“The American Dream” by Bethany Williams
What identifies myself from other business, management, and marketing majors would be my intrinsic motivation, international background, and well-built connections. Strengths from my resume includes sales experience, social media marketing and self-motivation. Weaknesses include not having enough experience. Being born British, I am fortunate enough to have a British and American background. I am grateful to have the opportunity to work and be educated within the United States while maintaining my strong roots. The goal I strive for, and remind myself every day, is the concept of ‘The American Dream’.
The American Dream is a spacious house, a luxury car, and financial freedom. It’s an equal opportunity; to achieve success through hard work and determination. It’s a chance to do what you want, do what you love, and make something of yourself. My dad is the success story, the true visualization of the American Dream, and is my number one role model. His accomplishments, achievements, and gains are what I strive for, for my own life, success and happiness. As someone whose goals and aspirations are as high as mine, it’s going to be very tough for me to compete with those of my dad’s. For background knowledge, and to explain the reasons behind my motivation, my family and I were all born in England. My dad, Paul, was born in a small village called Bowes in the hills of Northern England. With a population of only 250, the prominent industry is farming. As with any country farming community, everyone is expected to work from an early age. When you grew older and stronger, the workload and expectations increase. My dad’s work day started at six in the morning, two hours before school, and then continued four until nine in the evening. At the age of 16, he left school and his family moved to the Northwest to start a milk delivery service. He enrolled in a technical community college and helped with his parent’s business. This included a 4am to 7pm shift, delivering papers and milk bottles to neighbor’s doors. At eighteen, Paul managed to get an apprenticeship at a local engineering company, and spent four years sweeping floors, making tea and learning a trade. At the age of twenty three, he was running the operations at a small engineering company and again was limited by the scale of the operation. He left and managed to get a role at Nissan Manufacturing in the North East of England. This meant moving his new family across the country to start a new life. Four more years of advancements led to a job offer for a more senior position in another part of the country with another company. He only accepted the position if they promised to pay for him to take a Master’s in Business Administration in a leading UK business school, they agreed and then we moved. After only two years, the company recognized that he had outgrown the position and asked where he would like to go. My dad immediately stated the USA, as this was his dream.
What he contributes to our family, works so hard for, and has made here, in the United States, makes me incredibly proud. He enjoys working and he enjoys making my family happy. And so here we are, 13 years later, another family member added, a US citizenship, and several upward moves within my dad’s employer. The US has made our family stronger, as we had to rely on each other, which makes us happier. The standard of living which we enjoy here in the US if far superior to what we would of had in the UK. The experiences and opportunities we have here lead to our emotional success. He inspires me and my other siblings to be as ambitious and devoted as he is. His story, to me, is the definition of success. To be happy, hardworking, and overcoming of the hardships, is what true success is all about. Success is a subjective term, and is to be defined by the individual. In terms of my own, I believe success is a combination of the failures, the efforts, and the happiness. The failures you conquer help you fix your mistakes.
The hard work you put in leads to higher positions. The happiness you find from success results in a better life.
In short, my dad’s success is, for me, the most motivating concept. The connections he has built for me, and the diversity of education and life experiences I have undergone will be extremely beneficial for me in the future. My dad has told me so many times that he has met and interviewed many people that would be perfect for a job, but could not hire them due to not having a degree. He stressed the importance of having a degree, and that you need experience in order to further in your field, or progress in any job. This summer he has required me to apply to internships. I created a resume, and a LinkedIn profile. I had applied to the company he works for, and another with someone who is in close connection to my dad. I am accepting the second offer, a paid internship with Schaeffler, and will be working 8-5 in the purchasing department.
This experience is really what I need to advantage my resume, as I have only had one previous job. I picked this internship, over studying abroad or just working, because I feel it’s necessary to gain actual work experience within my major. I hopefully would love to have my own company one day, and follow suit with my dad. My dad, his brother, and his father all own their own businesses, including two of them in the UK. This is my main goal.
I’ve already developed branding myself. On every social media and platform of mine, I have labeled myself with a nickname that I’ve had since middle school. It’s even on the license plate of my car. I am very interested in the idea of marketing, it was my favorite class in high school as it just came easy to me. I’m more on the creative side, rather than just numbers. Using social media to an advantage, I have many people messaging me to be a ‘brand model’ and ‘ambassador’ of their products. Before ‘SandCloud’, a beach towel company, appeared on the TV show Shark Tank, I was messaged to be a brand ambassador for their product. The idea is you get a coupon code from them to buy their product, take a picture, and promote on my social media. I get my own coupon code to give to my followers, and hence they will buy using my code and I will be shared profit. They have over half a million followers on Instagram. This happens constantly from clothing companies, to beauty/health/lifestyle products. I love the idea of social media marketing, and that’s something I would love to work more on in the near future. As technology and social media are thriving and still rapidly growing, I know this will be an option for me to come. When working at ALDO, a shoe company, I had the responsibilities of creating promotional parties. Once a month, we would host a closed party after mall hours. These included food, drinks, a live DJ, goodie bags, and 50% all shoes. I was very successful with hosting these.
I have strong beliefs of inclusiveness and diversity within the workplace. Diversity can take many forms, from culture and nationality, to gender, race, sexuality, educational background and more. I have tenacious willingness to learn new skills, evolve with the company and create a strong foundation for future endeavors. I’m hard-working, punctual, self-motivated, and adaptable.
