Student Profile: Jessica Sels

Jessica Sels

Where did you complete your Undergrad Degree/Diploma and in what subject area?

I completed my degree at Brock University in St. Catharines and graduated with an Honours Bachelor Degree in Visual Arts.

When did you first discover an interest in Advertising?

I first discovered my interest in advertising when I was researching courses to take following my degree. I wanted to focus on something that I was passionate about and I wanted a challenge – a program where every client/situation would be different day-to-day. I wanted a job that would offer a chance to meet new people, explore new innovations through my creativity, and build my business acumen, which is why I was immediately drawn to Sheridan’s Advertising Account Management Program.

Why did you choose Sheridan’s Advertising Account Management Program?

I chose Sheridan because many graduates are employed right away and they had amazing feedback from what they learned both in the program and in the industry itself. It made me confident in my choice!

How are you finding your experience at Sheridan?

I absolutely love Sheridan! Not only are the professors great, but the classes are extremely knowledgeable and I learn more and more every day. I wanted to begin a career in an industry where I could continue learning, and with an ever-changing industry like Advertising you are always discovering something new. I love that! Sheridan is great because the classes are not too big so you get to know all of your classmates and professors one-on-one, which makes the experience all the more beneficial since you start networking there! The professors are always willing to help, even on a Sunday over the phone! 

What advice would you give to someone who is considering our post grad program?

Every course in this program is different, so you learn about the ENTIRE industry and it is quite amazing! I fully recommend taking this program if you love exploring your creative side but also have the business mindset! Every project is different but they all connect and build upon each other. This past year has been one of the best in my life. I absolutely love this program and I am extremely grateful as I now have a Co-op right out of school with a promise of a career in advertising! 

Last Long Weekend in Sheridan's Advertising Account Management Program

Written by Terri Long & Sharon Guan

There are only 4 weeks left before graduating. Time flies! In the past 7 months of studying, we have learned a lot of professional advertising industry knowledge, inspired by amazing professors, and met new friends with different backgrounds. It’s hard for us to say goodbye to everyone. While studying in the Advertising Account Management program at Sheridan College, we received integrated information on different aspects of the advertising industry, and also learned the relevant industry software.

This is week 8 of the semester, which is also our last long weekend at Sheridan. We only had 4 days in school this week due to “Good Friday”.

Energetic Monday

Monday is always the most energetic day of the week because it's the first day after the weekend. With the weather turning warmer, spring is coming! We had another beneficial class activity in the Advertising Media Management course. Our professor assigned us to different groups to do our media selection and rationale project. We really enjoyed the group work, especially the opportunity for everyone to share their opinions and help each other handle the challenge. After 2 hours of work, each group presented their results. The best part is that we learned a lot of new things from other groups. We had a lot of fun on Energetic Monday！！！！！！

Busy Tuesday

This day was full of classes, so we stayed at school from 9am - 5pm. The first class was Strategic Digital Planning with a topic on Mobile Ad trends, specifically about how it is important and beneficial to advertise on mobile platforms. Our professor recommended a great website, SEMrush, which is a good platform for SEO specialists and provides learning tools. The second class was Creative Strategy Development. Not only does this class provide professional knowledge about technical software, but our professor taught us new brainstorming techniques that helped us create our own strong ideas.

Excited Wednesday

We had a group meeting to finalize the creative concept of our new campaign. We were so excited to work on it, execute our ideas, and visualize the final presentation.

It was an extremely exciting afternoon! We attended the presentation of our guest speakers who were from LinkedIn. As the largest global community of professionals, LinkedIn is always providing productive and successful networking and career opportunities.  It is also undisputedly the most trusted platform. As the most effective platform for marketers to engage with professionals, LinkedIn is always targeting the right people, engaging them with content and optimizing the impact. We usually use LinkedIn to update our latest status, but we did not realize there were so many brilliant functions. Therefore, LinkedIn will be an efficient coop searching channel.

Networking! Networking! It’s time for networking.

