Archive for the Careers category
A “thank you” card from the intersection of my dream internship and real life
by Jared on July 20th, 2008
If you ask me what it is that I have done with my new media experience while getting my MBA – I probably won’t have a single, decent answer. Oh, I have plenty of decent answers, mind you; I just haven’t found one that fits all occasions.
At first, I started off thinking new media wouldn’t be a good hook for the more traditional brand management MBA internships I was after. Then, I realized that new media MBA internships actually existed and tried to pivot my search in that direction and new media became my main selling point. Ultimately, I ended up wasting so much time figuring out how to market myself that April came around and I still didn’t have an internship locked down.
While most of my friends were signing great summertime commitments with companies like P&G and Deloitte, I was stuck trying to figure out if I could realistically pass off the title of “Barista” as graduate-level job experience. Then, it happened; my dream internship fell into my lap when I was least expecting it.
Granted, the experience did come with a few strings. Before I could take the internship, for instance, I would also have to spend a month coaching undergraduates in business strategy. What happened here was real life…apparently it happens, occasionally.
Flash forward to the last four weeks of summer: Most of my friends are either getting ready to complete their internships or have so, already. I, on the other hand, am only a quarter into my dream internship, trying to figure out how to cram 8 to 10 weeks of experience into just 4. Though I have to spend countless hours over the weekend working on presentations and creative briefs – literally turning out pages of the best marketing ideas I have ever had – it’s the reminder that this is real life that keeps me going.
In new media, when we step out of the digital-meta-wiki-blog-pod bubble, we’re sometimes surprised to find that the real world can, and will go on without us. The benefit I have found however is that my time in new media has made me more entrepreneurial and ready to face those glimmers of opportunity, no matter how strange or oddly they are presented to us.
For that, I am eternally grateful for my circle of new media friends and the people I have met along the way. Thank you.
Technorati Tags: new media, mba internships, surviving business school
20SMF Episode #72 - New 20SM Contributors and Lessons In Upward Management
by Jared on June 5th, 2008
Brief introduction of a brand new contributor to 20-Something Marketing. We also list out the top 3 lessons learned in upward management.
Referenced Links:
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Technorati Tags: MBA, owen accelerator, upward management, Vanderbilt
What New Media Can Do For Traditional Marketing Careers
by Jared on April 16th, 2008
First off, I will admit that this post does have an ulterior motive. However, it is a point I have been meaning to make on the blog for some time, so bear with me.
For the last four to five months, I have been knee-deep in work related to finding something substantive to do over the summer. Today, I am finally getting a chance to get in front of a company where I think can align all of things I am good at, with a position where I can make an impact.
As with any interview for an MBA Internship, the fact that I am coming from a non-core school is a sizable hurdle. Normally, the advantage in such evaluations goes to the students from the business schools from which the company already is aquatinted. However, I hopefully have something else up my sleeve that will give me a competitive edge equal to any other; new media.
Though not my main selling point for this particular position, my work in new media illustrates how strategic analysis intersects with creativity and technical competency. In interviews, I like to say that I can bring more to the table than just the ability to crunch spreadsheets and create SWOT analyses; that I also have the technical and creative background to bridge that work with just about any type of cross-functional implementation team.
It occurs to me that this revelation is not only my selling point, but the selling point of many of those traditional marketers fascinated by the world of interactive media, blogs and social networking sites. Its not just about being the marketer who can visualize solutions in the “cool new medium,” its about being able to apply analytic solutions to a rapidly-evolving playground of consumer choice.
Cross-Posted From The Marketing Diner
Technorati Tags: Marketing Diner, MBA, MBA Interviews, new media interviews, surviving business school
20SMF Episode #70 - MBA Spin QnA
by Jared on February 26th, 2008
Answering questions related to getting your MBA including admissions, full time vs. part time, and what it’s like “on the inside.” Also, answering a deep backlog of other viewer mail.
