PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – The past couple of weeks here at WAVY have been the most impactful for me thus far. I have gotten much of my checklist completed during these weeks and I have learned so much in regards to what I can see myself doing and most importantly, what I do not want to do. I have worked with the Hampton Roads Show, the Production team, Sales team, and some digital members.
Each of these great departments here play a significant role in the overall machine to ensure that the proper/factual news gets out to the general public in an ordinary fashion. By doing this, we are also able to promote local and big businesses along with our news and this is what drives the revenue. By having a trustworthy brand here at WAVY, it allows the brand to represent a symbol of unity amongst the community, drives in viewers for the local news, and ultimately drives companies to want to do business with a company like us. By not only learning about each position, but focusing on the actual person making the magic happen, you are able to learn what makes them great and other values that they carry on with them. By aligning my values and skills with theirs, I am able to see what works for them and where my skills and values will benefit me the most here.
I want to also make the point that this job is not only preparing me how to work at this specific company but preparing me for how to be a more established adult in the business world. A few of the skills that I deem important from the employees here at WAVY are time management, being organized, team work, great communication, patience with yourself, positivity, and being able to multitask.
One of the highlights that I had this past month was getting the opportunity to be behind the scenes of the Hampton Roads Show thanks to the intern Elle Palmer. She was a fantastic help and looked like she had been doing this job at the Hampton Roads Show for years with how effortlessly she performed her tasks. The amount of information she was able to relay to me while we were on set was extremely helpful and professional. I was also able to meet with some very influential and successful people. For example; we met with Mike Standing, the owner of Waterman’s and many other successful businesses at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, and also the popular musician in the 757: Lane Rice. The amount of information she was able to relay to me while we were on set was extremely helpful and professional.
Another huge opportunity that was presented to me was by the employee of the quarter Reba Bloom, who works as a Director in the Production Department here at WAVY. It is always special to get the chance to work with such experienced and accomplished employees here and this particular experience taught me a lot. I learned how each of her responsibilities coordinate to make the news being produced to the viewer seem flawless. She also gave me some behind-the-scenes on making codes for the producers and keeping everyone in check with controlling the teleprompter. These are the jobs that do not get acknowledged by the average viewer, so it was interesting to see behind the scenes and truly highlighting the importance of her role here at WAVY.
The next biggest wake up for me this past month was working with Account Executive Will Bearmore. Having the opportunity to chat with him and perform cold calls was by far the job that intrigued me the most since I have been here. The way I was able to relate the information that I learned with him to experiences that I have had in previous jobs allowed me to connect with this particular job position on another level. We were able to secure an appointment for the following Friday and I got the opportunity from Will to attend and get more “in-field” experience from a potential client of WAVY. I am beyond thankful for this opportunity because I truly feel that being in the sales department being able to connect with potential clients would be where I can make the most impact and find the most success here.
Meeting with Jason Ratliff (Sales Manager) this past Friday was an extremely enlightening experience. His job is to oversee every account executive in the office and ensure, motivate, and keep everybody positive as they strive to their goals. Just giving me the time out of his busy day was appreciated but the amount of knowledge and experience I gained from him was super insightful to my own view. Actively listening to a man in that position is very important and key to my growth here not only at WAVY but for my development into my career.
However, this only makes me appreciate every department that much more because I know what goes into making the magic happen behind the scenes. I am excited to see how the sales position fits me in the future!
