My Time So Far at Focus Pointe

My name is Jordan and I’m interning at Focus Pointe Global in Center City this summer. I’m a winter kind of guy myself so (and I’m sure someone out there can relate to this) the gaps where you aren’t in a subway car or in the office and are walking in stifling long pants and sleeves in 86-degree heat with 50% humidity aren’t exactly a (wait for it-) breeze.

Ugh, that was awful and I apologize.

Anyway, that being said, once I’m at the office with its beautiful, beautiful air conditioning I have a lot of fun working with the people at Focus Pointe. I’ve had quite a few summer jobs growing up (including three summers standing outdoors for eight hours a day at Hershey Park; remember the aforementioned aversion to near-Sahara temperatures? Let me tell you, it was no walk in the park-aaand I did it again, sorry) and I can honestly say that I’m enjoying this newly-discovered phenomenon of having an entire day pass by without realizing it.

The two most recurring duties for me here at Focus Pointe are:
1. Keeping the social media outlets updated on a constant basis. Any time a focus group opportunity has to be re-posted, it’s my job to reword each post to fit in its proper social media outlet (and a few job-post websites) while remaining coherent. This can get a little tricky with Twitter’s 140-character limit when each post needs to end in a twenty-or-so-character bit.ly link, but if there’s anything I know how to do properly, it’s figgurin’ out them fancy words n’ such.
2. Researching possible recruitment opportunities for specific focus groups and interviews (such as a medical study that needs, say, thirty people with some rare disease to talk about said affliction to a panel within the week), and then email those people/groups. I also research possible areas to advertise our focus groups such as blogs with readers fitting the demographic we need, in which case I would start talks with the blog moderator for advertising slots or maybe even a shout-out in a post. I started this internship fresh out of my Campaigns class (which I loved) where my group and I did a remarkable job with this very same tactic and that success hasn’t stopped — neither has my enthusiasm for this aspect of the job.

Another part about working at FPG that I love is the relaxed work setting. Need coffee? Get it whenever, it’s free. Need lunch? Grab that whenever, too (in my college-finances position this means eating two peanut butter sandwiches at my desk; it’s no Bistro St. Tropez but at least I get to stay in the A/C). Most importantly, have a question? Email anyone in the building that might know the answer. Everybody here likes what they do, and it’s obvious in how enthusiastically they will explain something they have experience in. It’s like having a professor that is really passionate about the class they teach (cough-cough-*campaigns*-eherm), it just shows in the way they go about their business and it keeps the general atmosphere one of positive morale.

So anyway, that’s what I’ve got to say so far. The included picture is an example of a post I did today for Focus Pointe’s Philadelphia Facebook page. It’s a great feeling to see people I’ve never met responding positively to the company that trusts me to represent their online presence. If you have questions or comments just leave them below. And if you’ve had a class with me, check my info — I believe I’ve got a link to my LinkedIn profile (yay, networking!)