather crude and obviously made by hand. But I picked it up from a street vendor a number of years ago because of the saying, “Do your homework and know your facts. But remember, it’s passion that persuades.”
I’ve posted a number of blogs over the last few months on choosing a major and career decision making but not much about passion, most likely because there’s a part of me that thinks passion, in the sense of “do what you totally love”, is over rated. There are few people indeed who remain passionate about their careers. Reality sets in sooner or later. Hopefully, what they do day to day will hold a core of meaningful activity amidst the minutia of seemingly irrelevant details.
But when you connect passion--defined here as what keeps you up at night; what you long to see righted, fixed or restored; or, more positively perhaps, what brings you joy--with life calling, the two concepts help set life direction which transcends specific jobs or careers.
Categories
Email Aunt Bonnie with your questions or comments!
Most recent entries
- What’s it like to be a…Marketing Specialist?
- What’s it like to be a ____? (series intro)
- Networking 101
- The Buzz About Strengths
- How to communicate strengths to your boss
- Getting back in gear…
- Job Fairs: Looking Good on Less
- Job Fairs 101
- Major Selection: a long distance view
- Job Search Traps: What To Do With a History Major
- Thoughts for Parents from the Director
- Choosing a Major--Initial Thoughts
- Aunt Bonnie Returns
- Is the degree worth it?
- Readers Question: Should I go to law school?
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