Career Week

Guest Profile:

Josh Frazier, Marketing Manager

Things to keep in mind for people who want to work in marketing:

It is important to pick and have a skill. Having a combination of web design and marketing was really valuable for Josh and his career

Marketing is a broad field and having the opportunity to work in a lot of different areas provides you with the ability to learn and try things out to discover what you enjoy the most

As a marketer, you need to work with different departments very closely

It is important for the marketer to understand the goals of the product in order to fully understand and successfully drive the direction of the marketing efforts

It is rewarding to see your ads out in the wild!

Insights:

The book “Five Minute Manager” is a recommended book for those looking to get into management

As a manager, you do not always need to say how you would solve a problem; rather, you can see if the solutions your team has developed have solved the problem in a different way

As a manager, you are required to do resource management to ensure that the right people are working on the job, and that the job stays on time and budget

A collaborative attitude is essential to success in today’s workplace

Rapid Fire-Round:

What Josh wanted to be when he was a kid: A designer or a marketer (he wanted the marketing tingles)

Best resource for career-related information: Joining a network of like-minded people

What helps Josh when he has a bad day at work: Support of friends and family

Josh’s favorite experience thus far from his job: Hiring a bunch of new positions to his department and seeing them grow over the course of their career

Best part of Josh’s work day today: A potluck

Advice:

Talk to someone in the field and get a sense of what it is like in an industry

Pick a skill early on to master

Focus on the people - who you work with and your customers

Why should someone want to be in marketing

No two days are the same and you get to solve problems creatively to meet business objectives

Get in touch with Josh here or here

Dribl (Joshuagfrazier) or LInkedin

Guest Profile:

Hala Saleh, Director of Product, Expedia

Things to keep in mind for people who want to work in product management:

Product managers need to understand what people are using the product for and what customer need you are trying to fulfill

You can work on a product that is an all-new concept or idea, or you can work on one that is very clearly defined

Interact a lot with engineering, user experience designers, analytics and other product managers

You have the opportunity to bring people together and try to get them excited about an idea

You do not need to be an expert in all fields in order to be a product manager, but you need to understand each of them at a base level in order to be successful

Being curious and willing to dive deep into each of the disciplines is essential for a strong product manager

Rapid Fire-Round:

What Hala wanted to be when she was a kid: Astronaut

Best resource for career-related information: Blogs - producttalk.org

What helps Hala when she has a bad day at work: Her kids

Hala’s favorite product her company sells: Shopping Cart

Best part of Hala’s work day today: Not going in to work

Advice:

If you have an idea of what you are interested in, you have a head start

Find what areas you are drawn to, and pursue that

Don’t apologize so much

Why should someone want to be in product management

You get to build things that hundreds, thousands, or even millions or people use

You get to AB test things, which is so exciting because you can make a small change and measure the impact it has

Get in touch with Hala

Guest Profile:

Matthew McGarry, Senior Copywriter, FCB Chicago

Things to keep in mind for people who want to work in copywriting:

You can take a round-about path like Matthew did to get into the field, but need to have a passion for writing

There is a big difference between writing for the web vs print

A copywriter is more about the ideation and creative portion of copy. And a copy editor’s role is more to oversee what the copywriter has created to ensure it is connected to the larger strategy or brand

At times, when working for a client, your creativity can be limited by the client’s thinking

Everyone writes in their job, so there can be conflict amongst the role of the copy writer and the client as a result

You solve a ton of problems as a copywriter

Rapid Fire-Round:

What Matthew wanted to be when he was a kid: Artist

Best resource for career-related information: Other people

What helps Matthew when he has a bad day at work: Going outside

Matthew’s favorite experience from his job: Getting to use words everyday

Best part of Matthew’s work day today: Looking out over Lake Michigan from his office

Advice:

Don’t let anyone tell you “no” and that “you can’t do something”

Just because you think differently doesn’t mean you are wrong

Your boss is just another person and is not someone you should be afraid of

You don’t have that much to lose, so take risks and be honest with your thoughts and opinions

Don’t be a bullshitter and don’t bullshit

Why should someone want to be in copywriting

If you love words and love communicating things clearly, and feel journalism isn’t what it used to be, copywriting is a great opportunity for you

Get in touch with Matthew

Guest Profile:

