Last week I conducted four interviews, missed eight class periods, and my team and I lost regional finals 9-10 (with two super-tie-breaker deciding matches-truly a crushing blow). These past 7 days flew by so quickly that I almost forgot what I did and thought I had nothing to write about!
My first interview was with Casey Ausherman, VP of Marketing at Vizient; it went amazingly. Everything she talked about, especially why she wanted to go into marketing, heavily resonated with me. We talked a little bit about the career opportunities in the industry, but I mainly focused the questions on her and how she got to where she is. I asked about the skills she believes are necessary for marketing, and she greatly emphasized understanding basic financing. She stated that it is an underrated skill that is essential for higher-ranking individuals. Because everything she does affects the company's revenue, it is good to understand how the finances work to better talk to the executives. Overall, it was an amazing interview, and I hope to schedule another one in the near future.
Now, the interview I've possibly looked forward to the most, and the one that I believe went the best, was with the Head of Marketing at Text-em-all, Ron Kinkade. I was most excited about this interview because I was able to go in-office and chat in real life. Side note: the office was absolutely beautiful. I have so much I could talk about, but I will condense it for the sake of mine and your time. When I arrived, Ron gave me a small tour of the office. My favorite part was all the founding principles put up around the building and hearing all the core values and how they implement into daily work. For the questions, we started by discussing the company itself, considering all the posters and slogans I had just seen during the tour.
When Ron talked about the company, he constantly returned to its mission, purpose, core values, etc. Simply, it is ingrained in their culture. Everything they do goes back to the four founder’s visions of a communicative working environment. I found it very interesting how their website uses the Japanese art form Wabi Sabi. My Aunt is an art fanatic, and she gave me a book on the art technique. The main point is that it is imperfect and represents nature in its purest form. I love the marketing aspect behind this idea and didn’t realize how much detail went into the thought process of their website.
Later in the interview, I asked him what he believed to be the essential marketing skills, and he listed off a large number, some of which I had heard before. However, his most prominent note was that in marketing, soft skills are–in most cases–more crucial to companies, as they are more complex to learn than hard skills.
In regard to my assignments, I completed Research Assessment #7 over the interview I conducted with Ron. I created my 4 SMART goals (explained in last week's blog), and they are as follows:
I will have a mentor by the time of Thanksgiving break
I will acquire an internship by the end of the third quarter
I will give a TED Talk by the end of the year
I will read 10 business books by the end of the year
When I break them down, they truly aren't that hard to accomplish in their respective selves. Combined, however, present a challenging road. I also started working on my research speech, and by started, I mean spent over an hour finding the right slideshow color and theme (either of which has been finalized).
Lastly, we completed our Original Work proposal. Original work is a semester-long cultivated project that delves deep into the research aspect of our industry. We have to spend a minimum of 12 hours on this project and show our skills in analysis. For my proposal, I said I am going to create an online presence on Instagram and LinkedIn by posting marketing and business-related tips. I hope to gain a lot of experience in graphic design, campaign analytics, and social media in general.
Looking forward to the future, I will work on my research speech and create the slideshow. I will also start solidifying my Original Work plan and coming up with the best strategies to tackle that beast. I have another interview with Ron, and I plan on setting up other follow-up interviews soon. Until next time,
- Samantha Stein
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