It’s that time of the month again, here’s another Featured Career for you guys!

Please welcome Rachel! I’m especially excited about this months featured career because Rachel’s job is very, very similar to mine. We both work as Account Executives at PR/Marketing agencies. So for all of you that were wondering what I do for 30 hours a week, Rachel more or less answers your question in this blog post!

1. What exactly is your job and job title?

Account Executive & Social Media Specialist at AGP & Associates

2. Describe a typical day in your work life?

A typical day working at a marketing communications firm can really vary. I change tasks often throughout the day and sometimes am pulled into meetings at random. But, here is a taste of what I do:

• Write news releases and copy for marketing materials, such as direct mail, marketing e-mails, newsletters, landing pages, advertisements
• Perform research for various projects. This can range from finding the perfect stock photos for a series of ads to checking up on what a client’s competition is doing in the social media sphere to compiling media lists.
• Research new business, create presentations and pitch to potential clients.
• Meet with other members of the team to determine which social media strategies would work well for our clients.
• Write proposals and tactical plans, especially when related to social media.

3. What’s your favourite thing about your job? Least favourite?

I love the variety of working at a firm. Additionally, since I work at a small firm, I get the opportunity to get very involved on a lot of different projects.

My least favorite aspect lately has been dealing with salespeople. Since I compile media lists for advertising, the ad sales people at magazines are constantly “following up” with me. The constant interruption of phone calls wears on your nerves.

4. How did you end up on this career path?

At our PRSSA spring conference at Central Michigan University during my freshman year, I listened to a professional talk about working an a PR agency. It sounded so exciting, so I job shadowed at the same agency during my sophomore year. After being an account executive in our student-run PR firm and interning at both Fahlgren Mortine in Columbus, Ohio and at AGP, I was positive that I wanted to launch my career at an agency. Someday I’d like to start my own agency.

5. What is something about your job that people wouldn’t expect?

Sometimes the tasks I have to do are completely random. For example, last week I was a hand model. I held a product for the graphic designer to take photos. At a small firm, you play a role in literally every aspect of the business.

6. If you could describe your career in one word, what would that word be and why?

Evolving.

Not only is the field of communications evolving because of social media and the changes in traditional media, but my role is constantly evolving as my skills grow.

7. Anything else you’d like to add?

In addition to my job at AGP, I freelance as the managing editor of Vision Mid Michigan. My job as an editor has given me a chance to see PR from the other side. I receive news releases and have to determine their newsworthiness. I also manage a team of freelancers, which can be a challenge. But, I absolutely love the job and how it has helped me grow my skills.

I totally relate to her answer to #5! Sometimes I get to do really random (but fun) tasks. This week I am staining our deck chairs. A few paid hours spent in the nice sun painting and away from the desk/computer? I’ll take it!

Question for the readers today is:

If you could describe your career in one word, what would that word be and why?

This week is insane for me. I’m trying to get caught up on all my stuff that is happening NEXT WEEK also because my Dad, brother and Eric are going to be here this weekend and it will be a weekend full of moving!

Earlier today I marked “All as Read” in my Google Reader and thought, I think I’m going to step back from blogging for the rest of the week. I need to focus on school/work/running/packing etc. But, here I am, at 10:18 PM on Tuesday night writing a blog post when there are a million other things I should be working on.

Can I just add that 10:18 is late for me. I try to be in bed by 10:00 PM by the latest. But, here I am. And I have my alarm set for 5:00 AM tomorrow. Staying up late and getting up early is not ideal and definitely not something I could sustain long-term but it’s basically what I have to do to get everything done right now. I literally have to tell myself “4 weeks, 4 weeks, 4 weeks” over and over again throughout the week or I feel like I might have a nervous breakdown.

I don’t want to get too much into it until my degree is safely in my hand; but, basically, I hate my program. It’s not challenging, it’s not fun, it’s not teaching me anything. Every single day I go to school and hate my life because there are so many other (better) things I could be doing with my time. I enjoy my Public Relations and Marketing Communications classes but even they don’t challenge me the way I want to be challenged. As for my other classes, well to put it bluntly they really, really suck. I honestly wouldn’t recommend this program to anyone. And that makes me sad because it’s something I’ve wanted to do for as long as I can remember.

And I’m not the only one that feels this way, a lot of my classmates also feel the exact same way and like we are basically throwing money away. Oh well, at least we get a nice, pretty piece of paper at the end right? I mean, it’s only worth about $30,000. No big deal.

OK, that’s my random little un-planned, un-thought out rant for the month. I hate school. I can’t wait for it to be over.

Four weeks.

Your turn. What’s eating you this week? Rant to me in the comments? Also, is this just a case of senioritis? Did anyone else experience intense hatred (and I’m not using those words lightly) towards school in their last year?

PS: Happy St. Patty’s Day! Party-party?!

Having trouble setting goals for yourself? Follow the SMART method:

{Image found here}

Well, it’s that time of year again. New Year Resolution time. New Year, New You right?

Don’t forget that making professional resolutions – resolutions relating to your career  - are just as important as resolutions relating to your health and wellness.

Here are my Professional Goals for 2010:

1. Complete University and receive my undergraduate degree

• This may seem like an obvious one since I’m done school in the spring but like they say, ‘it ain’t over till it’s over’ so my main goal is to receive my undergraduate degree come spring.

2. Continue freelancing and build a larger client base

• I need to network/market myself more and apply for more opportunities.
• I’m currently working on creating a professional website for myself and I plan on launching that sometime this week. I’m hoping this will be helpful in reaching out to possible freelance clients.
• Right now I have a small freelance client base but I would love to increase it and ideally, by the end of the year, I’d like to be bringing in $500-$1000 from freelance revenue (about double what I make now).
• I need to network more. I know this. I’m going to work on this a lot over the next 12 months.

3. Write, write, write and write some more

• Through this blog and freelancing I want to continue writing as much as possible and maybe (maybe?) even start working on some ideas for a novel. 
• Look into taking a creative writing course.

4. Grow my blog traffic and start gaining some revenue from it

• I love this blog a lot and it is definitely my baby – I put a lot of time and effort into it so it would be great if I could get a little bit of ROI from it. Except, other then google Ads I really have no idea how to do that. Any tips?
• Right now I receive approximately 3,500 page views a month. I’d love to double that by the end of this year and grow my blog traffic by 40-50%. So, if anyone has any tips for how to make my blog better, I’d love to hear them!

5. Learn as much as possible about marketing and communications

• I want to learn more about creating strategic marketing and communication plans for companies and learn more about website design.
• Right now my title is Account Assistant so I assist the Consultants with projects, by the end of the year I’d like to be closer to being able to manage projects on my own.
• I also want to expand my knowledge and experience with social media as a marketing/communication tool.

6. Take a course in website design/writing HTML

• Come Fall, I’d like to take a night course in website design and HTML.
• Practice the things I learn on this blog andmy other site (once it’s done) so that one day I’ll be able to offer the services professionally.

Do you set professional goals? If so, what are your professional goals for 2010?

Also, I’d like to use today’s discussion as a platform for advice; so if anyone has any advice for me r.e. my professional goals or would like to offer up advice to any of the other commenters please do so!