Referenced Links:
- 20SMF’s MBA Spin Series
- Kindo - Cool Family Tree Building Site (Sent To Us By Daksh)
- Amazon.com - 20 Something Manifesto by Christine Hassler
- Christine Hassler’s Web Site
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Technorati Tags: 20-Something Manifesto, Christine Hassler, mba applications, mba full time, mba part time, Kindo
The MBA Internship Search Paradox
by Jared on January 18th, 2008
Reposted From my OwenBoggers.com Blog
Palms sweating and nerves racked, this time of year 1st year MBA students are frozen in place, hovering in a anxiety-stricken state of uncertainty. And that’s just before you hit the submit button.
It goes without saying that one of the most important parts of being an MBA student is finding the perfect internship. As a school climbing the rankings, Owen does all it can to help students get the right kind of exposure. However, the team here at Owen Career Management Center (CMC) seldom gets the kind of recognition that it should.
As rising stars in the career marketplace, Owen MBA, MAcc and MSF students have to work a little harder than most. In fact, some top tier employers are just now getting a glimpse of the kind of authenticity, drive and innovation Owen students bring to their respective positions.
What this means for Owen students is that the job hunt is more than just walking in the door of the CMC and expecting a job to be waiting. It means investigating multiple opportunities and dispelling the stereotype of the entitled business student.
In very real terms, the CMC is the living embodiment of how Owen works; a team of the best professionals in the business, succeeding when students decide to step up to the challenge. The only limiting factor to your job search is how much you want it.
Technorati Tags: MBA, MBA Internship, Owen Graduate School of Management, OwenBloggers, Vanderbilt University
20SMF Episode #69 - The ‘08 Resolutions Episode
by Jared on January 1st, 2008
In what has become a 20SM tradition; the first podcast of the year, I dedicate to resolutions and some words to live by in 2008.
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Technorati Tags: Owen Graduate School of Management, OwenBloggers, resolutions, Vanderbilt
Be Careful What You Blog About, People May Just Take You Seriously
by Jared on December 15th, 2007
Ever wonder what it would feel like to have one of your best friends calls you up to ask, “did you know you were quoted in Newsweek?” Yeah, now I know.
My friend Steph called me this morning to alert me to the fact that a recent post I did on my business school blog at OwenBloggers.com was quoted in a recent web-article on the word “w00t;”
“But w00t has done just the opposite: it started on the keyboard, made its way into SMS texting, then into writing, until it was finally spoken out loud….”This momentous selection is just another sign that the American lexicon is increasingly defined not by scholars but by raving lunatic bloggers like us,” writes Jared, a blogger on Owenbloggers.com”
Now normally, I don’t consider a ton of what I write to appeal to mass audiences. In fact, the very nature of writing about business and marketing makes me, by default, a niche blogger. That’s exactly why when someone tells me that a popular newsmagazine thinks I am on-point enough to cite, I begin to realize that blogging is a much more powerful tool than most people think.
Think about it, where else would you be able to add “have been quoted in Newsweek” to your list of accomplishments in an interview?
Technorati Tags: blogging, w00t
Jack Welch Loves Us
by Jared on September 28th, 2007
Former GE chief-turned-management-guru Jack Welch loves you. He honestly loves you. Or so he says in a recent article in BusinessWeek about 20-somethings and why they are a benefit to the business community.
Between papers here at my MBA program at Vandy, its always cool to check my RSS feeds and see an article like his that says what we’ve been saying all along; 20-somethings are the next great business tool.
I’ll let you read the entire article (click here >>) but there was a snippet I wanted to point out:
“Of course, not every Gen Yer we’ve met is hankering to be an entrepreneur, but many still want to change the world through where and how they work, exuding an optimism more reminiscent of the 1950s than any other era in recent memory.”
It feels great to be an MBA student at this period of time and to anyone who is wondering if ambition is worth it, just ask Jack and he’ll tell you it absolutely is.
PS: In case you’re wondering; exams are next week - wish me luck!
Technorati Tags: Gen Y, Jack Welsh, MBA