The guest speakers were so amazing to share their career stories after the presentation. This was the most interesting and inspiring experience for us. They encouraged us to connect with people and to never be afraid to reach out because people are nicer than you think. We also need to do our daily work with passion and enthusiasm which is the way to pursue success. We were inspired by the presentation so much because it was directly related to our future career paths.

Full Thursday

We had 3 group meetings on this day. First, our group signed up for a meeting with our Advertising Media Management professor. Before the meeting, we sorted through ideas and improved the best ideas together. During the meeting, we received very useful feedback and suggestions from our professor, providing us with direction on the whole media plan. The last assignment “Media Campaign Execution” explained how each media vehicle is used and how much the campaign costs. Every time we met with our professors, they always offered constructive criticism, helped us solve problems and guided us to our next step. Then, we had a group meeting for sales class. This is our favorite class ever because our professor always teaches us professional communication methods and networking skills. We also have lots of class activities to practice. This class was a little bit of a challenge for us at first but now we totally have confidence in our communication abilities. We love this class so much because we know it is an important part of our life. This particular Thursday was a workshop so we used the time to generate ideas for our next assignment.

"Good Friday” - New for us!

This is the last holiday we have at Sheridan College. We didn’t know much about “Good Friday” because we are international students. But we have found a good article introducing Good Friday in Canada, which gives us a general idea and background.

We didn’t have class or projects due this day, but we still needed to work on final assignments. We met each other in the morning and cooked a Chinese lunch together. After a happy lunch time, we started on our final media project and creative strategy. We went through all our research and read every assignment feedback carefully. Everyone was so serious about the final assignments and put out strong efforts for our final campaign strategy. We know this may be the last few times we work together and we've spent the whole semester working towards this project, but it feels like it will carry us to our dream. 

We really appreciate the Advertising Account Management program at Sheridan College.

We had a lot of fun in this week, not super busy, but we’d like to always stay together and figure out every challenge.  We hope we can spend more time studying together in the last 4 weeks. And the strong friendship will last forever. We are so grateful to meet each other in Advertising Account Management program and thank you, Sheridan, for being the bridge to our friendship.

Student Profile: Sharon Guan

Sharon Guan

Where did you complete your Undergrad Degree/Diploma and in what subject area?

Carleton University, Bachelor of Arts Economics                                                                          

When did you first discover an interest in Advertising?

I was an account manager for an automotive service company and realized I needed to do something I’m interested in. Advertising is one of the few industries that will live forever and the education provides hands-on knowledge that I see myself pursuing.

Why did you choose Sheridan’s Post Graduate Advertising Account Management Program?

Sheridan College is located in the GTA, which offers more opportunities for my future career here. Many famous advertising companies are located in Toronto and the surrounding area. Sheridan maintains long-lasting relationships with those agencies by helping students to step into their dream job and gain real working experience, not only textbook knowledge.

How are you finding your experience at Sheridan?

Our professors have plenty of experience in the advertising industry, so they teach us more than what’s in the textbook. They share their real experiences, which helps students quickly adapt to the working world after graduation.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering Sheridan’s Post Grad Advertising Account Management program?

Take a program you really like and enjoy your school experience. Classes offer useful knowledge that go beyond our textbooks. There are real class activities and discussions to better immerse yourself in the ways of the industry. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask for help! Sheridan and its professors can provide sincere advice and guidance to make your journey easier.

Life of an Advertising Post Graduate Student in Sheridan College

LIFE OF AN ADVERTISING POSTGRADUATE STUDENT 

IN SHERIDAN COLLEGE

BY KASHMI JAYAWARDANA & ALEX TRAN

After many days of sleepless, tiresome nights, you finally receive your undergraduate degree and just like that you have graduated. You feel really happy that you have made it into professional life and are thinking about landing the dream job for which you made all of those sacrifices.

But then out of nowhere you feel like you wanted to take the next big step in your higher education… the postgraduate certificate. Many students enter postgraduate life with no clue for what awaits them. Here are a few tips about “what to expect when you become a postgraduate student in Sheridan College”.

