By Ainsley Kilpatrick
When children are asked what they want to be when they grow up, instinct tells them to say what they genuinely want to be. They will say jobs like ballerinas, police officers or even zookeepers: all directly reflective of a childhood interest or dream. Without the knowledge of how much their quality of life depends on their job, their answer comes from the simplest of ambitions inspired by innate passions. These passions carry all of us through the education system and now, as we progress into adulthood, they are reflected in our internship and job searches.
The education system encourages the art of specialization: finding the unique subject that a student can excel in and love. I have identified as a writer since I could spell, and therefore focused on English literature classes.
As society has developed, however, it is not merely enough to be good, or even to excel in your subject of choice. You nmust now discover why your passion is unique.
The unemployment rate for college graduates is currently 3.1 percent, inspiring students to try to get a jump-start on employment with internships. In the search for an internship, an employer will get hundreds of applications, and they will all present similarly mundane work experience that requires only a basic high school education. It is unlikely your credentials will help you stand out. The job search is now about branding and marketing, and with minimal experience, undergraduate students market their passions and how their passions are unique and desirable to the employer.
Marketing standards require students to get creative with how they “brand” themselves in resumes and on social media sites like LinkedIn. To do this, students may want to turn to recent marketing campaigns by businesses and charities.
As we saw with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge among other trends, creative use of social media is a boundless source of free advertising for any organization. The ALS Association saw a 3,500 percent increase in donations in the period of time that the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral on Facebook and other social media sites when compared to donations from the same stretch of time last year.
Another organization called the Mineko Club used a creative campaign to fundraise for the Kamine Zoo in Hitachi City, Japan. The group took the toys from lion, tiger and bear habitats, wrapped them in sheets of denim and then returned the toys to be torn into by the animals. They created a naturally distressed look that designers have been employing in jean design for the past decade. These jeans were then auctioned off this past July, with the Lion model going for $3,500.
Fatim Lelenta, a career counseling intern at Career Services, explained how creative marketing can work for students; “When searching for a job, developing relationships and networking is key.”
When asked about how creativity and marketing expands into how students present themselves, Lelenta said, “Following professionals in your field [via social media] and being plugged in and aware. Also creating something, so if there is a club that does not exist, creating that. Or if you create a blog that relates to your interests… this can help you stand out.”
These are small ways of advertising yourself and creating an Internet presence that could make you stand out to a particular person in a field of applicants.
I am not saying it is time to pull an Elle Woods and start printing resumes on scented pink stationary, but the process of following your passions now includes wrapping them in a nice bow.
Ainsley Kilpatrick, FCRH ’17, is an undeclared major from East Greenwich, Rhode Island.
