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To:

Dr. LeeAnne Kryder

From: Christina Putrov Date: February 19, 2014 Re: Informational Interview

MEMORANDUM

For this assignment, I interviewed Lindsay Larson, a psychology major who graduated in 2012. I had trouble finding her contact information on LinkedIn but her profile had listed her current job as management trainee for Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I gave the store a call and left a message for her to contact me if she was interested in being interviewed. She texted me and we set up a meeting for 11:00 at Peet's Coffee on February 11. Rather than having a formal interview, we had a casual half-hour chat. Business Communication After gushing about how excited I was to be a part of the minor, I asked Lindsay what she had found to be most rewarding during her experience. She believes this minor truly helped prepare her for the real world workplace and gave her a leg up on the competition. The internships were a large part of our conversationher time at NLC productions, PsychAlive, and Sprout Up (formerly known as EENG) provided her with a hands-on, firsthand perspective.

In Lindsay's opinion, having a website and an online portfolio have been very helpful for her when she was looking for a job. She says it shows potential employers that she was tech-savvy and was up-to-date. Of the programs used during during the minor, Lindsay thinks Excel is the most useful and believes lessons should be added to the curriculum. Overall, she was impressed with the caliber of students who were a part of the minor with her as well as the material taught and presented in class. She stated that having the minor on her rsum really made her stand out and even went so far as to say it was more helpful than her major.

Don't be afraid to get your foot in the door.

Materials When I asked Lindsay how frequently she used her skills matrix, she let out an embarrassed chuckle before hesitantly replying with Never. She said she never really had much of a chance to incorporate it onto her resume because she was hired just two weeks after graduating from Kryder 2/19/2014 Page 2 UCSB. However, she stressed the importance of the website and the webfolio, claiming it helps potential employers easily access your content and provides a lasting impression. She believes creating a business card really helped her career-wise because it serves as a tangible reminder to the interviewer. She continued to say that a strong cover letter is without a doubt one of the most important pieces to include when applying.

Lindsay thinks LinkedIn is a necessary requirement for anyone in the business world as it provides an easy medium for updating one's rsum and keep potential employers aware of your recent activity. Lindsay shared with me that she used LinkedIn to contact former BizComm students and expand her social network in order to land a job. She said it's important to be brave enough to connect with potential employers on LinkedIn as well. Her take-home message to me was to expand social networks, both online and offline.

The alumni I interviewed told me to always wear a watch to interviews...it shows you are timely and sophisticated.
UCSB During her time at UCSB, Lindsay studied abroad in England for a semester during her junior year. She found the experience to be enriching. Lindsay stated she gained a greater appreciation for art and music and that visiting another country really broadened her interests, enough for her to return to Isla Vista and find it to be rather unfulfilling. She was not a part of any Greek life but she did maintain a job at Rec Sports for two and a half years.

She had intended on going to graduate school for psychology to become a Marriage and Family Therapist, but she said plans changed. Lindsay stated that aside from a writing portion on the GRE, she hasn't had to take any placement/entrance writing examinations for jobs.

Everything
Present

falls

into

place.

As mentioned earlier, Lindsay did not have much time to transition out of the college lifestyle because she was hired at ADP just two weeks after she graduated. After spending a year with the company, Lindsay began looking for other opportunities. She interviewed with a company that really liked her but could not hire her due to her lack of experience. Instead, they referred her to Enterprise and thus landed her current position as Management Trainee. She has been there for Kryder 2/19/2014 Page 3 six months and announced her most recent promotion to Assistant Manager starting in June. Lindsay hopes to ascend the corporate ladder and become Regional Manager in due time.

Her current job doesn't require much writing, but she is hoping the position of Regional Manager will offer her the opportunity to, such as creating pamphlets. Lindsay's job at enterprise is very social and people-oriented. Her job entails occasionally taking people to/from their destinations (she joked she felt like a taxi driver), typing up tickets and receipts, and using Excel to log customer information.

Let
Advice

go

and

go

with

the

flow.

Lindsay shared tips and tricks for the remainder of college and beyond. These include: Taking advantage of the career fairs Staying in contact with former professors Expanding your social networks Joining a softball league or some sort of cohesive group to make new friends Playing things by ear Understanding plans change Diversifying your skills for various positions Maintaining a positive attitude Having fun at the workplace

Sum

Traveling if possible

Lindsay resides in Santa Barbara with her boyfriend and their dog. She is comfortable with her career path and looks forward to the future opportunities that will come her way. Lindsay can be reached via email at 90LLarson@gmail.com. I learned that hands-on experience is very valuable in today's workplace and that looking for a job is increasingly growing more competitive. Lindsay told me that it's important to stand out as much as you can to your potential employer and to never be afraid to get your foot in the door.

I feel more at ease as graduation approaches. Being accepted into the minor has definitely given Kryder 2/19/2014 Page 4 me an edge on competing applicants and has already shown me which steps to take to succeed in landing a job. Holding an informational interview with an alumni helped me gain a sense of perspective and direction. I feel that by the end of the Business Communication program, I will have developed a sense of confidence for the job market and the professional workplace.

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