George Brieloff

Current Role: Truancy Officer for Ann Arbor Public Schools

Previous Experience: Probation Officer at Juvenile Court, Supervisor at Juvenile Detention Center, Foster Care Officer

Education: Masters in Social Work at Eastern Michigan University

Things to keep in mind for people who want to work as a social worker:

You work with people to help them sustain themselves in the community

Need to work with a variety of people (parents, kids, grandparents) to understand their full story and how they can be assisted

You have to take care of yourself and have your home life in order as a social worker in order to provide the best care to the people you are working with and for

Your network is a focal point of everything that is done in social work

Dealing with office and city politics is a big factor (and point of frustration) in social work

Rapid Fire-Round:

What George wanted to be when he was a kid: Pilot

Best resource for career-related information: The school of social work at the local universities

What helps George when he has a bad day at work: Going to the gym

George’s favorite experience from his job thus far: Satisfaction of people recognizing the efforts he has put forth

Best part of George’s work day today: He was on summer vacation, so just hanging out!

Advice:

Talk to a lot of people to learn about a variety of career options

Listen to other people and hear what they are saying

Why should someone want to be a social worker

Social work is a calling and is not for everyone. It is not something that can be learned, the instincts are either within you or not. If you want to work with people, this is a great field

Chris Wojick, Hoopis Group

Previous Experience: Groupon

Studied Finance at DePaul University

Things to keep in mind for people who want to work as a financial advisor:

Building relationships is key

Some level of licensing is required if you want to be a financial advisor

When his clients win, Chris wins

You need to be flexible in your working hours - sometimes you need to meet a client on a weekend or an evening

Rapid Fire-Round:

What Chris wanted to be when he was a kid: Professional soccer player

Best resource for career-related information: College career center

What helps Chris when he has a bad day at work: His wife

Chris’ favorite experience from his job thus far: Helping others

Best part of Chris’ work day today: This interview

Advice:

Whatever you decide to do, give it your all and do not go through the motions

Find a career, not just a job. A career is something you want to be doing, a job is a way to generate income

Why should someone want to be a financial advisor

If you have a desire to truly help others, enjoy working with numbers, and are able to converse with others, being a financial advisor is a great option!

Get in touch with Chris Wojick (www.hoopisgroup.com or [email protected])

Guest Profile:

Rama Gupta, Insurance Broker, Kapnick Insurance Group

Studied Human Biology (B.S.) and Public Health (M.S.) at Michigan State University

Things to keep in mind for people who want to work as an insurance broker:

Critical thinking and analytical skills are essential. You need to be able to look at a problem and dive into it to understand the root of the issue

Being very personable is crucial to success

You need to be able to operate on your own and be able to work with other people

Need to be able to understand balance sheet, risk management, safety of the culture, and how the business is set up to analyze client needs

The business is seasonal, as different companies are at various stages in the insurance cycle

An insurance broker is required to do sales

You must develop a level of trust with your clients in order to get their business

Acquiring a license is required to sell insurance

Specializing in a specific area is important to long-term success in the insurance world

In Rama’s case, his book of business builds on itself. The bigger it gets, the larger his base salary becomes

You are responsible for your own salary; if you want a raise, you have to sell more

Insights:

Rama started out working as a pre-med student and had plans to be a doctor. But he realized around age 25 that he would be done with school when he was 34 or 35 and half a million dollars in debt, just starting his life. He realized that wasn’t what he wanted

He was unsure about his skill level when it came to insurance and then decided to take the jump

You always need to be prepared to meet people. Rama met an insurance broker on a trip with friends, which led him into his current role

Continue to facilitate a network because you never know who the right people are and when you will need them

For those that are newer in their careers, 10 or so years from now, your peers and friends will be leaders in their companies

Rama had the opportunity to work in a learning environment his first few months prior to starting to get sales

Don’t be afraid to get out there and give stuff a shot

Rapid Fire-Round:

What Rama wanted to be when he was a kid: Firefighter

Best resource for career-related information: Your network

What helps Rama when he has a bad day at work: Knowing that I have control over my happiness

Best part of Rama’s work day today: Cold calling at the end of the day. Thursdays between 3:30 - 5:30 are the best times to get ahold of busy people

Advice:

Take internships and move away from home, this will help you grow

Focus

Why should someone want to work as an insurance broker?

