Throughout my life I have wanted to pursue many different types of career paths. From starting out as wanting to be a social worker, to a sports psychologist, to a special education teacher, to now a marketing major with an emphasis in the hospitality field, who knows where I’ll end up long term. One thing I know for certain is that I will never be in a career path that doesn’t involve me helping others. All my life I have devoted and dedicated my time towards creating a better way of being for others. It was no surprise to see that after taking the Clifton’s Strengths test (which I discuss below), four out of my top five strengths were relationship building based.
I have always worked best in a work environment with the ability to live in the moment, with each work day assuming its own life. When I was a Youth Recreational Leader for Kent Parks and Recreation, each day was a new activity and a new learning experience with the kids. Creating new lessons and demonstrations on how they can build a healthier life was very exciting, for I never knew how the kids would react. Working for Costco was another new experience of each day being different and because of the amount of people I served, no one customer was the same, making for each day’s interactions to be very different.
Being part of a team in the workforce is also of huge importance to me. I work best when in a group because I enjoy understanding all team members, supporting them, and helping them work together in a positive and productive way. I am very skilled at listening and listening to the feelings of others so I can help others’ issues become clearer, and help them be less conflicted with everyday struggles that could present themselves in the workplace. Being the Vice President of Campus Affairs for my sorority taught me a lot about the value of listening to others and listening to what their needs are in order for me to work with the rest of the executive board to come up with events and solutions our members needed. Working as a Cougar Connector helped me focus on the needs of potential new students in their college search and allowed me to rely on my fellow teammates and other connectors to teach me and help me learn all that I can about the university, which I then could pass on to potential students who were visiting.
Over the years I have worked and volunteered for many jobs involving an environment that promotes building friendships and serving others. I find that in positions where I am encouraged to build meaningful relationships with others is one that I thrive in. While volunteering for the Special Olympics, it is always important to build a relationship with the individual I work with in order to create trust so that the individual can continue moving forward in their athletic and personal endeavors, while knowing they have me to lean on and assist when needed.
Responsibility is another huge importance in my life. Finding a career where I am able to have a manager and coworkers who trust me to follow through is very crucial. I strive to be able to show my team that they can count on me to carry out more responsibilities as times goes on, and that I am focused on creating the best outcome possible. As both Vice President of Campus Affairs and Director of Community Service, I understand the importance of responsibility and being held accountable for not only planning and carrying out events, but also by having to hold over 184 members accountable for completing service hours so our sorority wouldn’t be punished.
Whether my career path launches in working for a hotel, planning events, or performing marketing analytics for a large company, I know these core work values of mine will stand strong and guide me towards a work life that is both productive and fulfilling.
Top 5
Clifton Strengths
The Clifton Strengths serve as a framework to help individuals see how their strengths contribute to groups or teams, how they work with others, and how they get work done. Each strength has its own capability and advantage and can be useful to encourage the individual’s team to think about how his/her talents help him/her execute tasks, influence others, build relationships, and absorb and think about information. These strengths also explain how individuals contribute to groups or teams and can be useful for thinking about explaining how others’ talents affect others.
Below are my top five strengths in order and a brief explanation of how those strengths best represent and apply to me.
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Positivity ~ People who are talented in the Positivity theme have an enthusiasm that is contagious. They are upbeat and can get others excited about what they are going to do.
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Empathy ~People who are talented in the Empathy theme can sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others’ lives or others’ situations.
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Relator ~People who are talented in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.
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Responsibility ~People who are talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.
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Adaptability ~People who are talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.
vALUES PYRAMID
After reviewing many of my personal core values, the 3 values that are most important to me are family, compassion, and integrity.
To the right are specific examples of actions I have taken that show each of these values and the result of what each action was.
Family
ACTION:
Family comes first, always.
RESULT:
I have chosen to sacrifice much of my personal time to be there for my family and support them in all that they do. I have supported my sister throughout her dancing career and have never missed a state competition, performance, tryout, or celebration. Showing my love for my family through my dedication of supporting them has allowed for me to have a deeper, more trusting connection with my family, and has allowed for more fulfillment and joy within my life. Without my family I wouldn't be where I am or the person that I am today. I cannot thank them enough for all they have done for me and choose to put them first in all that I do too.
Integrity
ACTION:
Hold myself to a higher standard when it comes to my interactions with others.
RESULT:
When meeting new people, I have always found it important to have an open mind about others and what they could be going through. I hold myself accountable to not judge others and treat everyone the way I want to be treated. I always respect others, even if our opinions may differ. I do my best to honest with myself and others about my goals in life and what I am looking for. I listen to others and have patience when hearing their stories or about their experiences in life. Because of these choices I make, I have found that I am able to develop more meaningful relationships in the professional and non-professional world.
COMPASSION
ACTION:
Choose to love and care about everyone around me, regardless of race, gender, class, ability, etc.
RESULT:
Over the years I have applied my compassion towards others and turned it into a passion for working with people with intellectual disabilities. Showing compassion and working with these amazing individuals has allowed for me to open my heart to all those around and has given me a greater joy and purpose in life. I believe that being kind to others should not be a chore or hard to do, but is a choice that comes naturally for me. No one person is the same and everybody deserves someone to be there to care for and listen to them.
What I LEARNED
Wunderman is a company that is able to combine technology with real human needs and wants in the marketing world. They are able to give people and clients what they want when they want it most by using new thinking, new structures, and new strategies. They explained to us how marketers have many reasons for hope and optimism and once the tools and people are in place, there are no limits for what Wunderman and their clients can accomplish.
For example, they showed us a campaign they used for Paul Mitchell centered around women who had just experienced a break up. The campaign was all about bringing these women in and giving them a makeover with their products in order to give these women a new sense of life again. This was really fascinating how Wunderman was able to take the needs of a particular target audience and cater to their needs and create a branding and advertisement for women all around just like them looking for a change. Wunderman is driven to make changes that will not merely sell products but improve the lives of their consumers, which is just a matter of setting up everything right and connecting the dots.
ABOUT WUNDERMAN
During my Study Abroad experience in Prague, Czech Republic, we went on a business tour to Wunderman, a data analytics company located in the city. Wunderman is a leading global digital agency that combines creativity and data into work that inspires consumers to take action and delivers results for brands. They use data and analytics to identify ideas that inform creative campaigns with the sole purpose of inspiring people to take action. Wunderman realizes that to engage today’s consumers, that brand must understand and deliver content, experiences, and information across channels at the right moment in time. Wunderman is a ‘team first’ culture, committed to creating an environment where people come to do the best work of their careers. Wunderman also positions themselves to be able to integrate the right capabilities that build deeper one-on-one relationships to deliver results for their clients.
HOW I WOULD CHANGE MY EXPERIENCE
One thing I wish I would've done to prepare for this cite visit more would be to do more extensive research on what Wunderman stands for and what their long and short term goals are before going to the visit. Being a marketing major, it is very important for me to be looking at these long and short term goals in order to decide if I would be a good fit for the company in the future. Because four out of my top five Clifton strengths are in the Relationship Building field, I wish I would've also researched more about their company values and company culture to see if their clients and their creative teams would be a good fit for me.
For example, after doing more research once the visit was done, there was an entire page on their website dedicated to how they are going to improve their business and quality of product in 2019. This information would've been helpful to know before the presentation so that during the presentation I could've asked more questions focused on how they are going to tie in their company life with their clients, all while adapting to the ever changing technological world.