Interactive Marketing Graduate Tells All: Search Guru Mike Glassberg

Comments from Recent Grad Mike Glassberg:

"Who am I?

Hey everyone! My name is Mike Glassberg, I’m a proud graduate of NIU’s (outstanding!) Interactive Marketing program put together by Dr. Zahay-Blatz. I recently started an internship at Modern Marketing Partners where I provide SEO and social media services to clients.

Practicing What They Preach: Glassberg and Zahay-Blatz
 at networking event at Modern Marketing Partners
 in Naperville earlier this Summer.

How did the Interactive Program help me in my current job?

Wow – not until I talked to my colleagues at MMP (who have all graduated within the last few years) did I realize how superior our program was. To start, most other schools still don’t offer specialized education in “interactive” or 2-way marketing.

Our class did a paid search campaign using Google Adwords with real companies, a search and social campaign, and since day on on the job, I’ve been able to speak the lingo: Alt tags, Bounce rate, stickiness, etc. One of the things that really helped in my current job is learning the Wordpress and Google+ ecosystem. As an SEO consultant, it is my job to be able to optimize a website for tags, and the hands-on experience I had as a student was invaluable going into my current position.

What about some advice for current students?

Don’t limit yourself to the jobs at career fairs. I saw so many students get down on themselves because they didn’t get an internship or job offer at the bi-annual NIU career fairs. The opportunities for employment outside of NIU are virtually limitless.

The only reason I received my job is because I went to a networking event with Dr. Zahay-Blatz. My boss wasn’t actively looking for an employee, but after a brief conversation, he (presumably) saw something he liked and went with his gut feeling.

What are three ways to find an awesome job outside of NIU’s career fairs?

1.) Networking – Dr. Zahay-Blatz has a number of events per semester that she invites students to. Step out of your comfort zone and go to one. You’ll meet industry professionals, learn an incredibly amount, and start building your network.

2.) LinkedIn – The 2^nd best way to find a job is through LinkedIn, but only if you’ve done step 1 first. The more meaningful connections you have, the more likely you are to find someone, who knows someone, who can land you an interview.

3.) Huskies Get Hired – This was consistently one of the most underutilized resources when I was a student. There’s a job board online with employers actively looking for students that go to NIU. Take advantage of that while you can.

Thank you for reading; I hope this post provided you with some insight. If you have any questions for me, feel free to reach out anytime, I’m pretty quick at responding through any medium." 

You can follow +Mike Glassberg on G+ or Twitter at @mglassberg2.  I wasn't surprised he has done so well right after graduation as he was active in networking, LinkedIn and Huskies Get Hired.  Most jobs are not advertised so networking is key.

By Debra Zahay-Blatz.
You can find Debra on Google+ and Twitter as well as LinkedIn.

Andrea Mulbrandt's IM Career

Andrea (Andi) Mulbrandt recently wrote me about her experiences in IM. "My first job out of college was selling radio advertisement. I learned a lot in three months at the radio station. I wasn't happy selling just radio to clients. I was always an advocate of an integrated marketing plan that pulled from all types of medias. I was limited in radio to truly advise my clients accurately. I met Kim, the Imagin8 Maketing sales rep, while I was at the station.

Kim approached me in October about an assistant position at a rapidly growing marketing firm. I was thrilled once I found out more information on Imagin8 Marketing. Imagin8 Marketing was created to help companies, organizations and even individuals to help promote themselves by using integrated marketing strategies such as blogging, email marketing, networking, reputation management, social sharing as well as traditional medias. The firm also specializes in website design and SEO. My position was to be an assistant and social media coordinator... It quickly turned into office manager, project coordinator, social media coordinator, and much much more. Imagin8 Marketing has grown rapidly since I started in October of 2011.

Jim Tome, the owner, had been running this firm in his basement since 2008. He was very comfortable with his small, one man business. He brought Kim on as a his first partner. Kim was so great at bringing in business, that they quickly needed more staff. Which led to me being hired. In less than a month after I started, we had an office space in downtown Sycamore and four more employees. We hired two designers, a blogger writer and a programmer.