There is great job security, which pays a very livable wage

Every day is different and there are a limitless number of roles and opportunities for people of all interests

You have a lot of accountability for your actions and your results

You have the opportunity for limitless income as long as you grow your book and keep your clients

Get in touch with Rama Gupta

Guest Profile:

Justin Hubler, Assistant Director of Broadcast Operations, Northwestern University Athletic Communications

Previous Experience: Third Wave Media

Studied Recording Arts at Indiana University

Things to keep in mind for people who want to work in media production:

Use your personal interests and experiences to build out a highlight reel or portfolio

Networking is critical. Build connections with people in all places that you come in contact with

You don’t always get clear direction on your projects, but you need to tell the best story you can

Creative freedom is a challenging dynamic to figure out with the client. The client has the final say, though you need to exercise your creativity to develop the best product

Work in media production can be seem across a variety of digital and physical mediums

A lot of coordination is required across a variety of teams and departments to execute on the appropriate messages - relationship building is critical

It is not easy to remain consistent across a variety of mediums. Must have a keen attention to detail and coordination across people

There is never an easy season, especially when working in media productions for a sports team

Career paths can start in broadcasting or communications

Insights:

It was tough for Justin to stick with his passion in spite of the pressure from other people and society to get a more traditional job; he wanted to pursue his passion of music, and he did!

Justin took advantage of his time playing in a band to develop and hone in on his interest of filmmaking

Despite having an ~1 year gap in his resume between graduation and getting a job, Justin highlighted his experiences and some of the projects he was working on to show he wasn’t just taking time off, but using it to progress his skill set

If clients do not like the work that was delivered, the agency side can push back and explain why they made a decision on a given piece of work

Working in the athletic department focusing on media requires you to be dynamic and flexible to deliver the right message over the correct medium

It takes a lot of people to execute on a sporting event from a media production standpoint

Rapid Fire-Round:

What Justin wanted to be when he was a kid: Architect

Best resource for career-related information: Parents

What helps Justin when he has a bad day at work: Take a step back and realize how many people want the job that he has

Justin’s favorite sport to cover: Football

Best part of Justin’s work day today: Going to a baseball game

Advice:

Create as much as you can, even if it is bad, as you will learn in the process

Never be the smartest person in the room

Why should someone want to be in media production?

It gives you a chance to be right on the cusp of breaking news, and capture the moment as it is happening

Get in touch with Justin Hubler

Guest Profile:

Kevin Horgan, Front End Web Developer, University of South Florida

Previous experience: Vertafore, SNWorks

Studied Computer Science at Michigan State University

Things to keep in mind for people who want to work in front end web development:

A formal education in web development is not required to work in the field - there are a lot of resources out there to learn

Hands on experience of getting into the code and working on a project is critically important for developing the proper skills to be successful in front end web development

New technologies come out all the time, so being able to adapt is critical; and you will never know them all, nor do you need to

Building a portfolio and taking on projects will help you present yourself when looking for roles in front end web development

There is more to the job than just coding - you need to be able to work collaboratively and with others across departments

You need to be able to communicate beyond the technical language to people who are not technical

Working on the front end of a website, you get immediate feedback based on your work

Interview process for web development is often times a kind of test

HTML, CSS, and Javascript are the bare minimum coding languages to know

Insights:

Having a focus on web development in school and through his job provided great exposure to the field

Being open to learning from other members of the business will help you grow as an individual

Adaptability is your best friend for staying current in your field

Starting with the basics will give you a foundation for learning that you can build on in the future

Rapid Fire-Round:

What Kevin wanted to be when he was a kid: James Bond

Best resource for career-related information: Redditt

What helps Kevin when he has a bad day at work: Coming home and seeing his dog Sawyer and listening to some music

Kevin’s favorite experience from his job: Getting to work with his team

Best part of Kevin’s work day today: Successfully launching a campaign

Advice:

Focus on the skills that you have a knack for and work to get as much real-world experience where you can leverage those skills

You are presenting yourself in the interviews, not necessarily the tactical skills that you will use - most of those will be learned on the job.

