Allie is a junior studying marketing here at UNC Charlotte. Last fall, she was selected as one of the muralists to participate in the University Career Center muralist project. The Career Center developed this project to provide creative students with project experience outside of academics or a traditional internship. The mural will be updated every other year, with new students selected each time.
For the inaugural project, students were selected after submitting a resume and portfolio and interviewing with our office. Allie found the opportunity through Hire-A-Niner and wanted to apply because she saw it as a way to use her artistic background while also leaving an impact on campus. Sydney Gallup and Samantha Pfeiffer noted in the interview process that Allie was competent in her teamwork and professional skills. While her portfolio set her apart from other candidates, Allie secured her spot because of what she brought forth during the interview.
Through her time working on the project, she noted that she built her communication and critical thinking skills, two of the eight career competencies that employers look for in qualified candidates. She specifically noted, “I had to be able to work and effectively communicate with the rest of my teammates working on the mural to come up with each design idea for the letters and what each of our plans were. We also had to discuss any critiques or improvements we had for one another that we thought we could make to give us the best outcome possible.”
Projects are a unique opportunity to gain experience while exploring a variety of settings and roles. They are short-term assignments meant to provide new opportunities to students that assist in their career development. Possibilities include networking with new people, learning new technical skills, and deepening specific competencies that are transferable.
“The mural project for me was really a wonderful experience, and I'm so glad I went for it. For me, although the mural project wasn’t based around marketing, I viewed it as an amazing way for me to test and show my creative and design skills, which it absolutely did. Even if something is not directly correlated to what you want to do, getting experience involving skills that are important in that field can help greatly for you and your portfolio.”
The Career Center is excited to welcome Allie back this fall semester as a UPIP intern on the Employer Engagement team. She believes that working on the mural project helped her land the internship for a few reasons, including connecting with Career Center staff, learning more about the organization, and understanding organization culture. She is looking forward to a few things:
Getting out of her comfort zone and learning more about marketing.
Developing her technical skills that fall within the marketing industry.
Using her creativity and critical thinking skills to help assist the Career Center.