Individual Assignment 02: Find A Role Model

A Role Model

I am majoring in political science and minoring in marketing and communications so I interviewed Katie McClelland who is a political science and history double major. She is minoring in pre-law and is a member of Chatham's Student Government, is an orientation leader, and plays on the softball team. Katie is also a member of a couple clubs such as the Pre-law Club and the Cold Case Club. 

A couple pieces of advice Katie gave me was to write everything down, and do it multiple times if needed. Writing things down has proven to better ingrain things in your head and it helps you remember things as you move forward in life. Katie said, "Flashcards are one way to do this, and will help you remember much easier than just reading your notes", which is a useful tip for any class I take. Katie also mentioned to get all or as much homework done the weekend before because it gives me more time during the week to actually study for exams and take care of anything that might come up unexpectedly. 

Katie also gave me some tips on building a portfolio and finding good off-campus jobs. She said to look outside of handshake for internship opportunities because there are so many jobs out in Pittsburgh so the more places I look, the better chance I have of finding what exactly I am looking for. While looking for outside places, it also helps me find more people and connections which makes it much easier to get a position when I have an in from someone I've met. Along with building my resume Katie said, "Do as much as you can without sacrificing your grades. Be able to handle multiple things well is appealing to both schools and anyone looking to hire you for a job."

An article that stood out to me was by Corey Doeing titled, "Internship Spotlight: Anh Nguyen, BA Marketing and Economics '19". Anh is double majoring in marketing and economics and she interned with A+ Schools which is a nonprofit organization that focuses on advancing equality and excellence in Pittsburgh Public Schools. Having this internship gave her the ability to connect with many individuals in Pittsburgh communities interested in the organization's work like potential donors, stakeholders, and volunteers. This goes back to Katie McClelland's advice to reach out to as many people and opportunities that I can so that I can make good connections before going into the real world. 

In the article, Corey talked about how reaching out to so many people helped Anh create a lot of communication channels, such as media outlets, email newsletters, blog posts, and flyers. In class on October 12th, we had a guest speaker present, Kip Soteres. Kip Soteres talked all about communication and how important it is in every job and company in the world. He mentioned all of the different communication channels between external and internal, and formal and informal. Which shows the difference between communicating in a natural and casual informal setting compared to communicating in a planned, orderly setting with a controlled flow. Kip really expanded on how all these different channels such as tv commercials, social media, direct mail, casual communication among employees or outsiders, and planned communications, all have importance but actually knowing how to communicate is key. People's attention spans are shrinking and Kip said that it takes skill to actually capture peoples attention because you have to compete for people to really listen to you instead of someone else. By knowing different types of communication and being able to perform them can help one actually keep the attention of those they are communicating with.

As communication goes hand in hand with marketing, both Kip and Anh show how much these skills affect one another. Anh expressed how the main focus of marketing is to get a target market's attention by distinguishing the company from others. As Kip talked about keeping the audiences attention in his lecture, he also mentioned what qualities the best communicators have. Those qualities include being better prioritizers, synthesizers, listeners, and organizers. In relation to what Kip said, Corey talked about the work of a nonprofit organization and how they have to communicate with stakeholders that their interest time, attention, and donation were effectively used to help benefit for the promised results. Having this great communication between organizations and the public is very important moving forward and creates a balance between the two. 

Anh said that the office environment she worked in was very friendly and welcoming which is what I hope to strive for some day. The organization she interned with pushed for change and really got a lot done to help public schools and people in the Pittsburgh community. I would really like to be apart of an organization that does similar things and actually makes differences within the community. She also described how everyone at the internship were passionate about their work which was very inspirational. I am also a very passionate person and I hope that I can find and internship and job where others around me feel the same way.

Though Anh had a fantastic and interactive working environment, Katie talked a little bit about her internship with PennEnviorment. She dabbled on the fact that everyone just sort of does their own thing and she mostly works on paperwork and calling different companies for connections. Though in both of these internships, they were making connections with many people and organizations, the actual environments they were working in differed. Majoring in political science I can really relate to Katie McClelland and follow her steps to finding an internship but having the perspective of Anh Nguyen as a marketing major really helps me find ways to get more involved in the marketing field. Lastly, one big take away from both Anh, Katie, and in class with Kip was the importance of communication. Communication everywhere in our lives and the skills to be a good communicator is truly needed to be successful in a business, internship, and as an individual. 

Citation of the article by Corey Doeing:
Doeing, C. (2018, March 17). Internship Spotlight: Anh Nguyen, BA Marketing and Economics '19. Retrieved from http://blogs.chatham.edu/businessblogs/2018/03/23/internship-spotlight-anh-nguyen-ba-marketing-and-economics-19/