Why should someone want to be in front end web development

You get to work on technology that is used by a large amount of people every day

It is never boring and is always changing

Get in touch with Kevin Horgan - Linkedin, [email protected], www.kevinhorganweb.com

Guest Profile:

Julie Griffin, People Consultant, EY

Previous experience: Nestle USA, Domino’s, GE

Studied Human Resources in school at Michigan State University

Things to keep in mind for people who want to work in Human Resources:

You will need to deal with challenging, and often sticky or uncomfortable people issues

Spending time developing relationships is a critical function for Human Resources

You have to get used to talking and listening to people

People are unpredictable

Focus on your people first and everything else will fall in line

Some things need to be kept confidential while working in Human Resources, which can feel isolating

Must be able to separate personal emotions from the emotions of your employees

Insights:

Strategic Workforce Planning, Performance Management, Employee Relations are the areas of Human Resources that Julie covers

Strategic Workforce Planning is managing supply and demand

Performance Management is ensure that the right opportunities are identified for high performers to keep them happy, and working and coaching with lower performers

Employee Relations includes anything from discrimination, employee health issues, and anything in-between

Knowing the people you work with and support is essential to success

Julie has a goal to be able to name at least one personal thing about each person she supports (and she supports 350 people!)

You do not need to be outgoing and grab coffee with people every single day to get to know them, you can connect with them during meetings and walks to meetings

For high performers, having a pulse on what they like and dislike about their jobs will help Human Resources what can keep them engaged and excited

Low performers are identified through typical performance management processes

One size does not fit all for performance management, it varies on a case by case basis

Processes for consistently low performers are designed to improve the individual

CHRO (Chief Human Resources Officer) is an opportunity at companies!

Rapid Fire-Round:

What Julie wanted to be when she was a kid: To work on a beach or be a mermaid

Best resource for career-related information: A mentor (and Cheddar Day)

What helps Julie when she has a bad day at work: The show “New Girl”

Julie’s favorite product/brand her company makes: Butterfinger Crisp

Best part of Julie’s work day today: Reconvening with a group of leaders on a recent initiative and receiving positive feedback

Advice:

Go with your gut and try everything in order to learn

Feedback is a gift

Do one thing each day at work that scares you

Why should someone want to be in Human Resources

If you’re passionate about helping people and the human side of business

If you want to make a difference in people’s experience during the 9 - 5

Get in touch with Julie Griffin

Guest Profile:

Ryan Bridges, Corporate Finance, Discover Financial Services

Previous Experience: Corporate Finance, Whirlpool Corporation

Studied Finance at Michigan State University

Things to keep in mind for people who want to work in corporate finance:

You work very closely with other business units

You are in a support function, so you are technically supporting other business units; however, you still get a seat at the table to make decisions

Corporate finance needs to help other business units balance the fact that shareholder value needs to be kept in mind

Influencing your business partners to understand the financial numbers as they are developing their campaigns is a key part of the role

You get to work with people! You are not just sitting and crunching numbers all day long

But you do enter data into systems to run analyses

A critical part of working n finance is providing recommendations. You need to make reports, but business partners value the recommendations

You can hop around in the different areas of the finance world, as there are so many different things to do (treasury, investor relations, and more)

The business pulls employees from the finance department, as they understand the value of the financial perspective. There is opportunity to jump to other areas

Insights:

FP&A = Financial Planning & Analysis

FP&A is a forward looking view of the finances

Finance is ever-changing. Decisions can be made quickly at companies, all of which impact the budget

Finance provides the opportunity to educate others - being able to teach is something that is important

Listening is a critical skill to understand what the business partner is truly interested in and why they are making they decisions

All business partners need to be included when making wide-spread decisions, especially finance. There are impacts for everyone in these decisions

Rapid Fire-Round:

What Ryan wanted to be when he was a kid: Architect

Best resource for career-related information: LinkedIn Newsfeed

What helps Ryan when he has a bad day at work: Chocolate chip cookies and a nice bottle of red wine

Ryan’s favorite product/brand his company makes: Discover It’s LGBT card

Advice:

Focus on the skill sets that you enjoy

Your career is a marathon and not a sprint

Why should someone want to be in corporate finance?

It is a strategic opportunity for companies

There are roles for people with all skill sets and interests

Get in touch with Ryan Bridges