Interview Assessments
Interview Assessment 1
Name of Person Interviewed: Ray Harrison
Profession: Vice President of Merchandising and Marketing
Location and Business Name: Cal’s Convenience Inc. in Frisco
Date of Interview: October 17
Time: 2:45
Ray Harrison is the Merchandising and Marketing Manager for Cal’s Convenience Inc. in Frisco, Texas. He oversees all of the marketing strategies and plans for all aspects of the company. He works with Category Managers (managers who oversee different aspects of the marketing process) to create, mainly, printed advertisements.
I went into this interview prepared to talk about a mentorship. My dad had talked to him about the program prior to my interview and Ray was looking forward to mentoring me. We first discussed about the program and the class. This included what I needed to accomplish. We talked about a timeline and my final product for the class.
What intrigued me into starting a mentorship with Ray was when he talked about the new program they are starting. It is a rewards program that will require digital marketing, which is what I am interested in. I’d be able to see the beginning of the program to the end, and see all of the marketing that is put into it. This would be very beneficial in the future because it gives me experience in seeing the startup of a program and how marketing campaigns come together. I’d also be able to meet all of the people involved in this and see different careers involved in this process.
Interview Assessment 2
Name of Person Interviewed: Carly Hartman
Profession: Marketing Strategist
Location and Business Name: Say Yes to Your Dress Boutique in McKinney, TX; She works remotely from Los Angeles, CA
Date of Interview: October 28
Time: 6:00pm
During this interview, I wanted to learn what it was like to be a Social Media Manager for a boutique. The fashion industry is very interesting to me, so I wanted to learn more about how marketing fits into that industry. While talking to Carly Hartman, I learned that she actually owns her own agency. She finds clients and helps them with websites and social media. It was interesting to hear about how she got involved in digital marketing. She started her own fashion company when she was 17 and decided to spread the name of her brand through Instagram and Facebook. She taught herself everything she knows about social media marketing and got a degree in business administration, which is interesting to note as it is not a traditional path to take. I also enjoyed listening to how much she loves her career. She talked about how she loves the creativity and flexibility, which is what draws me to the marketing field. She also said that she loves seeing positive results and helping companies grow. I asked her what she thought of the growth of digital marketing, and she said she thinks jobs will start to decline because it is becoming easier to learn, which was concerning to hear. She said a lot of her coworkers are transferring to traditional marketing jobs. However, there will always be a need for it. Right now, the job is all about teaching brands to use the online media to grow their brand. The information I got from this interview is useful to me because I got to hear from someone who works for her own agency and learn about the challenges she faces. She loves the flexible hours, but finds it difficult to always find clients. Learning all of this information will help me decide what kind of digital marketing industry I want to go into and what kind of work environment I am looking for.