On April 20, students and Marketing Industry Mentoring Board members alike gathered into a Pamplin classroom for a discussion on facing your future. The panel of seven marketing board members consisted of presidents to CEOs to Directors of Talent Management from a variety of companies. A number of strong women sat on the panel, sharing their experiences.
The panel discussion was led by the Director of Marketing for Pamplin, Donna Wertalik, as she went through a series of questions compiled from both students and professors. Each offered key advice to the students present, so we picked out our favorite advice to share, ranging from internship to life advice.
Christina Daves, President & CEO of CastMedic Designs and PR for Anyone, offered insight on how to connect with recruiters or companies outside of career fairs like Business Horizons. She believes LinkedIn is the best way to connect.
“Make sure that you don’t just connect—send a message saying ‘I’ve researched your company, I would like to follow you, could we connect here on LinkedIn?’ Make it personal, make sure that you’re providing value, that you’re showing them that you have an interest. And follow them. Pay attention. If it’s someone who posts a lot on LinkedIn, comment on the stuff they publish. And they’ll remember you,”said Daves.
President of Jackson Adept, Angela Lorinchak, offered much needed advice for those concerned about picking the right internship.
“I didn’t even intern in marketing, I interned in an internship that I could get that I was passionate about and for me, it was really about getting transferrable skills. Being able to do analytics, being able to communicate, being able to work with a cross-discipline team,” said Lorinchak.
One of the questions proposed by Professor Wertalik pertained to higher education and if a master’s degree was really necessary. Allison Stirrup, Director of Talent Management at Ferguson Enterprises, quickly jumped to answer this question.
“If you’re going to get a master’s degree, I think it is a good idea to get a few years of experience first. You don’t really know what you don’t know when you’re in your undergrad. You’re learning but the reality is you’re going to be learning for the rest of your career,” said Stirrup.
For those interested in marketing as their career, there is not just one set position. A variety of jobs entail marketing, whether or not it is explicit. Julie E. Talbot, Marketing Director at Mars Symbioscience, easily addressed this question.
“It’s fun to talk about what I actually do with students and I think they’re surprised because they think of marketing as agency side. But there are different opportunities— there’s usually an innovation side, what’s the next big innovation? That’s what companies are hungry for right now. On the other side, there’s brand management where you’re managing the brands that already exist,” said Talbot.
Even with all the possibilities in marketing and other fields, it can be overwhelming trying to determine your career. James Wu, Brand & Business Strategist, has addressed this problem numerous times.
“When I think about job possibilities, I think about, ‘what am I good at?’ You might feel like you’re too young to know what you’re good at, but I guarantee you, you can come up with a shortlist of a couple of hard skills that you have and a couple soft skills. Like if you’re good at talking to people, that’s something that’s extremely valuable that not everybody has,” said Wu.
Matt Arden, Executive Creative Director at Screenvision, added to Wu’s point with his own experience.
“It’s okay to feel lost. I figured that if I was working at a place I was 100% guaranteed to hate, then three months from now, something will click in my brain and say, ‘I need to do that.’ It’s okay to not know,” said Arden.
Scott Kennedy, Regional Sales and Strategy Manager at Microsoft, offered some final advice.
“You’re more than likely not going to determine your career on the day that you graduate,” said Kennedy.
These members of the Marketing Industry Mentoring Board offered valuable insight into their fields as well as useful advice for students searching for their careers.
Rep Image– Writer’s own / 2