Strategic Communication senior competes in gamified application process, lands ongoing Fellowship at top global PR firm
When applications for public relations firm Ketchum’s 10-week fellowship program went live, Missouri School of Journalism senior Evanna Momtaj knew immediately the process would be different from most. Instead of a typical internship test, with a press release and some other elements, she discovered she would need to play a game against all the other applicants for the chance to secure a position in the program.
The game, Launchpad, prompts participants to read case studies and respond to questions detailing creative campaign ideas for approaching specific situations. Player rankings aren’t determined by participant responses, though. Players must respond to and vote on competitor responses as well, which accumulate in the form of points.
“We were given two case studies and then we had to write how we would approach the two situations. We were given a certain amount of time to write how we would approach the situations before we were allowed to “play”,” said Momtaj. “The game was us voting and commenting on which responses we liked best. The more responses and votes you got, the more points you would receive and the farther you would move up the leaderboard.”
This seemed a bit intimidating at first, but this was a position Momtaj was willing to fight for. After she sent in her resume to apply for the fellowship, Momtaj did a deep dive into Ketchum as an agency and spent time talking with one of the firm’s recruiters at the School’s Strategic Communication Career Fair. Those experiences changed her thinking from one of indifference to one where she really wanted to win.
After her conversation with the recruiter, who just so happened to be a Mizzou graduate herself, Momtaj felt prepared to tackle the challenge of the gamified aspect of the application process. Throughout the gameplay, she worked to contribute insightful responses that garnered peer interaction and thoughtfully commented on the responses of her competitors. This approach paid off big time. Shortly after the game concluded, Momtaj was notified she was moving on to the final stage of the application process that consisted of two interviews.
When applications for public relations firm Ketchum’s 10-week fellowship program went live, Missouri School of Journalism senior Evanna Momtaj knew immediately the process would be different from most. Instead of a typical internship test, with a press release and some other elements, she discovered she would need to play a game against all the other applicants for the chance to secure a position in the program.
“I think trying hard in the game and having that conversation with the career fair recruiter really helped me move on to the interview stages,” said Momtaj. “Roughly two weeks after the game, I got a call from an HR representative that I was moving forward and she wanted to talk with me on the phone. One month after that, I talked to members of the analytics team and then one month after that I got an offer.”
During her phone call with one of Ketchum’s HR representatives, Momtaj had the opportunity to support her merits and explain her interest in the firm, the position and working in PR. Her final interview with their practice team identified the best fit for her in the agency. At the end of the process, Momtaj was offered a position as an analytics fellow at the firm’s Dallas office.
“Getting the internship at Ketchum felt so pivotal for me. I was really trying to get my hands on everything that I could. Whenever someone would ask, “Hey, do you mind helping on this?” I’d always say yes,” said Momtaj. “I didn’t know what industry I really wanted to work in and that time with Ketchum gave me the opportunity to see the different types of work that’s done for different companies.”
Over the course of the 10-week position, she worked with Ketchum’s analytics team and other fellows, attended training sessions and contributed to internal and external meetings with clients such as Hyundai, SharkNinja and Freddie Mac. Momtaj also aided in keyword research and media scoring to deliver monthly reports of media mentions and engagement to Ketchum clients such as Clorox, and worked on a fellowship project to create a campaign for the American Egg Board to drive demand for eggs among Gen Z. Some projects arose as a result of recent world events to help inform companies on how to react.
“When Roe v. Wade was overturned a lot of different companies, as well as Ketchum, were affected by it,” said Momtaj. “For a week after that happened, I did a search engine analysis to see what people were searching for in terms of Roe v. Wade and shared that information with the Issues and Crisis team so they could relay it to different clients.”
As her internship drew to a close, Momtaj was asked to continue in the position remotely throughout the fall semester. She accepted without hesitation and is excited about the professional growth she’s already experienced.
“I’m still a fellow. I’m just consistently doing client work and one-off projects for different clients like I did over the summer, like Frito Lay and the World Cup,” said Momtaj. “Understanding research is so important. It’s the backing of so many great things people do in strategic communication and is so important to building my skill set, and I’m getting my basis here. I’m starting at the beginning of where big ideas form and understanding that process.”
Updated: December 8, 2022