feb 2011 sa-ama student summit
DESCRIPTION
Recap of the February 2011 San Antonio American Marketing Association Student Summit.TRANSCRIPT
In summary, the Student AMA Summit was a huge success. The wealth of knowledge provided by the keynote speaker and panel speakers was worth the price of admission alone. The opportunity to network with the marketing community also made this a very enjoyable experience and I look forward to the March Summit. Eric B. www.theshowpics.com [email protected]
Nicki Mathis, a recruiter at Rackspace Hosting, emphasized the importance of joining LinkedIn. Not only do you need to be on LinkedIn, you need to keep your information as current as possible. Nicki said she will look at a resume and then search the candidate in LinkedIn to see if he or she has a presence on the site. Nicki wanted to remind everyone in the audience that being on the first page of Google is very important, but it needs to only include professional information on you; spring break pictures should not be the first thing that pops up when your name is Googled. As with any non-cookie-cutter company such as Rackspace, competition for opportunities is very strong and it helps quite a bit to know someone who works at a place where you want to work.
A running theme from the panel speakers was the benefits of an internship and even multiple internships. Diane Huth of Valassis Communications gave the example of inter-viewing two candidates, both with degrees;
however, only one chose to do an internship. She said she would choose the candidate who performed an internship. Diane also stressed the importance of GPA. She said it was a good indicator of how committed a candidate is to success. “What makes me think you can dedicate yourself to a paying job when you can’t dedi-cate yourself to studying and getting good grades?”
Kathe Lehman-Meyer, of St. Mary’s University, also spoke on the importance of internships. During her collegiate studies she completed seven internships, including a stint with the BBC. As a media consultant, she got her start working at one of the first radio station in the U.S. – WGY AM in Schenectady, NY. Kathe wanted everyone in attendance to know that you can create internship opportunities. If there is something you want to do but there isn’t an internship, volunteer your time towards similar functions and be persistent with the company and it will usual work out for you.
This AMA luncheon was held at Embassy Suites on February 24th and included Keynote Speaker John Dickson of Denim Group, LTD. and several panel speakers, including Nicki Mathis from Rackspace Hosting, Bennett B. Grey from TAMU-San Antonio and Kathe Lehman-Meyer.
2011 Student Summit for American Marketing Association San Antonio