As a graduating senior, the word interview is terrifying. Even conducting an informational interview can be quite unsettling. I was extremely nervous to even ask someone to sit down with me; however, my choice proved to be a perfect fit.

Amanda Snider, the Director of Special Events at Canisius College, took time to sit with me to tell me what it is like to work for a small college. Since I just applied for a job at the University of Denver, I thought talking to her would open my eyes to working in an academic setting. And it did.

Amanda stressed how interesting it is to work with students as well as campus officials. No two days are ever alike. Since I have worked with Amanda in the past, I can tell you from my experience that no two days are ever the same in the event business. She also told me how important it is to be organized and able to think on your feet in order to make clients happy.

Everyone seems to think that being in the event planning industry is a fun, easy job. However, people do not know how much work goes into every event and how important detail is. Event planning, whether it be for a college, a large company or a not-for-profit organization is very time consuming and requires that you have a flexible schedule.

I enjoyed my meeting with Amanda because it was a friendly conversation where we reminisced about previous events we’ve worked on together. Her professional behavior and her information on planning events for a college gave me a lot of insight because it is so different from working at the Botanical Gardens.