Resume

Catherine A. Wood
4350 Brookside Ct. #307, Edina, MN 55436
(952) 836-7874
Catherine.anne.wood@gmail.com

OBJECTIVE

Talented and motivated sales consultant looking to leverage my experience in relationship building, presenting to clients and writing into a fulfilling, creative, fast paced, public relations position.

EDUCATION

December 2005 University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA
B.S., Business Administration: Emphasis in Marketing

EXPERIENCE

January 2006    Unum                   Edina, MN
Employee Benefits Sales Consultant

• Managed a territory of over 100 brokers in a large geographic area including all of South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota and in the twin cities.
• Successfully completed an extensive 8 month sales training program and was awarded “Most Likely to Succeed” as a rookie in 2006.
• Cultivated effective internal and external working relationships to help brokers increase their revenue and increase territory sales.

PR Related Activities

• Produce a monthly “Unum Update” newsletter for distribution to all of my brokers.
• Organized and presented continuing education classes for up to 40 insurance professionals.
• Writing an article for publication in Connections, Unum’s newsletter, on a new corporate inititive.
• Submit article ideas to corporate publications.
  
  

Spring 2004      Smashbox Cosmetics     Los Angeles, CA
Cooperative Marketing Project

• Studied, with a team, Smashbox’s complete marketing strategy from packaging to distribution channels to improve efficiency and efficacy.
• Made recommendations to the CEO and CCO.
  
  

2001-2003        Gamma Phi Beta         Los Angeles, CA
Philanthropy Chair

• Organized philanthropic events that drew over $10,000 in donations.
• Managed a team of volunteers who made these events successful.

INTERESTS AND ACTIVITIES

http://mnprjobseeker.blogspot.com/, yoga, reading, writing and good food.

Job Seeker

Talented and motivated sales consultant looking to leverage my experience in relationship building, presenting to clients and writing into a fulfilling, creative, fast paced, public relations position.

That is what the objective line on my resume reads. When I graduated from the University of Southern California in 2005 I had two objectives. 1) to get back to Minnesota and 2) to earn as much money as possible.

I took a job as a Sales Consultant for an employee benefits company--I sell insurance. This job fit both of my criteria and seemed like the best choice upon graduation. I have learned a lot from this position. I have learned to manage my time, to be self motivated and to be able to start a conversation with anyone, anywhere. Unfortunately, this position does not provide me the opportunity to write, to be creative or to use my communications skills to help many different companies tell their stories. It also requires me to spend inordinate amounts of time traveling in South Dakota.

I long for agency life. I want to work with different clients. I want to help companies tell their stories and get their names in front of potential customers and investors.

I am starting this blog for several reasons. I want to get my name out in the Minnesota PR scene. I also want a forum to discuss what is going on in the industry. Most importantly, I want help finding a job in PR in the Cities.