Does your Post Graduate Certificate matter?

Of course, it depends on what type of subjects you are studying. A Postgraduate Certificate such as Advertising Account Management will involve the usual classroom activities, research, and real time projects with clients. Time management will be your best friend because it is important to manage the time properly. In-class learning will demand fixed hours every week as well as research and projects, which will require independent study hours. With proper time management skills, students will be able to manage student life, social life, and even a job while working towards your Postgraduate Certificate.

Why the library that you neglected so far will become your best mate?

Sheridan Library can be a treasure chest of knowledge, which can support you with many research tools that will save you time and provide you with lots of data from reliable resources. HMC campus Mississauga provides many services such as IT service desk, Tutoring services, Research help desk and also computer & study spaces. The online library resources contains data bases like Euromonitor, Vividata, CARDonline, WARC etc. and also "Summon" - the one stop search engine that allows you to access thousands of different library resources through a single search box.  These are important to Advertising Postgraduate students and helps them greatly with their research and projects.  

Why it is important to gain practical knowledge before the real deal?

If you want to gain a job in advertising world, I believe it is important to gain insights and practical knowledge before diving in. The Sheridan Advertising Account Management certificate is excellent preparation for a career in advertising strategy and management as the program gives you the skills you need to contribute to a professional advertising team. Through the program, you will learn the following; 

• Understand target markets
• Develop and communicate a product's brand identity.
• Create a complete advertising and integrated marketing communications plan
• Develop and defend media selection and placement
• Use specific advertising industry computer software such as Clear Decisions, ComScore, and more!

Considering all of this …

Although a Postgraduate Certificate means hard work, it doesn’t mean you should imagine the worst. It is very possible to have fun while successfully completing your studies. For us, postgraduate life at Sheridan is rewarding and also a brand new adventure. 

Picture credit:

Picture 1 - <a href='https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/multi-ethnic-group-of-young-people-looking-at-a-tablet-computer_1174236.htm'>Designed by Freepik</a>

Student Profile: Candace Correia

Candace Correia

Where did you complete your Undergrad Degree/Diploma and in what subject area?

I completed my Undergrad Degree at OCAD University in 2013. There I achieved a Bachelor of Design with a focus on Graphic Design.

When did you first discover an interest in Advertising?

Coming from a creative background, I’ve always been somewhat interested in Advertising. I’ve always had a strong appreciation for anything to do with visual communications and Advertising is the perfect combination of design and strategy. 

Why did you choose Sheridan’s Advertising Account Management Post Grad Program? 

I chose Sheridan’s Advertising Account Management Program because I wanted to gain a well-rounded understanding of the Advertising industry as a whole, and this program has courses that cover a variety of different industry topics. I was also drawn to the Summer Co-op work term option and wanted to add some real-world experience to my resume as well.

How are you finding your experience at Sheridan? 

I’m finding the experience fast-paced and engaging. Even when a subject is outside of my comfort zone, the content is interesting and extremely relevant to my future career. The program has given me valuable industry information and allowed me to expand my skillset far beyond the creative side of Advertising. By taking this program, I can now combine my creative skills with strategic planning knowledge and I feel more confident in what I can offer as a candidate for future employers.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering our post grad program?

I would tell them that investing in your future is never a mistake, and a year in the Post Grad program will give you a thorough understanding of the industry – in half the time! I know I was drawn to the Program’s timeline and you wouldn’t believe how much you can learn in one year.

Another Great Week At Sheridan

Written by Kseniia and Jaya.

Christmas break is long gone yet we are getting right into the winter semester and as time passes, it’s week 5 already. How we describe our week, since we both are huge FRIENDS fans, is in Joey’s style:

Monday, one-day,

Tuesday, two-day,

Wednesday, when? Huh? What day?

Thursday, the third day

... and finally, its Fri-yay!!! (Friday).

