This week, Ad Age launched a new blogging feature called “GenNext“. I am thrilled to report that two of my favorite former Notre Dame MBA students (now grads) are featured bloggers. Sarah Ewing and Michael Girts were both standout students, and are now about to be stars in the blogosphere. Since I nominated them for this gig, I am confident you will find their musings of interest. Here are some excerpts from each of their initial blog entries. I’ve included links to their Ad Age bios as well. BTW, Both Sarah and Mike are currently in the hunt for marketing jobs.
Sarah Ewing Ad Age Blogger Bio
Top talent seeks a long-term relationship and will partner with companies whose manners reflect a soulmate, like online retailer Zappos.com. In my interview experience with them, the only prices discussed were potential media buys. Our date included an all-expenses paid trip to Vegas, a trip to the “Soul Doctor” (Zappos’ personal onsite psychologist and career therapist) and a Polaroid for my personal scrapbook. In the end, I didn’t get the job because they were looking for someone with more experience, but had things worked out, I could easily see myself growing old(er) with them (as can other swooning potential employees).
To attract top talent, I recommend these behaviors: 1. Don’t make me go Dutch. Please pay for interview travel. It indicates financial stability and employee value. 2. Don’t speed date. This is a courtship. Get to know me beyond a rote questionnaire. 3. Break up via phone, not silence. Quickly tell me that we are through rather than dragging it out in ambiguity. 4. Value me for me. As an MBA, I know what I’m worth. Although advertising agencies are notorious for paying under industry average, please do not immediately lowball my desired salary. Treat me like a potential partner. Partners require negotiation.
Remember: Any company can find employees. But a charming company who uses these manners will almost always get the most striking partners in the employment pool—and keep them, too. Which do you want to be?
Michael Girts Ad Age Blogger Bio
As I write this, I’m 12 weeks into the 10-week internship [with Leo Burnett]. In other words, they’ve asked me to stick around. I’m thrilled about it. I’ve worked hard all summer long. I like the people I’m working with, and I’m interested in the work I’m doing. Early in my internship, I asked my supervisor if I could take a shot at writing a case study for an upcoming new business pitch. Rather than wait for someone to teach me the best way to write a case, I asked if I could try it myself and schedule time with her the next day to review and improve the case–or scrap it if need be.
Well, I did it well enough that we used the case, and she asked me to write another. And another. And another and eventually, I was the go-to-guy for new case studies. I was meeting one of the business-development team’s real needs. And before the internship was over, I had put myself in a position where it was much easier to keep me on, rather than find some new way to replace me.
The interns that are still around are the same interns that seemed happiest all summer long. For all the talk about the perks and the freebies, it seems that what people really want out of their internship is real responsibility and legitimate work experience. Those people who sought the opportunity for real work–and subsequently seized that opportunity–are the ones who enjoyed their internships the most. They’re also the ones who are still here.
