How to Land Your Kick-Butt Dream Job: Episode 4

It's hard to believe this is the 4th and final episode of the blog series, How to Land Your Kick-Butt Dream Job with Cait Weingartner, the voice of Pretty & Fun. I designed the blog series to be an extensive interview, focusing on a different topic each week throughout the month of August. It's been great learning the inside tips on college involvement, internships, interviewing, and blogging from a pro like Cait. Let me know in the comments if this blog series was helpful and if you'd like to see more of them in the future! 

Make sure to drop Cait a line on her blog or Twitter and let her know if you found it helpful as well!

Name: Cait Weingartner

Age: 25

Job Title: Digital Strategist, 360i

Blog name/year started: Pretty & Fun, 2011

How has blogging helped build your career? Did you share Pretty and Fun with your current employer while interviewing? My blog is actually a really important piece of my resume and is featured immediately after my current position. For me blogging is a really interesting element of working as a strategist – I’m able to see things from both a brand and a blogger’s perspective to have a very holistic view of the influencer marketing space.

Tell us about your blogging schedule. How often do you post, do you write posts ahead of time, where do you find your inspiration? I’ve found that planning ahead and getting posts written & scheduled in advance works best with my schedule. I tend to brainstorm about 100 or so posts every few months and keep those organized in a Google Calendar. At the beginning of each month I’ll go through and plan the month out but still keep things flexible so at the end of the day, I’m able to blog about what I truly want to. I’ve found inspiration is everywhere – it ranges from the beautiful world of Pinterest to my fellow bloggers and just my every day life experiences.

You have been featured on some well-known websites such as The Everygirl. Tell us about the process. Did you contact them with the idea, how long was the process from contacting them until the day you were featured? It really has varied! With The Everygirl I was a long-time reader and noticed that many of the home tours that they featured were from submissions. I sent a quick email with a few photos of my studio and was shocked to get a very enthusiastic yes from Danielle & Aliana. With some other features I was approached by the brand / publication – I’d say overall it’s been a mix of getting people to say yes and saying yes ;)

What do you recommend to new bloggers that are looking to collaborate with others? How does one go about the process of starting out? Start a conversation and establish a relationship. Social media makes it so easy to connect with other bloggers – I always appreciate comments or conversation with readers and it really is remembered. Keep things simple and don’t be afraid to reach out to other bloggers but just realize that time is a limitation we all face.

Any last tips? Stay true to yourself! At the end of the day, your blog is yours. Set goals for yourself and work toward those without comparing yourself to other bloggers or stressing about page views and comment numbers. Stick with your voice and your vision, be authentic and take time to make connections.

Image via Refinery29

How to Land Your Kick-Butt Dream Job: Episode 3

As promised, today is the 3rd episode of How to Land Your Kick-Butt Job with Cait Weingartner, voice behind Pretty & Fun! If you missed episode 1 and 2 or just want to reread them (kudos to you!) find them here and here. 

Today Cait is with us chatting all about interviews and what employees look for in an employee. We all know how difficult it is to stand out from competition these days so Cait shares her tips that helped land her a dream job. So read up :) If you have any other questions that weren't answered or if you have a question about my interview tips feel free to tweet me at @amandarisius and I will do my best answering them.

Name: Cait Weingartner

Age: 25

Job Title: Digital Strategist, 360i

Blog name/year started: Pretty & Fun, 2011

What qualities are employers really looking for as interns and employees? I think the most important quality, hands down, is just having a general hunger. Be curious. Want to learn more. Always say yes to opportunities. Speak up and ask questions. I’ve found that hunger and curiosity are two things that really set people apart in the work place (even well beyond internships).

How do you stand out from such tough competition and set yourself apart? Keep age and inexperience from being a factor by focusing on your problem solving ability and professionalism. Stay focused on the results you’ve delivered during interviews, ask questions and have a clear vision of why you think the job is a good fit and goals you’d have for yourself in that position. Stick with the classics for your interview outfit and always send a handwritten thank you note as a follow up, referencing personal connections and anecdotes from your interview.

What recommendations do you have for those on the internship or job hunt and not landing any interviews? Reevaluate your resume. Are you selling yourself short? Are you saying a lot without actually providing any meaningful information? Make sure your resume shows impact and action – focus on what you have done and the results of your work versus highlighting vague activites.

I have seen many job applications ask for a portfolio or link to a blog. Do you have an online portfolio? Who hosts it, perhaps share a link? and explain its significance to employers. I don’t have one!

Thank you Cait! 

Image via Refinery29

How to Land Your Kick-Butt Dream Job: Episode 2

Last Thursday was the first episode of the new series on the blog How to Land Your Kick Butt Dream Job with Cait Weingartner, voice behind Pretty & Fun. The idea all started when I was reading interviews on the web of successful business women, but I had so many other questions besides the 5-6 questions they answered. I wanted to dig deeper and discover the steps they took that lead them to their successful careers. There's the saying that if you have a question there's probably others out there with the same one so I decided to make a blog series out of it! When I reached out to Cait and told her my blog series idea she thought it was great! 

