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.

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.

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

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

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.