Author: Kema Christian-Taylor

Job Skills You’ll Need at Google: APMM

What skills are necessary to be an APMM at Google?

A required skill set totally depends on which team you’re on as an Associate Product Marketing Manager. For example, the folks on the B2B Marketing teams (such as AdWords) were often required to be pretty good with numbers and analytical thinking. The people on the Consumer Marketing side (like me) were required to be out-of-the-box, creative thinkers. There’s also the internal operations team on Marketing, whose APMMs are mainly made up of former consultants and bankers.

No matter what team you’re on, skills that are necessary for all APMMs are: knowledge about Google, scrappiness, ability to think out of the box, and (not sure if this is a skill) curiosity. Finally, every single APMM must absolutely love Google, since our job is often to try and get others to love Google.

Source: Liz worked at Google for two years as an Associate Product Marketing Manager (APMM), then got promoted to Product Marketing Manager (PMM). Her first year was on the Google Search App, then the Brand and Partnerships team in Mountain View, and her second year was leading Brand in India. 

“What Other Companies Are You Interviewing With?”

When your interviewer asks, “What other companies are you interviewing with?,” he or she has every right to be curious about your job search. What many candidates don’t know is that they have every right to their privacy when confronted with this question. Your other options don’t need be revealed until you are choosing between job offers, in which case it’s a good idea to use another offer as leverage to gain a higher salary.

As a candidate, you need to convince your interviewer that your primary focus is getting this particular role at this particular company.  That’s why it’s usually not a good idea to rattle off a list of other companies, especially if 1. you’re interviewing in a variety of different industries and roles (in which case your interviewer may get the impression that you’d be happy with a job anywhere) or 2. you’re interviewing with the company’s competitors. There’s also an awkward third scenario: You might not be interviewing anywhere else.

So how do you answer this question without really answering it? Always, always relate your answer back to the job you’re currently interviewing for.

If you are interviewing elsewhere, find a common theme amongst the roles or companies you’re currently considering. For example, you can say something like, “I’m interviewing with a number of organizations that will rely heavily on my social media skills, but I feel this role is best for my professional growth.”

If you aren’t interviewing anywhere else, don’t show your cards just yet: Employers tend to attach value to candidates who are being pursued by other companies. Instead, respond with something like, “I’m staying open to a lot of different opportunities at the moment, but it’s most important for me to find the best fit. That’s why I’m excited about this role in particular…”

At the end of your response, you should either express your interest in the role or talk about how the role can benefit you the most. Remember that hiring managers are more likely to extend an offer if they feel that you’re going to accept, so showing your interviewer that you see value and opportunity within the company can only help your chances.

How to Find Your Career Passion

Finding your career passion isn’t easy. You don’t even know where you see yourself in 5 years – how are you supposed to know what you want to do for the rest of your life?

You’re definitely not the only one asking this question. According to a 2013 Gallup poll, 70% of Americans aren’t particularly jazzed about their jobs. That doesn’t mean that you have to settle: You can find your passion – you’ll just have to be open to the hints (and your own behaviors!) that will guide you toward the type of work that will make you want to devote 40+ hours of your week to your job. Here are our 3 steps for finding the answer to one of life’s most difficult questions.

1. Stop saying, “I don’t think I would like doing that.”

To a certain extent, you know yourself well enough to identify your preferences. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean you should rule out new opportunities you’ve never tried before. College is your chance to try out as many things as possible, so join an organization, or choose a class that’s the complete opposite of your major. You may discover a new passion just by opening yourself up to new interests.

2. Often times, the things you’re good at are the things that will make you happy.

What are your favorite classes? What types of projects excite you? When you feel like you’re directly contributing to something (and doing a great job at it), it’s extremely fulfilling. Ask your friends, professors and families about your strengths so you have a better idea of the areas where you’re absolutely killing it.

3. What are you doing in your spare time?

There is such a thing as productive procrastination – and that’s certainly something that can help lead you to your passion. What are you doing outside of the classroom – maybe even during class? Which of your extracurriculars would you never give up – no matter how much the time commitment grows? Think about the things you love to do in your spare time, and see if they’re related to a career. At the very least, see if there are certain aspects of your interests–like team-building or creativity–that are applicable to the jobs you’re applying for. 

Moral to the story? You’re going to be just fine. Finding your career passion takes a lot of effort (and trial and error!), but no job is a waste of time. You’ll either be happy with what you’re doing, or you’ll come away with a valuable learning experience that will guide your career decisions in the future.

What Can I Do With an Environmental Studies Major?

As an Environmental Studies major, one of the must frustrating comments you’ll get — second only to claims that climate change isn’t real — will question the value of your degree. By now, you should know to turn to the haters and say that you’re changing the world we live in, but what do you say to potential employers when you apply to jobs outside of your major?

Simple: You identify and state your transferrable skills. Your field of study has taught you skills that are valuable in any career you choose — related to your major or not. If you don’t have a clue what those skills are, we’re here to help. Talk up these three things that you’ve learned as an environmental studies major, and you’ll wow any interviewer.

