Today is a day like any other. I open my PC & dive into my AdWords campaigns, review my current projects and deal with urgent matters. I get as much done as possible because this afternoon I am about to have a new experience that will take me back to my student days: I will be not under, but behind the desk:
Today I am on the jury at IPAC for the Bachelor’s in Communication and Web Marketing.
Upon arriving at the premises, I meet the other jury members:
- Joris, a real estate developer and, incidentally, a longtime friend, who will be uncompromising on the candidate’s commercial sense and presence
- Pascal, a professor at IPAC who will ensure the program is followed and the management calculations are correct
- and me, Margaux, traffic manager, I will bring a marketing and new-media communications perspective.
A panel of 3 highly complementary judges to assign a grade for the oral defense that will validate their bachelor’s degrees …or not!
The 3 students were all on work-study programs and presented the assignments they had carried out over the past year: a marketing assignment for a large sporting goods store group, a business development assignment for a small company based in Annecy, and a sales assignment in the flooring sector.
Let’s start presentation with a few words in english
It was my favorite moment, #sadism: the students therefore began this oral exam by presenting their company in English. If they had known that opposite them on the jury there was only one person who understood them… it certainly would have been less stressful.
It was very interesting and enriching, both from the standpoint of listening to and discussing these assignments with the student and from the debriefing among this jury whose opinions and expectations were somewhat different.
Highlight of the show, I find myself facing the work-study student of a former client for whom I had run AdWords campaigns, so I know her business and challenge very well. She doesn’t recognize me, yet my photo is still on her site. Her challenge is to free up time to handle incoming calls from the e-commerce site.
Ironically, she talks to me about marketing automation, but does not really understand what is at stake: she sees it as a way of communicating via automatic and scheduled email campaigns, but does not yet realize the time savings she would get from scoring her leads: she would invest her time and energy in calling back only the hottest leads. No more hours of sales qualification and blind phone follow-ups!
Showing that the academic exercise has been well understood, combining project management, marketing theories and management figures is very good…
…But in the end, what makes the difference is human qualities:
- What has the student brought to his or her company?
- What added value did he or she bring to these assignments?
- Did he or she simply carry out tasks or step back and reflect on the assignments?
- Is he or she proactive? Curious? Dynamic?
Limits are there to be pushed, so step outside the box!
THINK DIFFERENT #SteveForEver !
Assigning such an important grade, one that validates an academic course, is not easy, especially since we judge the candidate on a 20-minute oral presentation. Taking into account stress, their social background and, above all, their potential for growth.
The mission is crucial, we are validating these young people’s entry into the job market: Would we hire them ?
Great experience: to do again & again!
