How To Create Your Own Role Within A Company
A conversation with Ali Thomas, the Experiential Marketing Manager at Hallmark.
During our most recent Office Hours, Her Campus Media Co-Founder Windsor Western hosted an honest conversation with Ali Thomas, the Experiential Marketing Manager at Hallmark Cards! Ali, who began working at Hallmark as an intern during college, now leads their Keepsake Ornaments division, and shared her wisdom with Generation Hired attendees about how to create your own role within a company.
ICYMI, be sure to check out the replay here. In the meantime, here are some key lessons we learned from Office Hours with Windsor and Ali.
Find a company that aligns with your values.
While studying business marketing, international studies, and Spanish during college, Ali applied for an internship with Hallmark during her junior year. “I went to a career fair, dropped off my resume, interviewed and I landed the internship,” Ali says. “It was a dream. I spent the summer with Hallmark doing marketing, and honestly fell in love with the company! I thought, ‘this company really aligns with my values and my beliefs, and I can see myself working here for a really long time.’
For Ali, aligning with a company’s values was crucial. “I realized that there were many companies I had heard of [at the career fair] — big billion-dollar companies with great internships — but I didn’t drop my resume off at many of them, because their values didn’t align with my values,” she says. “If I was going to spend 40+ hours interning with a company, I wanted to believe in it. The better you can align with a company’s values, the better you can be at your job. You’re going to be spending a lot of time at that company, so make sure you align with their values.”
If you don’t know what your “dream job” looks like, don’t be afraid to explore different paths.
“I didn’t know what my dream job was either,” says Ali, who was offered a job at Hallmark after her internship. “I set up 30-minute coffee chats to ask all types of questions and get to know the different departments [at Hallmark]. I started to realize there were many teams within the company that I could grow with.”
While Ali began in marketing, her passion for other areas grew over time. “I was in an analytical role for a year — I love math — and that role taught me that numbers tell stories, and they don’t lie. It gave me a foundation to go on to say, ‘numbers are important!’ But I also realized that I needed a creative side to my job.” Today, Ali works in the Keepsake Ornament division where she gets to help people all over the world celebrate their special moments. She recommends that students explore different paths and learn more about avenues they may not be familiar with yet. “By taking different experiences, you learn what you want to do and what you don’t want to do,” Ali says.
Pay attention to where there are “gaps” in your company and consider how you can fill them.
Once you’ve found a company that aligns with your values, know that it’s possible to create a new role for yourself, even if it doesn’t technically exist yet. Despite being one of the younger members of her team, Ali gained the courage to advocate for her new role by identifying a creative gap within her department at Hallmark. While it was nerve-wracking to propose a new idea to leadership, Ali went for it.
“It was super intimidating,” she shares with Generation Hired. “I was sitting in meetings with people who had been at Hallmark at least double my time! “I felt like there was a job that could be created to make sure we were being consistent from a branding standpoint across different mediums at Hallmark. I thought, ‘if I see a way that we can improve for our consumer,’ why not bring it up? The worst they can tell me is ‘no.’” Identifying a “gap” in your company like Ali did can be a strategic way to carve out a path for yourself — and even give yourself a brand new role that hasn’t existed before.
Make a compelling case for the role you want.
“I literally opened Microsoft Word and started typing why I thought this was a good idea,” says Ali. “I wanted to back [my proposal] up in data, and [show] ways that I could bring value to this new role.” And while it sounds straightforward, Ali says that if you want to create a new role for yourself at your company, creating a clear, compelling case is necessary, especially since nothing is promised.
“You really have to build a case if you want something,” Ali says. “HR isn’t going to say, ‘we feel like creating a new job for you!’ You have to make a really good case for why there’s a gap.”
Once her proposal was ready, Ali shared it with her mentors. “I took it to my mentor — I have one within Hallmark and another outside of Hallmark to bounce questions off of. I showed them my proposal, they gave me feedback, then I took it to my boss. She took it to her boss, and they said ‘Should we give it a try?’” Eventually, they came back to Ali and gave her the green light. She shares with Generation Hired, “it took a lot of confidence to write that proposal and take it to my boss, and they took a leap of faith on me. Now that I have this job I made up, I genuinely never want to do anything else!”
Always show gratitude with a handwritten thank you card.
Whether you just interviewed for a new position or you successfully advocated for a new role within your company, always remember to send a handwritten thank you card afterward. It’s a simple and meaningful gesture to show you’re willing to go the extra mile — plus, if you’re interviewing somewhere, a handwritten card will help you stand out in a sea of applicants.
“Internships are incredibly competitive,” says Ali. “You’re not the only one applying for roles. Sending an email is wonderful, but the way you stand out is a handwritten card. Make sure to ask for a mailing address during your interview.”
She also recommends picking a card that’s specific to the person you interviewed with — or the person who helped you create your own job for yourself! Maybe it’s a mentor, professional colleague, or your actual supervisor. Be sure to pick something that matches that person and opportunity. Ali says, “If you’re interviewing for a company where humor is part of their brand, pick a card with humor. If you’re applying to a company that’s more conservative, choose an elegant Signature Card, for instance.”
Windsor encourages students to make writing a “thank you” note part of their internship or job search process. “The day of your interview, as soon as you get home, write a thoughtful thank you email, send it right away, and mention something you spoke about during the interview. Then write a handwritten note right away and send it that same day or the next day,” she says.
We loved Ali and Windsor’s tips for how to carve out your career path and create a new role for yourself within a company you love. We learned so much, and hope you did, too! Catch up on the replay here and be sure to follow @generationhired and @hallmark on Instagram to stay up-to-date on future events.
