Looking For Recent Grads

One of the most important questions Fellows are asked during recruitment is "what do you actually do as an Orr Fellow?"  We often respond with a simple, 30-second "elevator pitch" relating to the themes of the Fellowship.  This is great for career fairs, but it doesn't answer what we actually do with our lives.  This blog post will look at the last few months of my life, add some pictures for evidence, and shed light on what it takes to be an Orr Fellow.

Working In the Real World

I am fortunate to have Interactive Intelligence (ININ) as my host company for the next two years.  ININ is a leading developer of contact center software (think 1-800 customer service, but cooler) and employs more than 1,000 people.  During my first year, I am in a rotation program where I can become familiar with ININ while learning how I can help the company succeed.  I have spent the last four months working with the Product Management team, in their CaaS (Communication as a Service) department.  I won't go into details, but one of my projects involved internal and marketing research for a new product being developed.  I also help manage pricing lists and quoting tools that span six currencies.  I will soon be rotating to the IT department to take on a new role.

It is hard to generalize my day-to-day activities. Some days, I might meet with my executive sponsor, CFO Steve Head.  Steve has been an excellent mentor and has shared plenty of business knowledge with me.  We also share interests in car racing.  He has even volunteered to take me out on the track in his Porsche (don't let me drive, Steve!)  Other days, might be spent developing new features for our quoting tool.  Since joining ININ, I have met employees from Great Britain, Japan and Australia.  One thing is certain: the greatest aspect of my job is the culture in which I work.  The people of ININ are amazing and the company's "Work Hard, Play Hard" mentality is a perfect fit for the Fellowship.  Whether it's collaborating with my manager or de-stressing on our rock-climbing wall, I love what I am doing and I believe I am making a difference.

Working In the Fellowship World

I am going to be honest here: Fellowship obligations do not feel like work.  We have monthly Fellowship meetings where we reconnect and discuss our progress and goals of the Fellowship.  Each fellow also belongs to a committee.  Purdue grad Branden Burke and I manage our Twitter page.  I have learned an amazing amount about social media from working with Branden and had a blast in the process.  We also have monthly Business Leader Meetings (BLMs) where we meet with leaders in the Indy business world.  Some leaders thus far include Angie Hicks (of Angie's List - read Eric Franklin's article), Scott Jones (of ChaCha), and Governor Mitch Daniels.

Fellows do participate in many other activities outside of monthly meetings.  We partake in several philanthropies to help improve Indianapolis.  Additionally, Orr Fellowship provides an annual retreat for its new members.  The retreat is a fun weekend spent at the Edward Lowe Foundation in Cassopolis, Mich.  Recently, we had the opportunity to support Fellow and CMO of CoatChex, Ashton Chaffee, with the company's debut on ABC's Shark Tank.  Although Andy Simmons and I looked goofy with our CoatChex bow-ties, it was for a great, entrepreneurial cause.

Enjoying a Post-Grad World

Indianapolis has a lot to offer its residents, especially recent college graduates.  Broad Ripple is an obvious choice to go have a beverage with friends.  Downtown Indy and the Keystone Fashion Mall area have nice restaurants and great shopping.  There are plenty of exercise classes and community events to keep us engaged as well.  Many in the Fellowship enjoy concerts regularly at the Klipsch Music Center.  Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan were a few of the recent performers.  Although you won't exactly be living like Jason Aldean with a Fellow's salary, you will have plenty to live comfortably and have a good time in the process.  I've had no problems surviving.

There is plenty to do outside of Indianapolis as well.  Although raised a Boilermaker, I recently ventured to Bloomington to tailgate with Fellows.  The IU Fellows were great hosts and did not harass me too much because of my alma mater.  A group of us also visited Melissa Jackson's lake cottage in Pennsylvania.  We spent the weekend outside grilling, tubing and enjoying the weekend.  Even though I left with many bruises from tubing, the trip was definitely a success (below).

Make Your World a Better Place

In short, there are plenty of great opportunities in the Fellowship.  Within your host companies, you will gain executive mentorship while making a positive impact.  Working in the Fellowship, you will learn from the best Indy has to offer while helping to make the city a better place.  Socially, you will have plenty of chances to let loose while making new friends in the process.  What are you waiting for!? Sign up today.

Still not convinced?  Send any questions to Tyler.Geesaman@orrfellowship.org or find me on Facebook.

That's right, its job application season again. Its the annual time of year that college seniors come to the realization that undergrad school is going to end and they have to do... something. Some people pursue graduate schools while other focus on Entrepreneurship Careers, Indiana Job openings, or even graduate fellowships (possibly the Orr Fellowship...); however, all eventually come to the realization that they need a great resume. 

• When putting your GPA on your resume go to a maximum of 2 decimal places. If you Major GPA is significantly higher than you cumulative GPA then list that as well (it needs to be obvious that that is specifically your major GPA) 
   
• Don't be afraid to include distinguishing experiences. This could include time studying abroad or brief descriptions of your more complicated projects/papers. Just make sure that these things fit in the natural flow of your resume and are not under or overstated.
   
• Do not include stuff from high school, unless they are so ridiculously outstanding that there is no way you could sleep at night knowing that potential employers had no idea how great you were in high school.
   
• Make sure your experience/work history is organized logically. Ideally these sections will flow chronologically because if you planned things correctly, each job/internship builds on the last one, hopefully leaving your most recent experience as the crown jewel on your resume. In addition to this, avoid time gaps in your employment.
   
