The recruiting event is a great experience for both the agencies and the aspiring students to get an inside look at eachother. On the student side, there is representation from the New Media Design and Development programs, Graphic Design, CG, photography and more. Every year, agency representation ranges from our NYDD neighbors (Brooklyn Digital Foundry, Big Spaceship), Manhattanites (Firstborn, Barbarian Group, Lux), and companies from as far as San Fran (Odopod). Valuable as the event is for seeking fresh, excited talent, it is also fascinating to hear back from the students.

As we’ve grown and earned respect within our industry, internships with Carrot have become more coveted. We’re approached because of our unique balance of work and play; culture first, always. R.I.T. kids work extremely hard (I would know!), often at the expense of the type of fun you might typically expect from major universities—particularly given the intense trimester system. The students in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences exist in a uniquely creative environment. From fluid critique process to camaraderie and collaboration on projects, Carrot practices a lot of what is second nature to them. Through long hours in the trenches of school work, they build a family culture and that is something we pride ourselves on here at Carrot, making the segue to actual careers a little friendlier for those who join our team.

On the flipside, we find that most of the students we meet are grateful to have fresh eyes from the “real world” to provide a critical look at their work. During our conversations over portfolios, Steve and I both made a point to appraise projects on creative thinking, execution, but also practical application. What brands would do something like this? Or, more accurately, what brands would the idea provide value for, particularly to showcase their leadership and connect with their fans/ users/ customers on various platforms? Most of the student projects are problem and task based, not generally geared toward clients. According to the students, professional assessment is a refreshing and extremely valuable experience. Appraisal from classmates and professors is valuable but offers only limited feedback over time, particularly for students who are finishing their third and fourth years and have become accustomed to recurrent opinions and viewpoints.

At the end of the fair, students are spent from mental overload and dreams of the future, while agency reps are exhausted from the constant conversation and feedback. Arrangements are made through email for future discussion and sometimes for meetings the next day with choice candidates to chat about internship or career opportunities more in depth.

While Industry Day is very positive experience overall, there are a few final thoughts and tips worth mentioning, for the students we see next year:

• Graphic Design students are limiting themselves heavily by not pursuing more digital curriculum. While R.I.T.’s Graphic Design program is extremely good training in principles, typography, etc., it is clearly failing the students when it comes to practical, modern application. We have come to rely on New Media candidates or students who have logged hours between both programs, for viable recruiting. Embrace classes in web and mobile!
• Be prepared. Research and reach-out to agencies ahead of time to get on their radar – sorting through dozens of names and resumes after an intense day means that any pre-scheduling you can arrange will give you favor in agency awareness. Don’t wait until the night before to put your portfolio up – most agencies browse the student attendees weeks ahead of time and make informal hit-lists in advance.
• Be social. In this industry, being a nerd and having niche interests is ok! DO: Tweet in line with your interests and at agencies you like. DON’T: Keep your tweets protected (locked), or use it in a manner that would give you reason to. Follow up with agencies you interview with, and connect on LinkedIn.
• Ask Questions. Use the opportunity to evaluate the agency as much as they are evaluating you. Ask the right questions about their work, who they work with, where they’re located and why. You’ll be a lot less thrilled to find your “dream” agency has a big oil client after you have started working there.

We’re already excited about our top choices for summer interns and will be following up with them very soon. If you missed out on Carrot swag, please shoot rianna @ carrot creative dot com and email and we will hook you up Thanks again to Adam Smith for inviting us, to Chris Lyons for guiding upcoming graduates, and to all of the students who came by to talk. See you next year!

This article is copyright © 2012 

Recently I had the privilege of participating in a groundbreaking social media study underwritten by Cisco, spearheaded by one of my mentors, Dr. Neil Hair and sponsored by my Alma Mater,  Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the University of Navarra. The comprehensive global study sought to better understand how consumer-based social media tools effect both interpersonal collaboration within a corporate setting and external communication with key stakeholders.

The direct impact of this study is not only a greater understanding of what sort of best practices have arisen in the advertising/PR industry but also how many firms actually have such policies. It’s fascinating to see how firms of different sizes and specialties leverage either embrace or choose to ignore the power of conversational messaging.

A quoted excerpt from the published report:

“At Carrot, we live and breathe social media. We work with our clients to build the best social media strategies that will help them meet their business goals and reach more customers. What we’re working to instill with our clients is the idea that information consumption is no longer a passive task. Instead, businesses need to take a proactive approach with their brand and demonstrate to customers that they are hearing and delivering on their needs, now and in the future.” – Maury Postal

Some additional highlights:

• Of the organizations interviewed, 75 percent identified social networks as the consumer-based social media tools they primarily use, while roughly 50 percent of the group also identified extensive use of microblogging.
• Only one in seven of the companies noted a formal process associated with adopting consumer-based social networking tools for business purposes, indicating that the potential risks associated with these tools in the enterprise are either overlooked or not well understood.
• Only one in five participants identified any policies in place concerning the use of consumer-based social networking technologies in the enterprise.

We at Carrot recognize the challenges that large organizations face when trying to implement an external facing social media campaign. Enacting a clear set of usage guidelines and content directives are key to any mass-scale digital communication initiative—something we’ve not only helped some of the largest organizations on the planet formulate and place into practice—but also take to heart internally. We pride ourselves on our interaction with every major mainstream social media tool as well as understanding the implications of having our people in the public eye—something any business, of any size needs to come to terms with in the modern age of always on, immersive media.

The full findings of the study are published here.

This article is copyright © 2012