Class of ‘12 Hamline Alum Casey Matter took time out of her busy schedule to visit one of the many communication courses offered at Hamline on April 2. Matter visited Dr. Suda Ishida’s Intercultural Communication class to share her experiences as both a previous Hamline student studying communications and a person who has spent years in a variety of communication jobs.
Matter spoke about several topics but the overall lesson she gave pertained to how the skills she learned during her time as a Piper apply to her jobs in leadership positions. She has been involved with the advertising industry since she graduated from Hamline and has continued to explore and spend time with various companies. Her career began at MLPS-St. Paul Magazine and is currently at Collective Measures, a performance marketing company.
One of the many messages entwined in her presentation was about building both hard and soft skills. Jobs require both, as companies are unable to run on the power of just one person. The balance between hard skills, such as the knowledge of technical features of a job, and soft skills such as reading body language and learning the various communication methods of co-workers, is extremely important in maintaining a stable workplace.
As someone who swung between several workplaces between graduating and now, Matter emphasized the idea of knowing when it is time to leave and knowing when it is time to stay. It is normal for people to go through a variety of jobs and a variety of companies before finding what is right for them, and Matter is a clear example of that.
With her experience at MLPS-St. Paul Magazine, True Media and Sidewalk Dog Media, Matter was able to realize that her job with Collective Measures is right where she wants to be. She shares how she struggled to work with other creative minds, as her methods of thinking are misaligned with those, and after her time doing such, she discovered where she was truly meant to be. It is all about experiencing the workplace and exploring what is right for one as an employee.