According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics many event planners have backgrounds in a array of degrees and skills, but some useful undergraduate majors are marketing, public relations, communications, business, and hotel or hospitality management. Individuals who have studied hospitality management may start out with greater responsibilities than those with other academic backgrounds. At this time they are showing that this field is growing rapidly in 2006 they had 51,000 jobs available and they predict in the next 10 years to have a 20 percent increase and the numbers to be at 61,000. Median annual earnings for meeting and convention planners in May 2006 were $42,180. The middle 50 percent earned between $32,840 and $55,040. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $25,880, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $70,950.
While many people enjoy attending the events, more often than not companies are celebrating these parties in honor of their customers or employees.
In trying to obtain this job I plan to contact the hiring manager of the companies I would like to work for. In doing this I will help them see why I am the best candidate for the job.
With these jobs comes a lot of responsibility. I was able to speak with many people and to come to realize companies are looking for people who are detail oriented and who are able to come up with ideas quickly and to act quickly. With event planning come’s a lot of work and responsibility. Not everything goes the way you want it to and you need to be able fix problems and take care of things that may not fall into place. Experience is a key aspect to working in the industry and being able to work with other people. It is important to remember your purpose and have a understanding of what the company expects.
I was able to speak with Rachel Lewis, the communications director at Workers compensation. In speaking with her I was able to get some insight on what they expect for people applying for a job. She also discussed what her job exactly entails. I was able to learn that the best thing to get involved in public relations is to gain experience and to show them that you have the potential to make something great. Often times you have to start off planning small events and parties and eventually the events become bigger and bigger. She told me that you need to be able to work quick on your feet and be able to come up with great ideas fast. Often times when working in the industry, lots of things go wrong or things don’t always turn out the way you expected and you need to be able to make adjustments and turn things around.
I also spoke with Rachel Keddington at Modern display. She is an event planner for the company and plans a lot of weddings and different events for companies around the valley. She helped me to gain an insight to see that when being hired for a company you need to be available and willing to work nights and weekends. She also discussed the details that go along with event planning and working with vendors and being able to know how much a certain party will cost and how to go about getting your customers the best deal. As time goes on and you have planned a number of events you will start to see what companies are the best to work with and which ones will give you the best deal. She also stated that often times she has 3 different vendors that she can call depending on the quality and budget of the company. She rates them on service. She knows that she can contact a certain company and they may be the cheapest and get the job done but it may not be the best quality but often times when people are on budgets they are often times willing to go a little cheaper. Other companies want the best and are willing to spend the money to get the best service and product. She stated she usually ends up going with the company in the middle who will give her a good deal and still is able to produce quality work. One thing that she explained was that you become very familiar with your vendor and the cost, service and quality of work they provide. Once you have worked with a vendor for a long time you are able to get discounts and pass that along to your customers.
There are many avenues that come with working in the industry and a lot of times it just takes hands on experience to be able to fully understand the industry. I feel that I am being prepared through schooling, planning events and other opportunities to work in the public relations field and plan events.
Objective:
Before I graduate in 2010 I plan to work in the Public relations industry doing internships with different companies to become educated on how different jobs and companies work with the media, the public and community events. In doing this I hope to better gain an understanding of where my skills can be best used. I would love to plan events and fairs for companies but feel that I need to get my feet wet in other areas of the field. I really enjoy writing and would like to widen my skills and understanding when it comes to writing for companies. In doing this I will be a better tool when it comes to working with other people and being an asset to the company and their customers.
When I graduate with my degree in public relations and Marketing I plan on sending out my resumes to a few companies within the state of Utah to gain some experience and a better understanding of the industry. I am hoping that in doing this I will be able to get a job that will lead me into a career. I also plan on contacting the companies that I have interned with to see if they have any job openings and to see if would be able to work for them again.
I feel that companies are looking for people with experience and I plan to get internships over the summer to help familiarize myself with the field and to be able to get a better understanding of what I am getting myself into and to gain experience.
Output Objectives:
- I plan to send out my resume and portfolio to 15 different companies around the state of Utah.
- I will contact people I know within companies and people I know from social networking to help me apply for jobs and locate jobs I may have not found other wise.
- I plan to follow up with companies that I have interviewed with to let them know I am still interested if I have not heard from them within a certain time period. I will also send out thank you notes to any one I have interviewed with to thank them for their time and for interviewing me.
Impact:
- I plan to get 5 interviews from the resumes I have sent out.
- I plan to get job offers from 2 of the companies that I have interviewed with.
- These jobs will be my step stones to help me get started on the career path that will lead me to planning events for big companies across the country.
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