Career Path of an Assistant Director of Outreach and Recruitment at a Private University Business School
Trisha's career path began with a biology major and unrelated part-time jobs, leading to a post-graduation pivot from customer service to marketing in the automotive industry where they "were just kind of thrown into it and had that immersive learning," before ultimately seeking guidance from a career counselor to transition into higher education. This journey culminated in their current role as Assistant Director of Outreach and Recruitment, blending marketing skills with a passion for direct engagement and admissions.
Career Path, Higher Education, Marketing, Outreach, Recruitment
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Trisha Wierl
Assistant Director of Outreach and Recruitment
Business School for a Private University
California State University - San Marcos
Biology & Related Sciences
Education
Communication and Marketing
Honors Student
Video Highlights
1. Embracing Career Pivots: Trisha's initial path as a biology major took an unexpected turn after graduation. She navigated through customer service roles and eventually transitioned into marketing within the automotive industry, demonstrating the importance of being open to new opportunities even when they deviate from your initial academic focus.
2. The Value of Immersive Learning: Trisha's experience of being 'thrown into' the role of marketing manager highlights the power of immersive learning. She supplemented on-the-job experience with online courses to quickly develop her skillset, proving that practical application combined with self-directed learning can accelerate career growth.
3. Leveraging Career Counseling: When Trisha realized the automotive industry wasn't the right fit, she sought guidance from a career counselor at her alma mater. This led her to explore opportunities in the nonprofit sector and higher education, ultimately guiding her to her current role. This emphasizes the importance of seeking expert advice to align your skills and passions with suitable career paths.
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college? Any internships or jobs you had before your current role?
My career path is a little, I would say, non-traditional. I was actually a biology major in college. Most of my time was spent in labs, doing research for my science-y major.
The jobs I had in college were just fun part-time jobs. I worked at Spirit Halloween and Party City, nothing really related to what I thought I'd be doing in a career.
Towards the end of college, during my senior year, I was realizing that biology might not be the right career field for me. While I was really passionate about it and it was interesting, I couldn't see myself doing it as a career, being in a lab so many hours a day.
I graduated in May of 2020, kind of peak COVID times. So I had some trouble finding a job after graduation, not just because of the pandemic, but I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I took some time to figure that out.
I was applying to customer service roles just for the interim, because I had experience with it, working as a sales associate at Party City and things like that. I actually got a job with a consulting company in the automotive industry, doing customer care.
I was with them for just a few months. This was a small, family-owned company in San Diego. After a few months of doing general customer care, our director of marketing said he was leaving. Rather than searching for a replacement, they asked if I wanted to learn marketing.
I thought, "This is a perfect opportunity to see if this might be the right fit for me." So I said, "Yeah, totally. I would love to learn marketing." During his transition, our director of marketing taught me what he did for the company. I also took some online courses to freshen my skillset on marketing.
I did that for a couple of years and was their marketing manager. I was just kind of thrown into it and had immersive learning, realizing, "I am a marketer; I'm doing marketing."
While I loved doing the marketing, I realized the industry wasn't really for me. I wasn't connecting the way I had hoped to. So, I went back to my alma mater and met with a career counselor. I explained my skill sets and that I wasn't sure what I wanted to be doing or where, but I knew I loved people and the marketing aspect.
She suggested, "Have you considered something in the nonprofit sector or maybe higher education?" I said no, I hadn't. The more I looked into it after that call, I realized it seemed like a good fit for me and where my passions lay.
I was looking to do marketing or outreach in higher education. That's actually how I got my current role as assistant director of outreach and recruitment. It's less marketing, but we are in the marketing improvement department, so there's some overlap.
My role now is more outreach, going to events and having more face-to-face interaction with people, as well as working on the admissions side. That is kind of my career path. I'm obviously not doing anything with biology these days, except for staying up-to-date on research. It's nice to have that personal aspect, where in my free time I can pursue that passion. But during my day-to-day business hours, I get to do fun marketing outreach and recruitment.
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