Guest Blogger Considers OCMC

Hey – I am a guest blogger on the OCMC blog and thinking about applying to an OCMC team!

In my first semester at college I kept hearing faculty members and students talking about the ‘OCMC’ but only in passing. I personally thought it had to do with some sort of student debate rather than with marketing.

The day someone explained it to me was when I walked into my marketing class 20 minutes early for a test. I was invited in rather than wait in the hall. The anxiety for the test was written all over my face and I needed to think about something else for at least five minutes. The teacher and I started talking about the marketing program and why I choose it. It all had to do with my work history which started 11 years ago in sales and management. The teacher told me about the OCMC and the more he explained, the more excited I became because of the competitive edge it had to it.

The portion that I was thrilled about was retailing. When I was younger I always said that I would never work retail, it just wasn’t something I would EVER consider. I should have bit my tongue because that’s what I accidently fell into as a career. Retail taught me so much; how to manage a C volume to an AAAA+ volume store, how to create relationships with customers, and how to manage and coach a successful team. I took pride, but it took over 8 months for me to realize my strength with people. In the beginning I would never say hello to anyone as they entered the store because fear took over. As months passed and my confidence grew, I never let anyone come into my store unless they were greeted. I took this into consideration when enrolling into marketing, it was new and again fear took over. But as tests and projects were completed, I realized I had found my new passion.

So when the teacher told me about this competition with all the colleges, I was excited but at the same time hesitant - the fear was talking over once again. I began to Google-search the event to see what would come up and I was so excited to see the fun of Quiz Bowl and the interviews of people who had participated in the presentations. Everyone was extremely excited and only had something positive to say. They confirmed what I thought from the beginning - this is a onetime deal for me and if I passed it up then I would only regret it. The fear of trying and failing is what tends to push a lot of people away. So I told myself, ‘Hey, at least you tried,’ and who knows where this may take me.

I hear participating in the event can help build your skills and resume - sometimes students participating in the individual events have ended up with a job. This is a perfect way to start down the road to a successful career in marketing. The training would help sharpen my skills so the question here is, “If you don’t try, then how will you ever know?” So I suggest to everyone who is considering the OCMC, to go out and try it - what is there to lose except to build on the strengths that you already possess?

M.C.