• One of my biggest pet peeves is when a person just puts "selected" or "completed" said internship on their resume. If it is on your resume I know you worked there and eventually completed the job/internship/program. Your resume needs to be about what YOU have done and what results YOU achieved. No company is going to hire you just because you were selected to participate in a particular program. Companies want to see how you progressed trough an internship and the impacts that you made while there. Sometimes showing how you went about something is just as important as the results. Interviewers know that summer jobs/internships are typically not long enough to make any really significant gains, but they want to see that you have demonstrated the aptitude to get things done.
   
• Make sure you don't sell yourself short or embellish your accomplishments. A lot of times it is plain to see that a person has done some pretty significant work, but their resume does not reflect upon these accomplishments. If you have done impressive things make sure it is known. On the other hand, people can tell if you are trying to make something appear more significant. You don't want to claim more than you really did or use synonyms for every word.
   
• Don't leave dangling words on a line. You should either add words or take out words so there is not just one word all by itself on a line. This is valuable space, don't waste it.
   
• Don't make a resume that is more than one page. I don't care how good you think you are, at this point in time you have not done enough to merit more than one page. You only want to include the very best experiences that are most relevant to the position you are applying for.
   
• There needs to be a balance of good details without jamming some much in there that your resume looks squished and cluttered. You really want your experiences to POP OUT not be hidden in the mess. 
   
• Be sure to have a good balance of activities and experiences. Companies, especially the Orr Fellowship, want to see that you are a well rounded individual that has done well in school, has had good work experience, has been involved in campus activities, has held leadership positions, and somehow finds time to volunteer.

My name is Zac and I am a recent grad from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.  Like many of you, I too was beginning to think about where the future would take me about this time last year.  With interviews and job offers just around the corner, I had absolutely no idea where I would end up come graduation.  But that's not the whole story.

As a sophomore at IU, I decided one day that it might be cool to start my own company.  I mean who doesn't like the idea of being your own boss and setting your own hours?  I would just start a company and the dollars would start rolling in.  It sounded like a great plan at the time so I founded an LLC and began creating Punch Energy Drink.  Well turns out that running a company wasn't as easy as I thought once the new wore off and we had to get down to business.  Within six months we had signed a contract with Anheuser-Busch and we were on store shelves and receiving plenty of media attention.  Things were looking great and I was thinking to myself how easy it was.  We had been featured as one of the coolest college start-ups for 2009 by Inc. Magazine, Fox Business Network ran a story, and BevNET had given our product fantastic reviews.  

However, the 2009 blues hit us hard and with the economy Punch was beginning to be less viable as a competitor among the cash kings within the industry.  We simply couldn't compete at a level that would allow us to grow and stay within our very limited budget.  A co-sponsored Indy 500 car and lawsuit later, Punch had seen better days.  That was my senior year, but I wasn't ready to give up on Punch or my entrepreneurial spirit just yet. 

The Orr Fellowship was the answer I had been looking for and an opportunity that I couldn't pass up.  I knew that they could place me within an entrepreneurial company and that I would be at one of the best places to work in Indiana with a network of people just like me.  The opportunity to be part of a program that allowed me to network with business leaders in Indiana as well as expand my social network while staying involved with Punch, was all I needed.  It was the perfect opportunity for me and it has turned out to be a perfect fit.

Now, as an Orr Fellow, I work full time for Author Solutions Inc. as a Marketing Specialist.  I primarily work with our core brands and partners within the online realm of brand awareness and development, but I also work closely with our product development team.  This is very similar to what we did with Punch and fits me very well.  When we launch new products we have to go through the same process that I did with launching Punch and it is a great opportunity to learn each part of the business.  The Fellowship is a great way to take a step into the real world without having to take a dive into the typical corporate America setting as just another number at company XYZ.


 

People often misunderstand the value and cost savings that effective Supply Chain Management (SCM) has on everything we interact with day-to-day. In fact, over the past 15 years SCM has become the dominant way companies compete. For example, in the early 90’s it took roughly 104 days for a box of cereal to get from the factory to the supermarket (over 3 months for those of you wondering if I do good math). Through optimizing their supply chain, the grocery industry over the past 15 years has been able to save over $30 billion.

On the surface, supply chains seem relatively simple; most chains are only 5-7 ‘links’ long. However, modern day supply chains have become overwhelmingly complex (see image above). The internet boom and growth of sophisticated communication technologies allow companies to reduce material and shipping costs through the strategic sourcing of raw materials used to make ‘stuff’. As such, it’s the job of the supply chain professional to find cost effective and strategic ways to integrate these complex supply chains, reduce lead times, and sync sales channels.

I get asked quite often what I do at Brightpoint. I quip that I answer emails and ship cell phones. Then there is an awkward silence as the supplicant stares at me whilst I conjure up a lay-level explanation of “what I do.” It’s a difficult question for most recent college grads who have found technology jobs in Indianapolis. Much like ‘Supply Chain’, 21st century careers are unique post-graduation jobs, and jobs in fast paced companies are difficult to understand. Try explaining corporate blogging to someone, or why they should pay money for consumer reviews, or why Indianapolis business careers kick ‘SaaS’…it’s complicated. But these types of 21st century and high-growth company jobs, like Supply Chain Management, will be differentiators in a global economy.

The Governor Bob Orr Fellowship provides jobs in startups like Bluelock, Compendium Blogware, Canteloupe.tv, and Oxygen Education. These companies do complex work for a complex world. If you're looking for fast paced, and complex, 21st century jobs, click here.