Entry Level Careers

A struggle for many college undergraduates is deciding between going to work and getting more education after graduation. No matter your personal opinions, this article from CareerRealism.com gives some pretty convincing statistics about why you should invest in your career early – and helped me reaffirm my decision to take the leap and accept my entry level marketing job with WebLink International.

And as though that article wasn’t enough, last night at our Business Leader Meeting, Lorraine Ball of RoundPeg reiterated the point of investing in your career before going to graduate school. The main reason: If you go directly into an MBA program, you have little real-world business experiences from which to draw. Lorraine shared how much more value she got out of graduate school because she worked for a few years between her degrees. Especially in times of 10%+ unemployment rates it’s easy to play it safe, go back to school, and hope things are better when you are ready to enter the workforce; but, as J.D. O’Donnell says in his article, “I wish [students] could talk with all the unemployed MBAs out there right now who are knee-deep in loan debt.”

Joining the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship is a great way to invest in your career early. The jobs with the Fellowship’s host companies provide Fellows valuable career experience in fast paced jobs – experiences that will allow you to bring more to graduate school discussions and classes (if you decide to go back).

Plus, getting experience in fast growing Indianapolis companies can help make the decision about going back to school easier. Some realize they don’t need an MBA to get where they want to go. Others learn that getting more education is the path they need to take. But no matter what, there is no doubt that during your two years in the Fellowship you will benefit from its unrivaled work experiences and networking opportunities in Indianapolis.

As a young professional in the real world, there are two things that every mentor says will inevitably determine how successful you will be in the long run - "what you know" and "who you know."  The Governor Bob Orr Fellowship thrives off of this mentality.

By taking entry-level jobs in entrepreneurial companies, Orr Fellows learn early-on the importance of hard work and quickly come to appreciate grassroots beginnings.  Although these recent graduates oftentimes begin their careers doing not-so-glamorous work, one thing that allows them to quickly grow their careers is the exposure they get to some of Indiana's finest business leaders.  Orr Fellows, because of the range of responsibilities that they acquire during the beginning of their careers, quickly learn everything there is to know about running small, entrepreneurial companies.  This experience speaks to the first aspect that I spoke about - "what you know."

During the first two years of being in the Orr Fellowship, Orr Fellows spend a good of time in environments that force them to become comfortable interacting with a range of business and political leaders throughout Indiana.  Because of these experiences, Orr Fellows typically develop meaningful relationships with many of these well-known professionals.  Each month, Orr Fellows come together for a Business Leader Meeting where one or two of these leaders speaks to the group about their professional experiences that have helped them to get where they are today.  These meetings are discussion-based, meaning that fellows are able to ask questions at any time during the meeting.  Orr Fellows enjoy partaking in these events because what's more valuable that receiving advice from those that have succeeded in their profession?  Typically, after the speaker is finished, there is plenty of time for networking.  For this reason, the Orr Fellowship is the best networking opportunity in Indianapolis.

Today the Orr Fellowship will be meeting with Lorraine Ball, founder of Roundpeg.  Roundpeg is a small marketing firm based in Indianapolis, Indiana that helps small business become big businesses with the help of effective marketing.  To learn more about Lorraine, check out her website.  You can also hear her speak about her passion for local businesses and the impact we make every day with our purchase decisions by clicking here.

If you've had a chance to keep up with the news, one of the recent headlines is Pepsi's decision to strategically re-focus its advertising dollars that have typically been budgeted for the NFL Super Bowl.  Like Budweiser, Coca Cola, and GoDaddy.com, Pepsi has been known to spend millions of dollars in advertisements during this spectacle that reaches millions of viewers every single year.  So where will these dollars be spent this year?  As you might have guessed, this year Pepsi is going with Social Media!

According to the Wall Street Journal, Pepsi plans to focus its advertising strategy on a "marketing platform" rather than blitzing viewers with commercials during this single event.  So, by using social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to reach consumers, Pepsi will be tapping into a virtual world of endless advertising possibilities.  On Facebook, for example, Pepsi can issue invitations to its followers to participate in a poll.  When someone votes, a message will get posted on their personal Facebook page that says they participated in the poll.  This my friends, is what we are referring to when we talk about viral advertising.
According to one report, Facebook is a virtual treasure trove for advertisers wishing to target 18 to 49-year olds.  Twitter's numbers are a little lower, but impressive, nonetheless.  Social Media Today, however, noted that 19 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 24 have used Twitter or something like it, 20 percent between ages 25 and 34, and 10 percent between ages 35 and 44.  These numbers are the reason that Pepsi has reconsidered their advertising strategy. 

So how does this relate to the Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship?  Well, it just so happens that the majority of our host companies in this entrepreneurial fellowship are start-up technology companies.  Thus, Orr Fellows are taking entry level technology jobs in some of the fastest growing Indianapolis companies.  So what types of things are some of these host companies doing in the social media world?  Well, a 2010 host company, Formspring, has recently reached new heights with their social media application called Formspring.me.  This application is a free, simple service that allows you to create anonymous question boxes for all of your social networks.

