Career Profile (Essay Sample)

CAREER PROFILE
Student’s Name
Course Name
Instructor’s Name
University
City and State
Date
Career Profile
Organization Profile
Currently, I am pursuing post-graduate studies in marketing, and I hope to work for a manufacturing firm. Specifically, I would wish to work for Coca-Cola Company, which is among the leading multinational soft drink companies (Coca-Cola Company 2015). I prefer to apply my skills in the soft drink industry given that it attracts a large number of consumers around the world. It is a busy environment where enterprises keep on introducing new brands. In fact, even small firms such as fast food shops that blend fruits for juice also offer stiff competition (Goodman 2006). Therefore, it is a challenging environment that would encourage me to generate creative business ideas.
Coca-Cola is an appealing company given its organizational goal of satisfying consumers’ needs and effective strategies to achieve this goal. Such a commitment promotes quality production that makes marketing an easy task. Besides, it is among the oldest industry participants, thereby making a marketer think innovatively (Goodman 2006). Coca-Cola’s mission and vision would act as a drive for my profession. Its mission is to refresh, inspire, create value, and make a difference in the world (Coca-Cola Company 2015). On the other hand, the vision satisfies my professional need to work in a group of inspired people and make an impact on the entire world’s population (Goodman 2006). Marketing profession requires self-motivation at work, and Coca-Cola can enable me to achieve this through its commitment to inspiring its employees (Coca-Cola Company 2015). Besides, its values would help me develop my personal capabilities that include leadership, integrity, accountability, and passion at work.
The leadership structure of Coca-Cola is an incorporative one that will assist me to develop my career in marketing. As a junior employee, one has an opportunity to propose any workable strategy to the management. It would motivate me to generate and share creative ideas that would improve my creativity as a marketer (Cox 2006). In case I become part of the management, I would also be able to generate ideas from junior employees who would help me to make decisions based on varied opinions (Weber & Henderson 2014). Moreover, the company offers the chance for one to ascend to a leadership position through hard work, thereby presenting a potential for growth in my career path.
The organization also has a strong culture that ensures workers have positive attitude which helps in the achievement of the set goals. In this regard, the company mentors its employees on how to promote good public relations (Weber & Henderson 2014). Such a strategy will help me to interact with the third parties, especially the potential customers. The physical working environment will also satisfy my personal needs in various ways. For example, the enterprise often sets recreational units within its premises that enable employees to interact and gather more ideas from the rest of the workers (Berthon et al. 2012). Besides, Coca-Cola often facilitates the transportation of its employees, especially when in the course of duty. Geographic location is another critical factor that would allow me to work in my desired environment (Weber & Henderson 2014). The company has its branches in various places throughout the world, which would allow me the opportunity to work in a chosen area.
The Coca-Cola Company also staffs its employees in a manner that would allow me to grow in my profession. For example, it ensures that each department has professionals of different academic disciplines such as finance and technology (Coca-Cola Company 2015). Thus, it would be possible for me to learn various skills from such people. Besides, marketing requires market multiples analysis that ranges from customer requirements to financial capabilities of the company (Berthon et al. 2012). Finally, this company has training opportunities for graduates that would help me to gain more knowledge in my profession.
Looking at the organization’s goal and objectives, I should acknowledge that it portrays a high degree of compatibility with my career goals. A point to note is that I seek to make a positive impact on organizations by meeting the set expectations (Berthon et al. 2012). Moreover, the company would rely on a marketer's skills and values to reach its potential clients. Coca-Cola values its customers and focuses on the ways of capturing them (Berthon et al. 2012). Besides, the company nurtures values that include integrity and accountability that I also aim to attain. Therefore, it is an enterprise that fits my skills, values, and career aspirations.
Leader Profile
Anne Mulcahy is a great leader whose style I admire and hold in high regard. Her career began after she graduated with a BA in Journalism and English from Marymount College and joined Xerox Corp. in 1976 (Feng & Enomoto 2013). She started as a sales representative and rose through ranks. Between 1992 and 1995, she was the vice president of HR. In her position, she was in charge of compensation, formulation of HR strategies, labor relations, and employee training. She became the chief staff officer in 1997, and 1998 she was made a corporate senior vice president (Feng & Enomoto 2013). Additionally, she served as a staff operations officer where she was in charge of various regions in America, Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Later on in 2001, Mulcahy was appointed by the board of directors to be the CEO of Xerox Corp. Her leadership marked tremendous financial progress despite the company having difficult times. In fact, most corporate analysts expected the board to declare the company bankruptcy (Feng & Enomoto 2013). However, the performance improved, and the company was stable at the period of her retirement as the CEO in 2009. Currently, she serves as board member of Xerox and other corporate firms that include Catalyst, Citigroup, and Target Corp. Her high moment was when she successfully managed to reduce the expenses of Xerox by 50% and ensured that the company started to make profits (Feng & Enomoto 2013). However, her low moment was when she had to persuade the management and workers to embrace change but received only minimal support.
Mulcahy is a successful figure in the field of management because of her achievements and focused leadership style. Despite having no specialized training in financial management, she accepted the position of CEO and did better than her predecessors who had financial training (Ciulla 2005). Xerox was on the verge of collapsing, but she had hopes that motivated her to adopt the short-term healing policies. For example, she had to cut down on expenditures to generate more profits for the company. When she assumed the position, the organization had been making losses for the past six consecutive years (Xerox Company 2003). However, the trend changed as the business started to make profits and reduced the number of the long due debtors.
Mulcahy’s leadership style was also stunning. She advocated for supportive leadership from her executive managers whom she always sought ideas from for the improvement of the company’s performance. Besides, she encouraged innovation through constant research and development. Innovation was critical to her role as she believed that customers deserved improved services and products (Ciulla 2005). In fact, her leadership skills enabled her to be patient and show tranquility during financial difficulties. She also demonstrated confidence from the first day in the office as the CEO when the stock prices just dropped by 15% (Xerox Company 2003). But for her, it was only a motivator to work harder.
Mulcahy also influenced the entire community through in...