Thank you again Cait for putting in the time to answer some questions with your busy schedule and new job! If you missed last week's episode about college and Cait's experiences check it out here. 


Name: Cait Weingartner

Age: 25

Job Title: Digital Strategist, 360i

Blog name/year started: Pretty & Fun, 2011

Tell us about your 2 internship experiences and who they were with.
During college I did two internships and then freelanced for one company until after graduation. My two internships were with Success Communications Group, working within their Public Relations team and All American Games, supporting PR and social media for the company’s training camps and events. While at All American Games I noticed a huge void in social media for the company (whose target was mostly teenage football players and parents) and launched social channels for all of their brands, then worked to manage and provide ongoing support as a freelancer.


What was the process of landing each internship? How did you find each?
My college’s career services department was very helpful as far as internships go – I had a general idea of what I wanted to focus on (Public Relations) and was able to set up interviews for both internships through my college. 

How do you think your internship experiences played a role in landing a job right out of college?
My internships gave me a lot of really valuable outside of the classroom experience that served as the focus of my resume at graduation. Being able to speak to real client work that I had done and having a feel for the agency world provided me with real-world examples that I could reference during interviews beyond courses I had taken.

What was the biggest lesson you learned during your internships?
Be a self-starter. I quickly realized during my first internship that “down time” was a complete waste of time. My managers were busy themselves and didn’t have time to be continuously monitoring my activities and progress on tasks – creating little side projects for myself and going beyond the initial task during any free time showed initiative and got me started with thinking strategically. Don’t be afraid to speak up and offer suggestions or weigh in on assignments and the work you’re doing. You’re there to add value, not just follow directions.

As always, come back next week for episode 3 discussing interviews and what employees are looking for. 

Image via Refinery29

How To Land Your Kick-Butt Dream Job: Episode 1

With 2 semesters left of college, I already feel the pressure to land a great job and build a successful career. There are countless articles and blog posts on the web interviewing successful businesswomen, entrepreneurs, and creatives all flaunting their fabulous careers. Sure, they are helpful in answering some questions in the industry and giving us a taste for what it takes to succeed, but the interviews don't go into detail about searching for jobs, internships, or the interviewing process. Sometimes I'm left feeling overwhelmed. So many questions about how to accomplish what they did. Of course, I have goals and dreams just like anyone else. We read about women and their careers and want to be just as successful. Now that graduation creeps closer and closer I feel as if I am not completely prepared and equipped with the knowledge and tools I need to set me apart from the competition and accomplish what they have.  So many questions and only a few answers.

That's when I decided to create a blog series that was meant to answer a few of those questions and go into more detail about college preparation, internships, the interviewing process, and blogging. When I started thinking about who I could turn to for answers, Cait Weingartner, the author of Pretty & Fun instantly popped in my mind. The first time I came across Cait was her home feature on The Everygirl.  She had a sense of realness, authenticity, and the ultimate gallery wall. Her closet isn't packed full of designer labels nor is she mad about it. Cait is a girl I can relate to -- and she already has a great career going. 

Without further ado, welcome Cait as she's with us the next 4 weeks answering some questions! 


Name: Cait Weingartner

Age: 25

Job Title: Digital Strategist, 360i

Blog name/year started: Pretty & Fun, 2011

Where did you go to college and what was your area of study? I went to a
small liberal arts college in New Jersey called Centenary College – I had gone
away as a freshman and it just did not work out for a number of reasons. I came
home for Christmas and decided that I’d rather commute and live at home. I
majored in Communications with an emphasis in Print Journalism and initially
focused on Public Relations.

Did you participate in activities or clubs throughout school to help build
your resume? What were they? As a commuter I didn’t spend a ton of time
on campus but I rode on my college’s equestrian team and freelanced for the
school’s newspaper.

How important is involvement through school in helping build experience
to land your dream job? Networking is always important, whether it’s on or off
campus. I don’t think being a social butterfly or involved in a ton of clubs/activities
is necessarily required but it’s about making the most of each experience and
then applying what you’ve learned, whether it’s leadership or creativity, to the
real world.

Is there anything you wish you had done differently during school? 
Personally I wish I would have transferred to a large school – the network that is
associated with a large university is incredible and looking back I wish I had that
today.

Thank you Cait for taking the time to answer some questions! Next Thursday we are discussing everything about internships. If you have any questions for me regarding internships (I'm on my 3rd internship this summer), tweet @amandarisius and I will answer them in next week's episode.  

Image via The Everygirl, photography by Stoffer Photography