Projects

The assignment was to create a professional resume and showcase skills for potential employers. Learning how to promote myself with a lack of experience was a learning curve for me. I ended up deciding to go with a functional resume, where I highlighted my skills at the top and my job experience below. In the skills section, adding quantifiable data shows evidence to back up my claims and proves I had more applicable experience than I thought prior.  

www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielaevans

The goal of this was to create a professional LinkedIn from scratch. If you follow the link, it will take you to a visual aid of my profile. Similar to the resume, it is meant to highlight my skills and give background for any employers or business professionals viewing my profile. Creating this profile taught me how to deliver a clear and concise message through a combination of visual aids, quantitative data,  and written descriptions.

This cover letter was written with the scenario of me applying for the role of marketing and engagement director at Lotusland, a garden, in Montecito.  On average a hiring member will spend six seconds on a cover letter. The key objective was to keep the attention of the employer and create a connection to the company that made them want to keep reading.  What I learned from this assignment was to avoid submitting generic applications and cover letters. Creating an application folder custom to the job you are applying for highlights enthusiasm for the role and a personal aspect.

To gain practice with design tools, this assignment was to create a logo for your brand. The image had to communicate something about my professional aspirations. With my degree, I want to do something that benefits the Earth and promotes the idea of eco-friendly business practices. I combined this idea with my current position at CI Solutions, a student organization that does digital marketing for companies. A key takeaway from this assignment was implicating design principles and techniques to create visually appealing work and communication.

In this scenario, I was the manager of a retail store chain who had gotten a report stating that customers had a hard time finding employees due to a lack of standard uniforms. As a result, a new dress code was being implemented and this memo was sent out to discuss the rationale, benefits, appearance, costs, and time frame for implementation. Creating this taught me the importance of being clear and concise to communicate. Explaining all the necessary components up front eliminated the amount of questions and concerns later.

The revision process for this report was crucial, as it was being sent out to multiple stores. In between drafts, I checked proper formatting, and grammar, and reviewed the tone of the work. It was clear and concise, yet still demonstrated an understanding of the audience and acknowledgment of any concerns that could be brought about by the new dress code.  Determining who the audience is and how they will react can shape the tone of the paper.

For this scenario, my task was to research charities my employer could partner with and write a proposal for the one that fits the best. The goal was to use thorough research and data to convince the CEO and CFO of the company that this was a good fit and investment for the company. A critical step in this was understanding my company's mission statement and key goals. This allowed me to do research and compare different charity's work. Something that I will take away from this assignment is how important evidence and data are to support your point. Using quantifiable data can save a lot of space on paper, proving points with no room for rebuttal. This will avoid future questions from bosses asking "How so?"

The annotated bibliography was created to show an overview of the sources used for the marketing manager report. Each annotation is a summary explaining why it is useful for the resource list and should be able to stand alone as an overview of the research available for the topic. This taught me the value of clear and concise writing to communicate a message and in this case, establish credibility.  It also encouraged critical thinking in understanding how various works can contribute to the report in different ways. 

The rough draft of the marketing manager report was intended to be an outline with starting point research, but not completed. The objective was to gain clarity of the position in every aspect and be able to explain this to the higher-ups of the company who will read the report. An important aspect that I learned from the rough draft was brainstorming before diving into work. This helped me understand who the audience was and what they wanted to know. Every piece of writing has a message that varies depending on the audience.