There’s a wonderful poem that reads: “Oh snail / Climb Mount Fuji / But slowly / Slowly.” My advice is to work hard, find inspiration in unconventional places, and don’t rush it. You will get there when you stop trying to get there. —Joe Chernov

Light at the End of the Tunnel

I finally have an interesting update to share. I officially have an internship! It will be nice not to have that on my plate as I am finishing up semester projects. The company is called Allegiance and they are based in Salt Lake. They want me to start now but school gets in the way of that. :) So I'm "on-call" in the sense that they will keep me in the loop on email and I'll go into the office a couple of times to stay up to speed on the project. School is first and they know that.

My job will be to help them conduct focus groups with their customers and take those results to conduct a market research analysis to help the company know how others perceive their product and how to best tap into the underserved market. They already asked me to fly to Seattle and LA for a day each to help them with their focus groups. I am excited about this because I'll work directly with VP of Marketing, get to travel a bit, get paid!!!! (many of my classmates will probably have to take unpaid internships), and still be able to be part of all the fun here in Utah this summer.

I remember when Bank of America offered me a flyback the beginning of last October for their HR internship. I felt very distinctly not to take it. I didn't know why. It would have been a great internship, with great experience, and with a great location in North Carolina. I am grateful I listened to that prompting even though it created a lot of uncertainty about a summer internship. Life is full of unexpected detours but I am reminded of a phrase one of my religion teachers said: The Lord leads us to the path we would have chosen if we had realized it had been an option. I can testify that has been true for my life. The Lord has directed me and though the path has been difficult at times, it truly has been for my good.

Being the Driver

When I first started MBA school I declared myself as an organizational behavior/human resources major. My background in teaching had given me the skills to excel in this field. Plus, I liked the idea of training development. Overall I thought I was a good fit. But then school started. I went on the marketing trip to Moab and liked what the recruiters were saying about marketing. My marketing class is one of my favorites: integrating theory with practical application. Most of HR is integrating theory with more theory. We have professional seminars and information sessions where recruiters come in and talk with us about their company and usually a BYU grad/former intern explains what they do/did in their job. My honest opinion is most of their jobs sound boring. I couldn't grasp the idea of waking up and going to that job everyday. VP and senior mangers' jobs sound great but I decided I did not want to be stuck in a job I didn't like until the day I could have their job. And lets face it, I'm still hoping for the whole mom thing. So what to do...? I am in contact with someone at Apple and he described the differences between marketing and HR: What I do think marketing provides is a chance to drive the boat. HR hires the captain and makes sure he has good Medical and a Personal Development Plan, etc, but HR doesn't get to drive. Both roles are important...it just depends on whether or not you like driving! My career assessment I took for the career center also said, "You also have a high interest in Creative Production, one of the core activities in business work. You enjoy bringing something entirely original into existence -- whether it's a product, marketing plan, way of delivering a service, or entrepreneurial venture. Whether you work as a manager, executive, or individual contributor, acting creatively is an important part of your work satisfaction. You find the initial, creative stages of projects much more stimulating than later "maintenance" phase, so a job that may have been a good match at first may feel less and less satisfying over time. In fact, many people with a strong interest in Creative Production change jobs more frequently than other people for this very reason -- not because of an inability to persevere or make a commitment." What does all this mean? I want to drive the boat! So now I am actively pursuing a marketing career, something I never planned on doing, never even considered, but am completely excited about.