Cognizance. You’re carefully studying the way we interact with the natural world and our impact on it. Whether we’re using the Earth’s resources for food, energy or medicinal purposes, we have to be mindful of how quickly we’re burning through our natural supply – and as an Environmental Studies major, this is top of mind for you.

Cognizance is a valuable trait to have in the workplace because that kind of awareness is often paired with a high level of consideration. You can use this trait to have better interactions with your supervisor, your co-workers and your clients. It even helps to improve the quality of your own work.

Problem-solving. Brainstorming ways to think of a sustainable future? That’s no small feat. Your innovative problem-solving skills are indispensable for any business trying to handle an issue that’s small or completely overwhelming. On top of that, you have people telling you that there’s no point in even trying since the world is doomed anyway…so add perseverance to your list of unique qualities.

Research skills. In order to determine the best way to regulate our behavior when it comes to preserving the natural world, it takes intensive research. The type of thoroughness you apply to your coursework will help you to make intelligent, informed decisions in the working world — decisions that your colleagues will be able to trust.

Remember: Your major neither defines nor restricts you – it only expands your knowledge and skill set in ways that other candidates may not have experienced, and that’s a great leg up to have in the job search!

How to React When Your Employee Makes a Mistake

Hall of famer and basketball coach John Wooden said, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not doing anything.” However, when your employee makes a blunder that affects progress with an important project or interactions with a client, it’s hard to see the value in that quote.

Regardless, slip-ups happen. Honest mistake or not, the best way to handle this type of situation is to ensure that your employee understands where he or she went wrong and sees room for improvement–both at the company and beyond.

Let them own up to their mistake.

If you know that your employee has made a major misstep in the office, the last thing you want to do is be accusatory. Schedule some time to discuss the issue privately, and let the evidence speak for itself. You can start the meeting off with something like, “I’m not going to assume anything, but I noticed that…” It’s the best way to give your employee the chance to take ownership of his or her actions.

Be supportive.

This may be the hardest step of all – especially if the mistake is one that genuinely hurt your company. However, the objective is for your employee to walk away determined to improve instead of coming out of your meeting thinking, “My boss was so unfair.” Focus on showing support instead of anger, saying something like, “I expected more from you, and I know you’re capable of doing better. Let’s talk about ways we can make sure this doesn’t happen again.” Be upfront with expectations going forward, and lay out clear action items for future success.

Take preventative measures.

Think about how the mistake came about. Was there a rule or regulation that wasn’t clearly outlined or explained? A loophole in a common, company-specific process? Find the weakness that allowed for this mistake and take the necessary measures to prevent it so that your other employees don’t experience similar pitfalls.

Taking these steps establishes mutual respect between you and your employee. Your message will come across calmly and clearly. Your employee will learn not to make the same mistake again, and hopefully, your actions will encourage him or her to go the extra mile to win back your trust.

3 Interviewing Habits That Make You Sound Inexperienced

As a college student or a recent grad, you’ve worked hard to get internships and part-time jobs that will expand your skill set (and help pay for your tuition!). Still, no matter how much you take on, you’re young to the workforce and don’t have a lot of experience up your sleeve. We know: It’s hard out here for a hustler.  

There are a few things you can do to keep yourself from sounding more inexperienced than you really are. Check out our list of things to avoid in interviews – we promise that if you keep these 3 things in mind, you’ll be perceived as far more professional.

Don’t admit to being nervous.

While it’s normal to be nervous in an interview–especially during your first one!–most employers will expect you to be calm under pressure. There are going to be a lot of high-stress situations at work – late nights, intense projects with demanding deadlines and meetings with high-profile clients. Saying, “I’m sorry, I’m really nervous.” isn’t the best way to convince your interviewer that you’ve got it all under control.  

The first step is to be confident in yourself! You got the interview, which means that you already have what it takes to impress your interviewer. The second step is to practice – that means preparing for your interview and going on many, many more interviews. It’s the best way to get comfortable with the process.

“What’s your role again?”

We once had a candidate walk into an interview with our CEO Liz and ask, “Are you the Office Manager?” (#Yikes.) Don’t get us wrong: Asking your interviewer questions is great. Asking questions you should already know the answer to, however…well, that’s not the best way to showcase your due-diligence or your interest in the company. You should always, always research the company and your interviewer before stepping foot in the office. We can’t stress this enough! It will especially impress your interviewer if you show that you’ve researched before you ask your question; for example, you can say something like, “I noticed that the company is planning on targeting younger audiences – how is progress with that going so far?” Take a look on Google News and the company’s website a day or two before your interview – trust us, your interview will go a lot more smoothly because of it!

“Yes, I worked as a Campus Rep last summer.” (Silence.)