Pepsi's migration away from televised Super Bowl ads is a trend we can expect other big companies to follow.  There is far more bang for the buck in advertising online rather than producing and paying for 30 seconds of airtime during one of the most expensive televised events of the year.

For those that don't know much about the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship, it is an Indiana-based non-profit organization that provides jobs for recent graduates in fast growing Indianapolis companies.  Whether you're looking to start a marketing career, an entrepreneurship career, or maybe just a career in business, this is one unique fellowship program like no other.

The May 2006 issue of Human Resources magazine featured an article by Sommer Kehrli and Truy Sopp in which the authors attempted to share tips with older generations on how to manage Generation Y, a group roughly 80 million strong born after 1978 that began entering the workforce five years ago. Often the onus for change is on older generations. After all, we 'Millennials' are coming into the workforce whether current generations like it or not. Why should the 'new' be the ones to change our habits or learn new ones from the 'old'? 

An an entrepreneurial fellowship, we constantly strive to place distinguished college graduates into high growth start-ups. But at the same time, we also communicate the need for constant improvement and learning from industry leaders. Nobody is a subject matter expert anymore and while entry-level jobs in start-ups will help you become more knowledgeable about a specific area, it won't guarantee career-long success. To quote Dr. Thomas Mason, Professor of Economics at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, "to be successful at [an older] age, you need to keep learning." 

Need real world examples? 

Did you major in Public Relations or Marketing in college? Are you pretty confident writing press releases? Cool. BUT, looks like Presslift is a step ahead and that skill set will become mainstream in the near future.

Did you major in Web Design or UX in college? Are you pretty confident designing emails for your company's marketing team? Great!. BUT, Toddle is making email newsletter design and marketing a breeze.

Major in Finance? ChubbyBrain is democratizing your skill set.

Going to Law School? Legal Zoom has the basics covered.

Are you a scrapbooking professional? Yup...the semantic web has taken over this too.

EVERYTHING  is changing. High-growth start-ups and technology jobs in Indianapolis will KEEP changing. Being an expert today doesn't ensure anything for tomorrow. As Gen-Y'ers, we want to be mentored, use new technology, and be given the space to try new things. But we can be too confident, and in the process, atrophy our innate strengths of learning and development.

Your job won't be around forever, and if you don't keep learning, neither will you. The first step is accepting that a college degree doesn't make you an expert. The second is opening yourself up to learn skills, habits, and lessons from Generations past.

Oh...and sign-up to have your tree lugged through TREE LUGGERS or follow our tweets @treeluggers.

This American Life is a radio program out of WBEZ in Chicago that attempts to display what it is like to live an ‘American life’, complete with its dullness as well as its luster. Reporting is not done in the way we see on television or hear on more traditional radio. Rather, the producers attempt to place us into the culture of the topic area; the sounds bites are not ‘bites’ at all. They are actual, full, complete stories that connect the listener to a new set of experiences. This American Life attempts to make the events that mold our being (whatever that means), which makes understanding the experience more transparent. The radio program, at it's core, is about manufacturing an experience.

For example, attempting to paint the picture of Rome to my friends and family when I returned from a tour of Europe was excruciating. My pictures of Trevi’s Fountain did not nearly do it justice. My explanations of the white cliffs of Dover were juvenile. The only way in which my friends could understand the awesomeness of my trip would have been for them to experience it for themselves. In the absence of a shared “experience,” the narrative loses a little bit of sincerity.

The Orr Fellowship strives to create entrepreneurship careers that do more than simply provide post-graduate networking, entre-level jobs in startups, and an Indianapolis job opportunity; The Orr Fellowship strives to create a shared experience among Orr Fellows. Distinguished post-grad jobs are often about putting in time quietly on the sidelines while you wait your turn to play in the game.

This business fellowship is different. Jumping into fast growing Indianapolis companies is not something that most entry-level jobs in Indiana afford a fresh graduate. But entreprenurial companies need driven graduates to help contribute immediately. These companies look to Orr Fellows to help fulfill that need, providing a shared entreprenurial experience in the process.

Click here to find out how you can be included in this experience!

As we near Finalist Day when the class of 2010 Orr Fellows will make their decisions on whether to accept an offer to join the Fellowship, I think it's worth looking at who the Orr Fellowship is for.  Working with high growth start-ups takes a certain kind of person, and it's certainly not for everyone.  Here are a few characteristics that you might want to keep in mind.

The Orr Fellowship might be a good fit if you…

- Are graduating from an Indiana college or you’re originally from Indiana, and you have a strong GPA (preferably 3.5 and above)

- Enjoy working with smaller companies where everything is usually fast paced and everyone has to be willing to help out on various projects and different functional areas like marketing, finance, etc.

