Hello! My name is Clayton Ellis and as you may have guessed, I am the intern for CustomXM. I am very grateful for the opportunity and excited for the experiences and information that I am going to learn! I am currently 20 years old and am excited for what the future holds. Some activities that I like to do are riding bikes, hiking trails, swimming, reading books, going to the beach, and spending time with friends.
I have just graduated from ASU Beebe with my Associates degree in Business and will be going to UCA in Conway to obtain my Bachelors in Logistics. My college journey has been a great and eventful one so far, and hopefully will continue to be. I have always been amazed with the people that I have met in college and the different experiences they have all been through. Everyone truly has a story to tell!
An event that really broadened my college experience was Facebook’s Career Connections Program. This is a new program that is geared to finding internships for students in the central Arkansas region. This was advertised on my college campus, and I figured it would be worth trying out. A few weeks later, I had an interview and was later invited to their Skills Summit, where they explained critical hard and soft skills needed to succeed in today’s workplace.
One of the skills learned at the Summit was digital marketing, and how to properly use Facebook’s website to create advertisements. We all formed into groups of about five to six and came up with an advertisement about an imaginary brand of ice cream. Using Facebook’s ad software, we used our budget to determine where the ads were being placed geographically, and how many people we wanted to reach. Once we were done determining the statistics, it was time to create the ad. We started by using a google template and edited a bit to our liking, added a caption, and uploaded! It was interesting to see the ad on Facebook and compare our ad with the other groups. We were shocked to see how creative you could be with the process. Once we were done going over the online marketing process, the Facebook staff proceeded to teach us about interview techniques, how to work cooperatively with other employees, and important qualities that employers are after. Overall, the amount of information learned at the Summit was incredible, and applicable to many situations in the workplace.
Once the Skills Summit was over, I could hardly wait to start the interview process because my desire to start my professional career with an internship was peaked! Thankfully, I have been accepted by an outstanding company. Some things that I accomplished so far with this internship at CustomXM were expanding my technical skills (Excel and Word) and learning about all the different ways of how to market to people and companies. Examples of this would include email marketing, lumpy mail, social media marketing, and event marketing. Also, I have seen what goes into producing certain products at the CustomXM warehouse. From designing to shipping, it is a complex but cool process! I have also been introduced to local companies in the area and have met some interesting people. For the next few weeks, I will be helping with the social media content via Instagram and Facebook, assist with designing and scheduling of email campaigns, and research promotional merchandise for clients!
One of my current goals is to really try new things, as I want to learn and be the best person I can be! I realize that I’m still young and want to utilize this time as best as I can, work hard, learn, and enjoy life.
So that’s some general information about me! If you want more posts and information, be sure to sign up by entering your email at the bottom of the page. I’m excited to be apart of the team, and look forward to take you along with me!