An interview is a conversation, and you can’t expect your interviewer to connect the dots for you. For each question that you answer, you have to tell a story about why your past work experience makes you qualified for the job. For example, you can say something like, “I worked as a Campus Rep last summer which taught me to tailor marketing strategies to specific demographics. As a result, I was able to increase monthly user acquisition by 15%, which is why I’m confident I would excel in this role.” That type of answer shows that you’ve taken the time to think about how your skills make you a good fit for the role – and it’s a great way to practice selling yourself in interviews.

Now, instead of exposing the skills you lack, you can show your interviewer what you’re really made of!

How to Make Any Job Sound Interesting

Your internship may have involved a few administrative tasks that were a little on the tedious side (hey, we all started from the bottom). Despite this, you’re back in school now. You’ve got a reputation to keep up. Use the responses below when your friends start asking, “So, what were you up to this summer?”  You’ll be able to impress anyone – and keep your street cred intact.

Reality: You grabbed your boss’s coffee this summer.

You say: “I managed employee engagement and productivity.”

steveharveytv hair flip steve harvey

Reality: You made 1,000 copies for anyone who asked.

You say: I handled the company’s sensitive policies to ensure that our team was on the same page.

#askaboutme

Reality: You answered a TON of phone calls and emails.

You say: “I was pretty much the master of client communications.”

nicki minaj confident yeah i know

Reality: You organized the company’s file cabinet.

You say: “I directed the collection and classification of high-profile data to create sound institutional knowledge for the company.”

zendaya confident feelin myself dust your shoulders off

Reality: You were basically your boss’s calendar. Meetings, parties, kids’ soccer games, you name it – you kept track of his/her entire schedule.

You say: “I made sure our brand was well represented by prepping our CEO for all public interactions.”

new girl celebrate schmidt me max greenfield

But really, no need to front…just go to wayup.com. We’ve got cool jobs.

Company Culture at JPMorgan Chase

Ever wondered what it’s like to work at the largest bank in the U.S.? WayUp sat down with an Anti-Money Laundering Alerts Analyst, a role that involves identifying any generation of income that results from illegal actions. Here’s what he has to say after almost a year of experience under his belt.

I can only speak for my own department, but I feel like the answer to this question would apply to most big banks. As far as departments within a bank go, the culture in Compliance Operations (where I work) is relatively laid back, but that is not to say informal. The work is very important, especially given the current regulatory climate, and is treated accordingly. However, offices within a large financial institution’s investment bank and a range of client-facing roles tend to involve more stress, as well as stricter and more frequent deadlines. Control functions such as audit, legal, risk, and compliance, which do not generate profit, tend to be a bit more relaxed in comparison. My current role is in a production environment, so there is still the expectation that analysts meet certain goals in terms of how much work they get done on a daily and weekly basis. Working for a company as large as JPMC does mean you have access to a lot of the benefits you would expect from a firm that size, including a range of insurance plans, an MRA account, 401k matching, and employee discounts at a range of retailers, to name a few.

Foreign Rights Assistant

With famous authors like Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King, and Hillary Clinton, Simon & Schuster is one of the “big 5” publishing houses, producing over 2,000 titles a year. WayUp sat down with a Foreign Rights Assistant, who graduated from Dartmouth in 2012 and attended the summer-long publishing boot camp known as the Columbia Publishing Course before landing her role at the company. Here’s what she has to say with a year under her belt.

So, what is foreign rights? What does your role involve?

Working in foreign rights means, for example, if a Romanian publishing house wants to produce & distribute one of our books in their country, they buy the rights from my department. So on a daily basis, I am working with dozens of people around the world to make deals, process agreements, coordinate materials and publishing schedules, and generally make sure that the foreign editions of our books are published without a hitch.

Tell us more about the work culture. Do you have a heavy workload?

Because Simon & Schuster is one of the big five publishing houses, it has a bit more of a corporate feel than a smaller house or a literary agency would. It also has more benefits–health, paid vacation, insurance, etc.–than an independent house would offer its employees. The workload can be quite rigorous and fast paced. But in the world of foreign rights, the summer tends to be calmer–because all of our European subagents go on vacation for six weeks!

What skills are absolutely necessary to succeed in your role and at the company?

Across the gamut, multitasking is a crucial skill. Effective communication is also necessary, as I interact with dozens of people in-house and across the globe on a daily basis.

What is the most rewarding and the most challenging part about your job?

This is my first real 9-5 office job, so I found everything challenging at first! I was expected to keep track of a huge volume of titles, the details of which were constantly changing. The most rewarding thing was when I began to develop my own systems to effectively harness this information, and began to anticipate challenges before they arose.

Will candidates be asked about the books they’re reading during an interview? What should they say?

Yes, your interviewer will ask you what you like to read–DON’T SAY CLASSICS! Publishing people want to know that you have your finger on the pulse of today’s publishing world, so be ready to spout off several titles published in the past year or two.

What should you wear to your interview?

Business casual. Nothing too zany or busy. When in doubt, solid colors and classic cuts are best.