- Are someone that is eager to take initiative and make things happen rather than waiting to be told what job you need to do everyday

- Are interested in working in a variety of different roles.  Many Orr Fellows rotate through different departments or work for a company that’s small enough to require every employee to be multi-dimensional.

- Would like to have a network of like-minded peers that you can work on potential business ideas with and get together socially

- Want to work for a fast growing Indianapolis company, and have the ability to get to know executives from other high growth start-ups

- Want to define your own career path by taking on big responsibilities in a small company rather than being a number in an entry level program at a large corporation

The Orr Fellowship might NOT be the right program if you…

- Are hoping to travel and have opportunities to work abroad right away.  Although many Orr Fellows will have the opportunity to take smaller trips through the course of their job, the program is not designed to be travel intensive

- Need a boss to tell you exactly what to do every day.  The most successful Orr Fellows are the ones who take initiative and execute beyond what they’re expected to do

- Expect to be in charge of the most important projects from Day 1.  As an Orr Fellow you will likely have some less than glamorous projects at some point.  However, they’re only opportunities to over deliver and build your reputation so that you can lead major projects in the future

- Base your job search on finding the highest possible starting salary.  If you make it through the Orr Fellowship recruiting process you can find a better paying entry level job in Indiana or elsewhere.  The Orr Fellowship is not for people who are looking for the money now, but for students that are more interested in learning, establishing a network, and getting a great experience so they can advance their careers more quickly in the long term.

This is not a comprehensive list of characteristics that define the Orr Fellowship.  Hopefully it does give you at least a slightly better idea about whether or not the program is right for you.   Among business jobs in Indianapolis, the Orr Fellowship may be one of the best opportunities for college graduates.

This video surfaced last week from Chow.com, a food and recipe site. I found myself at work watching John, the proprietor of Galcos Soda Pop Stop based in Los Angeles, walk me through his store and serendipitously bring me into his world of 'bubbly water'. Aside from his addictive personality, one can't help but be fascinated by the sheer volume of knowledge the man possesses about everything from rose petal flavored soda to his worldwide business development pipeline. It's always refreshing to hear and see someone who genuinely loves what they're doing.

When I watched the video, I couldn't help but think of entry-level jobs in Indiana. Entry Level Careers are often sought by people who want to make a lot of money, manage a team of employees, and take the elevator straight to the corner office. Most fast paced jobs offer entrepreneurially minded young people the chance to win many of those responsibilities. However, high-growth company jobs, and many other entry-level jobs in Indianapolis are about one thing: passion for doing good work. Companies hiring new grads need talent, but more importantly they need passionate talent. One sure-fire result of being passionate about your career is knowing your business inside and out. Jobs at a small company require that everyone contribute, and companies hiring new grads will open their doors to people who are willing to enter a business career in Indianapolis with a fervor for knowledge, hard work, and dedication.

The shipping is expensive, but I'm looking forward to my cucumber soda shipping in from California this week. Case-in-point right there...John was so passionate in his video that I actually ordered a case of cucumber soda. Imagine the possibilities if you began your business job in Indianapolis with that kind of passion...

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, and Christmas around the block, it's difficult to believe that I've been working in the real world for just over four months now.  I can remember like it was yesterday what it was like to look for a job while still in college.  I remember how confused I was as an Economics major who knew I wanted to be in business someday, but you and I both know how vague of a career path business really is.  So what did I look for and how did I get to be where I am today?

Luckily for me, as a senior in college I knew that the economy was beginning to look grim and that the market was probably going to get rough.  To prepare myself for the tough situation, I did my due-diligence and began looking for a quality job opportunity to kick off my new career.  I realized that I lacked specific skills that most large companies would be looking for, and also that I would be looking for an entry level job just like the rest of my graduating class.  However, I knew that I wanted to live and work in Indianapolis as it has emerged a growing hub for small, technology start-ups.  One of my other interests throughout college was entrepreneurship, so I then began looking for entrepreneurial fellowships in the Indianapolis area.  What I soon stumbled upon was the Governor Bob Orr Indiana Entrepreneurial Fellowship.  To learn more about this graduate fellowship, I connected with current Orr fellows to learn more about what the program has to offer. 


So why did I choose to pursue the Orr Fellowship?  There were several reasons, but here are a few:

• the presence of a network of young professionals like myself to share ideas, concerns, successes, etc.
• the pipeline of Indiana business leaders that fellows are given the opportunity to interact and build relationships with
• the position and ability to join a small, start-up company and, through hard work, be able to make an impact within the organization
• knowing that I'm making a good investment in my career by being in an environment that forces me to learn as much as possible about running a small business

So has my first few months in the working world provided me with the opportunities and experiences that were promised to me by the Orr Fellowship?  The answer to this question is a confident "YES!"