When I Grow Up, I want to be…
Throughout the early stages of my education, I could recall being asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. Then, time started quickly creeping up on me when I transferred to University of Maryland Baltimore County and now more than ever it seems like everywhere I go I get asked “What do you want to do when you graduate?”. With less than 110 days away from crossing the stage in my graduate regalia, I’m still trying to meticulously think about what my answer is to that most sought after question.
The various Media and Communications courses that I have taken primarily at UMBC continue to help me prepare for the inevitable real world that I am about to become face to face with. Upon searching for a currently available job in my career field, I found a few jobs that I would have a strong interest in.
Local: Digital Marketing Specialist, Washington Post (Washington, D.C.)
In the Washington D.C. area, I found a job advertisement for a Digital Marketing Specialist position at The Washington Post headquarters. I would be a highly qualified candidate for this particular position mainly because of my creativity and my digital media marketing skills. By the end of my Media and Marketing internship at Rockville Porsche Audi, I will have gained experience in executing engaging and successful marketing campaigns through various digital platforms. I have working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Premiere that I can use to design the marketing campaigns. My thorough communication skills will allow me properly use paid social and SEM to report my marketing campaign findings to other departments. I am more than familiar with utilizing email, social, and website platforms in order to execute a mult-channel campaign. Additionally, I am self-driven, resourceful, and a team player.
For this job, there will be a few things I will have to learn. I would have to become familiar with using marketing software, data systems, and reporting tools. The job lists “JIRA, Confluence, and other Agile workflow tools” as requirements for the position. I can aquire these tools by doing my own research on these programs and learning how to use them efficiently. With this job, I will also have to learn more about channel analytics and in-house data systems. This can be done from more experience in a marketing position.
National: Director of Digital Sales Development, iHeartMEDIA (New York)
Living in Rockville, I’ve become familiar with a few media and marketing companies in the area. One mainstream company is iHeartMEDIA, which is located a few blocks down the street from my current internship. iHeartMedia is “one of the leading global media and entertainment companies specializing in radio, digital, outdoor, mobile, live events, and on-demand entertainment and information services across the nation and providing premier opportunities for advertisers”. The position I inquired about is the Director of Digital Sales Development and it is located in New York City. What makes me a competitive candidate for this position is my ability to effectively brainstorm creative ideas and to pitch them, my experience with various advertising platforms, my expertice using PowerPoint and Photoshop, and my desire to be consistant and loyal with branding. I have excellent time management, multi-tasking sills, and I enjoy solving problems. Another good plus is my love for music!
With this job, there are a few skills that I lack. I will need to learn how to collaborate with big departments such as “Sales, Packaging, Research, Creative Services and Productive teams”. This job also requires me to have at least five years of digital sales marketing experience.
Transnational: PR and Marketing Coordinator, TimeWarner (Paris, France)
On a transnational level, I found a PR and Marketing Coordinator position at TimeWarner in Paris. I would be an exceptional fit to this position because of my strong interest in public relations and my experience in marketing. My internship allows me to work with the sales department of both Porsche and Audi, which is very useful in learning how to effectively collaborate with others. I have working knowledge on how to create press plans. I am good at conducting interviews that will cover all subjects and get the needed answer.
This job requires a lot of collaboration with other agencies, partners and other departments. I will need to learn more on networking with other companies to ensure effective marketing, especially with the bigger companies like the UK PR team. I will also have to learn how to coordinate the Turner B2B communication that this company has in Paris. Another important aspect of this job is the need to create strong PR material. In order to do so, I would like to get an internship and more working experience in this field. It will be crucial for me to extensively know how to create “press kit, Newsletter, press release, key visuals; communication collaterals…”.
