Last week and interviews

Hey everyone! Starting today, I have 6 days left for my internship and then its graduation time!! So exciting, I can't believe that I am so close to being done with college forever, it's actually kind of scary the more I think about it...

Anyway today I finished my last couple of interviews with some of the Greater Phoenix CVB Executives and I must say I was surprised that most of them have been in the industry for over 35 years but the funny thing is that none of them actually studied tourism in college! Our Director of Communications graduated with a bachelor in business administration, our Vice President of Visitor Marketing & Community Development graduated with a bachelor in political science, and our Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing graduated with a bachelor in music!

Although their career paths are not very similar to mine, I still learnt so much from interviewing the CVB executives because they each explained their career paths and how they got to where they are today and the recurring theme from all my interviews seemed to be networking. All the executives kept mentioning how they were able to get their jobs through networking with people in the industry and how important it is to “put yourself out there” and constantly market yourself in order to be ready for any opportunities available. Meeting people and making contacts is essential in the tourism field and it can determine the amount of success one can have in this industry.

Other great pieces of advice I collected from my interviews include:

· Following your passion
· Professionalism & Appearance
· Academic Competency
· Willingness to learn, and
· Participating in many local events, being involved with your community.

Overall, I believe that it is very beneficial and that there is much to learn from interviewing the people you work with during your internship because not only do you get to know their background and find out how they succeeded in the industry, but also they get to know you as a person, not just as the intern, and you never know, they can provide you with that opportunity you are looking or hoping for! Best of luck with your interviews!