Imagin8 Marketing is continuing to grow rapidly. We are expanding into all types of industries; medical, home builders, flooring, collegiate sports, etc.

Now, you asked me for my job title; each employee/partner of Imagin8 Marketing has a unique title. This is just another avenue to demonstrate our creativity. The owner, Jim Tome is "The Man Behind the Curtain." The sales rep, Kim Lamansky is the "Social Butterfly." The designers, Meagan Schoenrock is the "Creative Pantoner" and Laura Smoltich is the "Design Hipster." The blog writer, Joeye Davidson is the "Ghost Writer." My official job title is "Trusty Sidekick."

This is a very busy and exciting time for us at Imagin8 Marketing. We have our ribbon cutting tomorrow and open house next week! I appreciate your help in finding quality interns."

NIU's Interactive Marketing Program Career Panel

We had a great career panel last night in Barsema Hall with three outstanding former students. We asked them how they found their job, how long it took, the process, did they have any advice for new grads and a number of other questions. They all took advantage of NIU resources to find their jobs and emphasized the projects from their classes in their job interviews. I was so proud of our recent grads and all they are accomplishing in their careers.

All of these companies are looking to hire recent college grads for entry level positions.

Kevin Cunningham, Marketing Solutions Consultant, 2011: works for Covalent Marketing a boutique consultancy working for the Fortune 500 and has done social media scans and database work. Kevin found his job through networking with a frat brother. From the ELC project where students act as junior consultants he learned he did not want to be pigeonholed and to be a liason between IT and business. The Interactive Marketing Technology course MKTG 470 and the Restaurant.com project were key to his obtaining his job and he wishes he had taken more coding, html or SQL.( COMS 359 is a good fit for learning HTML and the more technical aspects of web design). Kevin constantly learns and uses the netvibes.com dashboard site to organize his information.

Will Johnson, Advertising Specialist, 2010: works for Uline, a b2b shipping supply company in internet advertising, moving to catalogue area and a DM focus and is searching for a replacement so he can move up. Will found his job through 'Meet the Firm' night in a way because he had met the company at that event and when he applied they remembered him. Will delayed graduation to take a search internship at Zebra Technologies and then parlayed the experience into an offer at Uline. Will recommends the OMIS database applications course OMIS 352 for an understanding of how to put databases together from a technical view and how to learn SQL. He found the Google Adwords challenge classroom experience helped him in interviews as well as following up and getting some of the Google certifications. All the guests panelists stressed the importance of looking at data, knowing, how to understand, manipulate and speak intelligently about the company information.

Thorne Washington, Search Specialist, 2011: works for Leapfrog Online, an affiliate marketing, SEO firm that is moving toward agency model. Thorne is a Search engine specialist on the automotive side and writing ad content for Mazda and AutoNation, soon, Kia. He got his job through an Email through the IM Program listserv. Thorne got two offers this way and Leapfrog was a better fit. What really helped Thorne in interviews was stressing the projects he did in his classes; everyone who interviewed him was really interested in the Restaurant.com project and his having had a chance to apply marketing technology tools to a real business. The direct marketing project and its emphasis on Excel was also a help as Thorne manages very large, 8,000 plus rows, spreadsheets for keyword bidding. Thorne has done the Google Adwords certification and pursued that on his own, which impressed his future employer that he was the extra mile and had a passion for the field. Both Thorne and Will read the Google Analytics blog to stay up to date and Thorne has also pursued the Adwords certification on his own.

NIU grad is walking testimony for 'networking'

Kevin Cunningham, who graduates in May of 2011 with our Interactive Marketing Certificate and an undergraduate marketing degree reports:

"I came in contact with an alumnus of the fraternity that I am a part of as I knew that he was in the marketing field. As I became more and more familiar with what he did, I became more and more intrigued with the position available at Covalent Marketing.

Since that Covalent Marketing is such a small company, my first interview was with one of the two partners who is also the CTO. After that, I moved onto interviews with the CSO and the CEO. I was soon offered a position as a Solutions Consultant; things move so quickly and dynamically in a smaller company! The primary clients of Covalent Marketing are Fortune 500 companies and higher.

