career

Today, there was a "journée entreprise", around 40 (French or French affiliates) companies were present on the campus. Little interviews of 5-10 (or even 15) minutes were possible with representatives of each company.

Companies, that intrigued me, were Epson and Leader League. Message Business also had an interesting profile for future interns, as they are a start-up company, allowing to be part of the European expansion from the beginning. And, apparently, I have the profile needed for Lidl. Their French headquarters are in Strasbourg, I speak German and am flexible.

Most of the internships offered are in marketing and commerce and as I am a final-year-student, the representative actually took time to find out what we are looking for and hoping to do at what time and where, which was quite refreshing.

So, next step, is to follow up on them next week.

I decided to change my major from Marketing to International Business. I will still finish all marketing courses. In short, I will graduate in IB with a marketing minor.

Global Marketing is not International Marketing! That was one thing that I learned today, knew before, but never realised that there was a real difference.

So Absolut Vodka is an International company whereas McDonald's is a Global one. So much for that clarification.

Our group (a global or international one?) has to choose a product (not a service) "in your "home" market that could be exported to a foreign target market. This must be a product not yet available in the target market."
The first thing that came to my mind was " Where is home?". The second thing and the first idea for a product that came to mind was "Absolut Cut".  The first question would lead too far and the second thought doesn't even exist in Europe.
Someone suggested Penaten Creme (our favourite so far for soft baby bums); other ideas are:

• Hydrofugal Deodorant
• Aussie Shampoo product line
• Roggenbrot
• Mineral Water (Gerolsteiner?)
• Coke zero
• Tempo tissues (I was getting really frustrated on the other side of the Atlantic)
• Käthe Kruse dolls

Maybe, you, my audience, have more ideas (no beverages and foods please), among which one will be the one, that will keep us motivated in making the product work?

Thank you!

I was at the Convention E-commerce Paris.

I attended half of a conference about "stratégies 2.0 pour les marchands" with speakers from Neteven and Wunderloop, a German based company. Neteven presented their software that allows to integrate e-commerce for your own company on platforms such as e-bay, Amazon, alapage and priceminister without really creating your own website. The "plug and sell" concept is based on a subscription fee and commissions as well as extra services.

However, there are no solutions for services available yet and emphasis lies on the differentiation of B2C and B2B marketing. And the next step, so it was said, are music and video platforms.

M. Sanjaume, General Director, from Wunderloop talked about Behavioural Targeting (BT) and also addressed Integrated BT in e-commerce. To know what websites the Internet user is visiting, what kind of products interests him...cookies help creating a surf profile. But that doesn't seem that new; at least not to me. What if we wouldn't accept the cookies? or simply delete the information? Guess, the short break in between would disrupt the continuous development of the surf profile.

In general, I had the impression that France is behind in terms of e-commerce and Web 2.0. As a test, I simply asked an account manager from shopzilla.co.uk (no connection to Mozilla ), if the company had thought about developing a sales platform in Second Life. And after a minute, I asked, if he had ever heard of it. Well, he had, but never connected himself and so I continued the conversation, whether they offer internships in London

I also have a contact person from Baobaz for recruitment or an internship position. They might expand in the next few years to other European countries and even the U.S.

Business and Decision is another one that I have gotten into contact with. They are an international company, starting first in France and then, once trust has been established, going somewhere else.

It has been a while I have been writing something. I have been busy with my personal marketing plan and reading Nike+iPod.

So far I am on a good track I would think, but don't hesitate leaving any comments, suggestions, ideas...

What do you do when you have no clue how to proceed in your professional career?

Well, you create a marketing plan!

A marketing plan about yourself.

I (= my skills and knowledge) am the product and now I just have to market myself.

This, I thought, seemed to be fairly easy but apparently it is not so. To find a start I listed, first of all, everything that I can do, from formal to informal education, skills and knowledge. Through some brainstorming we (Hagen and Christine Graf and I) came to the conclusion that the important things are the facts and the story.

It's kind of obvious, right? Exactly the same as in successful marketing:

Facts + Story = Product!

The second P: Price.

How much do I want to earn?

How much do I need? --> I found that out.

What kind of life do I want to have?

Where do I want to live?

What can I work as with my education and how much would I get?

...

Everything is leading back to the one and only question: What do I want?

And with keeping up the research, looking around, reading and talking to people, I am getting a step closer every time to finding out exactly, what that will be.

Where do I want to work?

Well, “country-wise” I have no real preferences, to where it could lead me...However, no countries that are politically unsafe. Here, you could ask me about the definition, but lets stick with “no battle zones” for the beginning.

And what companies (am I looking for)?

I could start with the list of the companies situated in Silicon Valley continuing with those present in Europe and China.

Maybe anyone has suggestions, as what companies are in the coming?

My current situation is to apply for internship of a minimum of 6 months starting next June. That gives me two semesters to apply and I will start next week. By the end of December (before Christmas Day), I want to have sent out 105 applications.

I have to make a strict plan and stick with it to get my set task done per week.

105/15 weeks = 7 applications per week during a total of 5 hours.

Good Luck! to me then I guess...And happy researching, writing and mouse-clicking.

Remember when I told you that I am going to be an assistant for the International Relations Coordinator? (In return for the scholarship?)
Well, I am going to be the International Relations Intern .
I will be responsible for setting up a "Study Abroad" section on the ABS extranet (our school's extranet) and write an outline for that.
I will also be in contact with the students who want to go abroad as well as with the exchange partners.

Next week, we will also talk about the working time etc. and I will also have a desk to work at .