Bonding with the Bills

Recently, I had the opportunity to go on a “field trip” to New Era Field with the Association of Women and Men in Communication. It was super fun because first we got to tour the facilities and had access to the locker rooms and field and learned information as we went. Then, we got the chance to meet with the Communications team in the press conference room. There were 5 or 6 people on the team who came and sat on the panel to talk to us about what they do. There was someone for each job such as marketing, community relations, public relations and social media. They talked to us about themselves and gave introductions about how they got there and what they do. It was really interesting because they told us about how even though they have different jobs, everything they do is related and each job’s function is necessary for their team to work as a whole. It made me want to be a part of something like that when I’m job searching because of how much they emphasized their work team feeling like a family. Especially when they told us they’re there all the time with each other because they only get off one week a year! They’re there all the time because there’s always something to do, and most have worked there 10-15 years. When they were asked what they look for in interviews, they emphasized having the personality that will fit the job and the environment as well as having experience that can relate to the position. They want you to be direct about what you want to do because even if they don’t have an exact position for it, they can try to make it work. I talked to the woman who does social media because that’s what I’m interested in doing after graduation and she said when she started, they didn’t really have a social media position and they made it for her. Since she’s been working there the social media has built up a lot, especially with getting into playoffs this year, and she explained to me how she’s always looking for new stories and interviews to cover to come up with interesting and creative posts for their pages. It sounds like their jobs are hard work, but a lot of fun, so this event was great for me because it gave me insight on how a communications team operates and made me excited to become a part of it.