Know-How Exchange : Career/Training

And, whether you are passionate about it! There's no sense going into a career that bores you (personally, I worked very hard to avoid the family accounting business).

Jodi

Start doing some informational interviews. Find people/companies that seem interesting to you (maybe ask your instructor/advisor for some leads?), and ask questions. You're the best judge of what's right for you.

You've gotten some very sound advice from everyone that posted. The only other thing I would add is that in my 20 plus years in the business, I have found it to be more competitive than anyone ever told me it would be. You graduate college and you think you'll start off in charge of some great project and some great company...I started off as a secretary in an ad agency. Every time something opened up and I applied for it, I was with another 50 recent college grads all hoping to get out of the office pool. Eventually I did make it to a position that trained me well and a few years later landed my dream job. BUT it took a lot of perseverance, a lot of doubts about if I could really do it, is this what I really wanted, etc.

You really need to do all of the above and then look at yourself. Are you willing to work hard, take some jobs at the bottom and work, really work, your way up the ladder to get where you want to be? Many people go into marketing because it's also fun and gives you exposure to so many interesting things and people, but the jobs that do this are not entry level all the time. The biggest character attribute I can think of, aside from the obvious creativity and business sense, is stamina. You need to be able to keep your chin up NO MATTER WHAT some well meaning executives might say to you ("You don't have what it takes", "You ideas are too ____", etc.). A tough skin in this business works the best too.

If you'd like more advice offline, let me know. I don't want take up valuable space from the other very talented professionals here.

Best of luck to you.

Some of the best advice I ever had was from a friend to told me about information meetings.

It's when you call a company with an ad, and you set up some non-formal meeting time to have the company talk more about their expectations, and what the ideal person would be like for the job.

It's a great idea, because it allowed me to meet some very powerful people, build rapport, and eventually get hired.

It's always been important to me, that I know exactly what's expected, and that I too, have a chance to see if an employer's visions align with my abilities...

Any industry can be competitive. I was studying Opera Performance, I can't imagine anything more cut throat than a bunch of Italian Prima Donnas trying to beat eachother out for the spotlight. There's a reason why they have a show called the SOPRANO'S! :>

Good LUCK, and don't be afraid to ask questions. They usually turn about answers.