Recently, I had my first meeting with Holly Robinson where I introduced myself, my goals for a future career and began to take steps to achieve those goals. I went in and presented my love for marketing, digital communications and social media and areas within the creative business realm. Holly quickly noticed a theme and suggested for me to explore jobs and internships using the key words like “public relations”, “marketing”, “social media” and “communications”. This was really helpful as I have begun to see the algorithm on Handshake begin to adapt to my new searches and I have been getting better and more applicable suggestions for job opportunities.
After going through a detailed analysis of what I enjoy doing and what I hope to pursue in the future, we began a more step-by-step plan of what I can start working on now in order to achieve those goals. Firstly, I knew I wanted to apply to summer internships so Holly advised me to get my resume, LinkedIn, and cover letter writing skills in check. For my resume, she looked over my old resume I had that I used to apply to colleges with and a new creative resume that was inspired by my boss Lydia; the creative one was more niche and targeted to more creative job applications. After looking over both resumes, I now know I need to create a standard resume for jobs that contains better descriptions of my experiences and does not include old and out-dated ones. In terms of my LinkedIn, I did not have any information on it before so I have to create a LinkedIn profile for myself that is effective and succinct. I will put down experiences using key action verbs in my descriptions, list down skills, put in a header photo and become an active user. I also hope to get a new and more professional headshot as I start applying to bigger companies.
Additionally, Holly realized my interest in marketing and has advised me to meet up with two seniors who are about to go into the field of marketing. Both Daniel Goldberg and Beyza Sema Koc were both in the same position as me when they were sophomores so Holly thought it would be good to reach out to them and ask for advice on how they got started, alumni that were helpful to them and their experiences within the field. After Holly’s advice, I will reach out to both seniors and I have booked a meeting with a Peer Career Advisor to go over my standard resume.
Finally, Holly helped me search for a few internship opportunities for the Summer of 2024 through Handshake and she showed me resources on the Gordon Career Center website that I had not known about before. On the website, I found resources to make a standard resume, how to write cover letters and more specifically, where I could go for resources that were tailored to students who are interested in marketing and communications. Overall, I was extremely grateful for all of Holly’s advice and I will be reaching out to alumni, the seniors and the several different resources on campus. I left the meeting feeling very empowered and productive; now I know the next few steps I need to take to help me reach my goals!