Covalent Marketing consults in the areas of the interactive marketing department taught here at Northern Illinois University: SEO, SEM, social media, web analytics, and email marketing are all "hot topics" that I will have the chance to learn more about and ultimately impact clients with immediately in the business world. Covalent Marketing also uses many business intelligence (BI) programs and marketing resource management (MRM) tools to help solve client needs.

Established in 2007, Covalent Marketing began when its founders started talking about the state of database marketing in today's CRM (Customer Relationship Management) world. Very quickly, they agreed there was a major void in how many organizations conduct their long-term marketing strategies. In today's marketplace, where the ‘marketing awareness' of the individual has progressed, so have the ways in which organizations can communicate with customers. The founders deeply believe that the next evolution of database marketing resides in building better, stronger relationships with your customers. Needless to say, I am extremely excited."

Congratulations on your new position Kevin!!

Okner Symposium highlights IM grad's success

I talked a few months ago about Will Johnson, who is an Internet Marketing Specialist at Uline, managing several major search campaigns. Dr Labrecque and I attended CADMEF's Okner Symposium at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater last Friday with our Internet and Marketing Technology classes and were delighted that Will was featured on the career panel for recent graduates.

Upon reflection, I think what distinguished Will in his job search was that he was focused and directed and that he explored all possibilities. Will did not just look online. He attended job fairs and networking events and contact targeted companies he thought would be a good fit.

Will delayed his graduation by a semester to take an internship at Zebra Technologies which led right to a job a Uline. Will knew that he wanted search as an initial career and at the end of his internship targeted companies that he thought would be a good fit. Will also remembered meeting Uline at a Meet the Firm night last year and, upon investigating further, saw there were some search jobs open. He was honest and said he had some experience at Zebra and then some experience from our Google Adwords Challenge last year but did not exaggerate. His focus, perseverance and integrity won out and Will is started on an excellent career. Not bad for someone who graduated two months ago. Congratulations, Will and stay in touch!

Interview Tips from Meet the Firm Night at NIU

I heard the following panel speak on career advice for new graduates on Monday, February 7 at NIU's Meet the Firm Night:

Drew Butts, Enterprise Holdings, Matt McClusky, Aerotek, Erin Quinlan, McKesson Pharmaceutical Group, Jerry Keyes, White Lodging

The panel gave some good advice for new graduates and said some things I have noticed myself. One, they said that students on their resumes need to indicate how they can help the company, not what the company can do for them. The panel also said to be careful asking about time off, salary and vacation until the company brings these things up. Asking these questions too soon makes it seem like you are only interested in benefits and not benefiting the company. Finally, I noticed that the panel did not appreciate job candidates that do not do research before the interview. It is great to go in with a problem and possible solution to show that you know what you are talking about and understand the company. Lynn Hazan is coming this week to talk to our students so we hope that she will give us some other great ideas. Feel free to post other interview tips.

Web site for search engine marketing jobs

Heather Priest, a May 2010 IM grad, found the website below the other day. The website tracks and posts job openings in SEO accross the country. There are a couple jobs here in Illinois that some recent grads might find of interest. A person must be a member of the site in order to receive e-mail updates (kind of expensive), but not to see the jobs and get the information on the them. Enjoy and Good luck to those on the job search! Website for Search Engine Marketing Jobs http://www.sempo.org/jobs/

Getting a job in Interactive Marketing

Kelli Hanson talked about places to look for a job in interactive marketing. She and I strongly believe in networking through professional associations, such as CADM, BMA, AMA and CIMA. Joining the groups these organizations have on linkedin is usually free and an easy way to start getting involved. Since 80% of jobs are not posted or advertised, it is important to network as well as look on these job sites. Still, there are hundreds of jobs posted online in this field. It is up to the student seeking a job to figure out what type of job he or she wants and then to target that position and demonstrate his or her value to potential employers. Develop specialized skills that might be needed to get that job. There is no substitution for networking and hard work. Be prepared to send out at least 200 resumes and to be focused but also flexible.Dates to watch out for: February 18: Lynn Hazan, recruiter, 5pm, February 26, Okner Symposium, 9-4. Both events are required for 455 and 470 and will take place in Barsema Hall.