Graduated in 2018 with a major in Music Business. Principal instrument: voice.
Position: Communications Specialist at the Center for Retirement Research. Housed at Boston College and funded primarily by grants, the Center for Retirement Research has roughly 25 employees, researches the relationship between retirement and finances, and shares the results. Kara does many different tasks: She runs their social media, does our graphic design / layouts on anything they put out, runs their email marketing and advertisement program, helps advertise the grants they make, enhances content for the blog by editing and adding graphics, sends out the newsletter, sets up interviews with the press, communicates with corporate funders, etc.
Overview: For two years while at Berklee, Kara worked for the Berklee Performance Center, doing marketing and communications. She enjoyed the work and wanted to keep doing that sort of work after graduation. Her job search was initially focused on the music industry, but the positions she found were too low-level or monotonous, so Kara broadened her search. A family friend put in the good word for Kara to do a temporary communications position at the Beaver Country Day School, filling in for someone on maternity leave. One year later, that person returned and Kara needed to find a new job. She applied widely and was hired into her current position.
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You can see Kara’s LinkedIn profile here.
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Choice Quotes: “I enjoy having a job that’s somewhat creative–I do graphic design and posting to social media. But I also enjoy the specific work we do. I run the blog and see firsthand comments of people using our reserach to determinde their retirement strategy. IT’s rewarding to help out not just the elderly but everyone else who’s planning to retire someday.”
“I use a lot of what I learned at Berklee at my job. My management & marketing classes–especially “Principles of Marketing” with George Howard. Also my computer applications class. I do a lot of reading and writing, so those liberal arts classes helped get my skills up to speed. A videography class I took taught me good software.”
“Each day I have regular tasks, but also new projects. It’s about being flexible and learning new things–and being open to that even if it means watching a bunch of YouTube tutorials. Communications is a good industry for people who are self-starters, like to do their own projects and learn as they go. Watch some videos and learn new stuff. You want to write, start your own blog. Learn what you enjoy, then figure out how you can apply them to your organization.”
“The biggest thing I learned after leaving Berklee–it scared me but was also helpful–was not feeling like you have a have a plan. If you like what you’re doing every day, it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in. If you’re in music but doing something you hate every day you’re not going to be happy.”
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