This week has been a rollercoaster ride. You know one of those rides where you experience extreme and rapid changes and you are just letting it hit you, but instead of sitting there and letting the due date get close, we buckled down and worked on our projects with enthusiasm and dedication. This combination made this week as amazing as ever. As both of us are international students, challenges help us to build our good memories as our journey in Canada continues to be astounding. 

Our Advertising program involves a lot of incredible courses, each of which will be 100% useful in the workplace.  Digital and Advertising planning, Media, Sales, Marketing – these are areas that we have connected to for a long timeJ

And now let’s all imagine, that we’re here all together, experiencing our Sheridan Week. Follow us!

Monday – For fresh start!

Tell us if you know anyone who likes to wake up early in morning on BLUE MONDAY. But life is too short to sleep, so we’ re taking our shuttles (which by the way we consider as another great convenience that Sheridan did for its students). In a rush to get to Media Planning class (because duh! traffic and snow, not a good combination). Our Media Planning professor can make our 8 am class very interesting with various in-class activities and also, he is funny (If he reads this, sure he is going to like being called funnyJ).

Tuesday – Umm is it 5pm already?

Tuesday for us means a long day but time flies so fast. We have classes from 9am until 5 pm, with a 2 hour break. Some of you may think that’s too much in one day but we are not at all saddened by this! We take this as another great opportunity to spend time learning new things in school, spending time in the library, working on assignments and of course spending time with our friends, having lunch discussing so many things. 

Wednesday – Valentine’s day is here! Share your love 

Since Monday we can see the college in general and especially Starbucks are decorated with hearts and kisses! And that has already created an atmosphere of the holiday – VALENTINE’S DAY! By the way, have you ever thought about the origin of this holiday? Take some time and read this great article about the history of this bright day. 

On this day, we had two guest speakers, Nishan Singh and Gurpartap Singh. We consider this as a great opportunity, where we meet professionals from the industry, where they share relevant industry information with us in their own personal way. We were extremely pleased to know that one of them is Sheridan alumni, who got to his first job from Sheridan Co-op. When we asked him about what is that one advice he would like to give for fresher’s like us, he said,“To keep yourself updated about current marketing trends, read blogs and any articles you see on internet. That is one key strategy that will be useful during interviews and career in general... Co-op is a huge milestone in your career for someone who is just starting out," he added.

Thursday –  God Bless Thursday!

We consider Thursday as a day where we are being prepared towards our career, not that we don’t feel the same in other classes. We have co-op class on this day where they teach us:

- how to build our resume and cover letter

- how to apply for jobs

- how to speak during an interview

As we all understand how important it is to have a good resume that can fully represent you as an individual and also your professional skills, we want to share with you one extremely useful website, which can give you great understanding of how your  resume and cover letter should look and what you need to include, in order to be hired. Take a look and good luck! 

What we really noticed that every student has his/her favourite special place in college. Someone prefer to stay in the great cafeteria area in B-Wing, some in the Library, others in different spots around the campus. This Thursday, the majority of students wanted to find a place in the food court in A-wing. Absolutely clear why! Talented students of Sheridan arrived to perform and create a great atmosphere for others. So, studying and chilling with friends while listening to the music was a wonderful experience for all of us.

Friday – And its Fri-yay

And finally, the day arrives that every student, and we are quite sure even Faculty look forward –Friday!

Only one class that morning, but 4 submissions don’t let us relax until the afternoon. Marketing presentation – where we talk about a great campaign for a super popular educational toy for children, Media Market Analysis – which requires our understanding of possible media channels and calculation of campaigns, as well as other assignments for which we apply maximum effort. 

Finally, after all of our school responsibilities are fulfilled, just imagine how much we tend to party tonight! J Since we also happen to be best friends. 

And finally, what we’d like to say!

Even if it has been a hectic week or like we said above, a ‘rollercoaster’ ride, we still enjoyed every bit of it. The rush, the thrill we get when we finish each of our assignments, is unreal. We consider ourselves lucky to be part of Sheridan College, to be guided by such amazing professors and helpful classmates. Through riots of laughter and giggles we got through this week and we are sure we will get through this entire semester with flying colours.