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Degree and Year: BJ '99 (Advertising) Company: University of Missouri Admissions Company Web Site: http://admissions.missouri.edu/ Title: Admissions Representative City and State: Columbia, Mo.
Essentially, I recruit high school students to attend the University of Missouri. I'm in contact with the students, parents, counselors, anyone who is part of the decision-making process. A big part of my job is traveling to high schools around the state - giving them information and serving as a resource. I travel to at least 60 schools between August and November. The flipside of my job is giving admissions presentations to those who visit campus. How did you get your current job? PlattForm Advertising in Olathe, Kan., the last placed I worked before coming back to Mizzou, is an advertising agency that specializes in student recruitment for career colleges. My clients were directors of admissions, and I was impressed with the impact they had on students' lives. I started looking into admissions jobs, but I really didn't want to do it for just any college. Recruiting for Mizzou, though, would be different as this is a school I really care for. I interviewed, and about three months later, I was starting my new job in Columbia. It's probably the best job choice I ever made. How did your advertising job at PlattForm relate to your major? My academic emphasis as an undergraduate was strategic communication. Having a Missouri School of Journalism degree on my resume is what got me in door for an interview at PlattForm. It was nice to know they understood and respected what that degree is. I worked in client services which means helping the client with what they need and want.
My greatest achievement is making a positive impact on others' lives. I enjoy working directly with actual consumers, having a personal impact and seeing where their choices take them. In Admissions, my biggest reward is to have students tell me they couldn't have done it without me. Why did you choose to come to the Missouri School of Journalism? In high school, I was an editor of the yearbook. I knew I liked advertising, layout, design and photography. When I was looking at schools, my counselor told me to look at Mizzou because they have the best journalism school in the world. The reputation of the School was a big deal for me. It still is. The faculty were great, the classes were small, and I was able to get the attention and assistance that I needed. I was always challenged to do something more - to go above and beyond. All those things wrapped into one makes Missouri the place to be. It gives me more confidence walking into interviews to be able to say I'm from the Missouri School of Journalism.
I lived in the residence halls all four years of college, and three of those years, I worked for Residential Life. It goes back to working with students and seeing that positive impact. I loved meeting all those people with different personalities. Who were your favorite teachers at the School of Journalism? This is a hard one. I really liked all my teachers. Because I was so interested in the creative side of advertising, I enjoyed Birgit Wassmuth, who taught all the graphic design classes. Whatever she was talking about - whether it was designing a logo, paper stock, how certain colors affect the ad - was truly represented on her person. She was a walking design. Birgit had a haircut with one side above her ear and one side below her chin. She wore purple everyday because she believed that color affects a person. It was neat to see someone who personified everything she was teaching. Another teacher I really enjoyed was Suzette Heiman. She is super enthusiastic. I don't care how bad your ad or press release was. She was positive and gave constructive feedback. She spent a good part of one class teaching everyone how to give a handshake. I used to laugh that we took half a class period to learn that, but it actually helped me in the "real world." Tell me about how you got the job driving the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. That was 100 percent through the Journalism School. The Wienermobile is a 27-foot vehicle shaped like a giant hot dog in an oversized bun. Oscar Mayer recruits heavily at colleges across the United States, and they always make a special stop at Mizzou. The mobile marketing manager himself made the trip to Columbia and conducted a formal session about life as a "Hotdogger." Afterwards, he took everyone to Shakespeare's Pizza! He loved coming to Mizzou and felt like he always got some of the best students from School of Journalism because they were personal, professional and knew how to communicate. The year I was hired, more than 1,000 applicants interviewed, 12 were hired, and four of us were from Mizzou. We cut the mustard! What was it like to drive the Wienermobile? It was buns of fun! There are about 10 different Wienermobiles placed in different regions of the country. I traveled the Midwest and Southwest. We would take photos of people with the Wienermobile and show them the inside of the vehicle. We didn't cook hotdogs or wear hotdog outfits. We simply interacted with families and represented the company. Near the end of our contract, Dave Ilenfeld, BJ '99, and I were selected to spend two months in Europe. We drove the Wienermobile to military bases throughout Europe to give the military families a little piece of America. What is your favorite Hotdogger quip? There are too many puns to count! There are standards that I used, especially when pitching media. Part of our job was to contact newspapers, radio and television stations to secure interviews. Whenever I left voice mails, the last line was always the same, "I hope to ketchup with you later!" When we were traveling in Europe, we drove on the "Auto-bun" and the vehicle ran not on gasoline, but high octane mustard. 
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| Revised: 17 July 2007. Copyright © 2008 The Curators of the University of Missouri | Contact the J-School | |
Tammy Cloutier, BJ '99
