The Hopkins chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) held its second annual alumni panel on Monday. Five alumni came to talk to students about their experiences with marketing, and to give students tips on how to get jobs and internships in the field.
“Each of the alumni spoke for about five minutes. They talked about their position at their firm, and then they gave some basic tips for students with regard to internship and job search,” Senior Lecturer and Internship Coordinator Leslie Kendrick said. “It was [then] open to a Q and A, which was a little less formal, with students asking questions.”
“I was up there with four past alumni talking about my experiences and recommendations for students,” alumni Cecily Naron said. Naron graduated in the class of 2007 as a Public Health major and currently works as an account executive for Hager Sharp P.R. She works on a partnership development campaign, which raises awareness of osteoporosis in girls.
Jason Budden, who was an Economics major and an Entrepreneurship and Management minor, is now the Vice President of Operations and Marketing at the Baseball Factory.
“As part of the panel, I gave an overview of my position and marketing responsibilities at Baseball Factory,” he wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “I also gave an overview of Baseball Factory and some of the key marketing initiatives at our organization. I also discussed the importance of internships and how students can best market themselves through their resume and interviews.”
“I thought that the panel went very well. The panel members had unique perspectives on marketing and the industry.
The students asked good questions and hopefully our responses and the information we shared was helpful,” he wrote.
The other alumni who talked to the panel included Catie Farrow (Communications Associate at Under Armour), Matt Giuliano (Owner of Lucid Health) and Jennifer Yi (Marketing and PR Associate-USA for J Shoes).
“I thought it went really well,” junior and AMA President Courtney Boger said. “The panelists did a great job of giving students an idea of what to expect, giving them hints and advice as to how to better promote and to market themselves.”
The best part about the AMA networking panel was that students had the chance to actually talk with the panelists about careers in the marketing field as well as internship opportunities at their respective companies.
“I think that holding this event definitely sparked many students' interests in going into marketing. One thing the panelists emphasized was that students of all majors, even the sciences, can land a marketing job. This was very appealing to the audience at the event,” AMA Vice President of Programming Erica Suter said.
“It was also nice having Catie Farrow from Under Armour and Jason Budden from Baseball Factory because sports marketing is becoming very popular among college students. I am glad I had the opportunity to be a marketing intern at Baseball Factory because it was a very hands-on experience, which is extremely hard to find in internships these days.”
Many were pleased with the turnout this year, which doubled from about 20 students last year to about 40 this year, in addition to the eight board members. Students came to listen to the alumni talk and to learn about opportunities to take advantage of.
“In my opinion, the panel was very informative. The [alumni] that spoke had a variety of different jobs in the marketing world, showing the extent to which one can explore the field.
On top of that the speakers gave the audience some useful tips on resume building, job hunting, and interviewing, which, although not necessarily unique to marketing, were useful for us students who are looking to be hired in the near future,” senior Juliette Eisner wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
“Unanimously the panel very strongly stated that marketing is about making your personal skills and strengths work in a specific area, whatever it may be, as well as networking and forming connections in order to get your voice, product or interests heard.”
The AMA, along with the panel, has also only been in existence for two full years. “The JHU AMA is one of the collegiate chapters affiliated with the national AMA in Chicago.
We waited until we had a critical mass, and [until we had] students to want to take this on and run it,” Kendrick said. “It’s almost a business, [involving] running events [and] doing some charity work. It takes a certain amount of commitment to do that.”
“The AMA appears to have grown dramatically since my time at Hopkins. There are more events, numerous networking opportunities, email newsletters and more. The JHU chapter of the AMA has really developed into a tremendous resource for students that are interested in a career in marketing,” Budden wrote.
“The Executive Board and Professor Kendrick have done a great job recruiting new members and hosting various events for the benefit of Hopkins students. The Executive Board seems very dedicated to the AMA and they continue to move it forward in a positive direction.”
The marketing program has grown from one class to five classes offered this year, along with three classes offered during Intersession. There are also now 300 students taking marketing during the year, which is a major increase from when the first marketing class was offered nine years ago.
“[In one of the classes], Advertising and Promotions, we work with this company called Adventure Partners,” Kendrick said. “We actually get a major client, we have a budget, and we develop an entire integrated marketing campaign, a website, [and a] social media. We were mentioned at an ESPN-U covered lacrosse game. We had to do all the behind the scenes legwork.
“So what’s really neat is that students coming through the program now have all of these opportunities to learn through all these different areas with these [marketing] courses, and then, the ones who are going out and staying local are coming back to help mentor the current students,” Kendrick said.
Many of the students in the class have ended up as members on the AMA board. “It’s basically an internship for the semester,” Boger said. “You work with other students in order to help a client achieve a goal.”
Boger feels that the AMA and Kendrick have been instrumental in helping her try to find an internship.
“I’ve [been able to make] some connections among the other board members [and hear about] internships that they’ve had through networking with other members of the AMA,” Boger said. “I’ve hopefully set myself up to potentially get one this summer, which would be nice.”
“I interned for Sesame Workshop, which is the company behind Sesame Street. I worked for marketing there,” Vice President of Communications Patricia Koningsveld said. “It’s a great way to use my membership in AMA to get [an internship] in marketing.”
The AMA has also helped Boger and other students decide what they want to do with their careers. “I definitely think that I see myself somewhere in marketing. After hearing what the panelists were speaking about, I think it would help to gear my resume and to gear my cover letters to what they’re looking for,” she said.
“It definitely was helpful to get a connection. I think it’s always more comfortable to talk to someone who has a position in the office, and who’s at your age level. It kind of takes down that wall[and] allows you to have more comfort.”
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