The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has a career fair coming up. In anticipation, Ron Buchholz, Director for Career & Leadership Development at UWW, blogged about how and why students should develop a “self-pitch.” He talked of the perils that come with walking into a career fair without having your “self-pitch” prepared and at the ready for making great first impressions. Buchholz gives a few questions to help students develop their pitch.
I took the time to answer his questions and I’m glad I did. You’ll find my answers below.
Why did you choose your particular career path?
To be honest, I stumbled upon Public Relations and fell head first into a world that excites me.
What excites you about working in this field in the future?
In my short experience, with course work, various jobs and internships, in addition to the professionals I’ve had the privilege to speak with, it’s the variety that I find so motivating. I’m a person that likes to get things done. Finding the solution to a unique obstacle and then organizing the execution of that solution makes me feel accomplished, and that’s something I love. Writing and speaking are things that I love to continue to improve on as well. Every chance I have to work on either is an experience I find thrilling.
Which of your values, interests and abilities best align with what’s needed to be successful in this field?
For lack of better terminology, I’m a go-getter. When I find something that interests me, I’m going to find away to excel at it. I’ve already hit bumps in the road, everyone has. However, when I wasn’t able to land certain internships, I created my own way to gain experience in the field.
What experience do you have that has helped you prepare to work in the field?
I’ve held several jobs and internships that have helped me prepare for life after college. Last school year I worked with one of my employers to create myself a new position as the Student Coordinator of Public Relations for our university’s fitness program. At that time the main focus was social media and creating a channel for two way communication between the program and its patrons.
In the spring I worked with Tomorrow’s Hope, a non-profit organization that helps people and families dealing with life-limiting illness. I worked with a team of students to help the organization establish their social media strategy. It was my responsibility to head up a small task-force devoted to the development of a weekly video blog. The blog was designed to keep the many publics of Tomorrow’s Hope informed of the organization’s progress from week-to-week.
At the same time and into the summer I was a management intern for a company that painted homes. This means I was in charge of marketing, sales, employee recruitment, production management, and all the various communication that those activities required. I had the chance to write the content for my branch website as well as marketing and recruitment materials. From this experience I definitely grew the most in my oral communication and presentation skills. When working on commission learning to sell is huge, and in such a situation you can’t afford to not grow as a speaker.
As the start of my last school year approached I was in search of an internship more public relations specific. I had limited success. The internships that I really wanted, I wasn’t offered and the internships I was offered didn’t turn out to be what they claimed to be. So, when I returned to school I worked with the fitness program to take my position as Student Coordinator to another level. I am now very evolved with event planning and starting in October I will be responsible for a monthly employee newsletter. All of this of course, is in addition to my original responsibilities.
I know my answers are a bit long for developing a 30 second pitch. I figured that it’s better to be over prepared than to be under prepared. That way I’ll have something to continue to talk about with the recruiter.
If you have a blog I’d love to see your answers to these questions. Post them and leave your link in the comments. Feel free to leave your feelings in the comments as well.
I suggest everyone read Buchholz’s post. You can find it---> HERE
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