My Introduction to the Path 101 Blog

Hey guys! My name is Ari Ratner and I am currently attending Virginia Commonwealth University’s Adcenter which will soon be known as the Brandcenter. I will be graduating with my Masters in Communications, more specifically Creative Brand Management, this May and look forward to re-entering the ‘real world’ as a more complete professional. I hold a Bachelors degree in Communications from THE Ohio State University and have experience with both startups and established companies. I spent three years creating and developing a business publication aimed at young professionals which was never actually published but the experience I learned was invaluable. I also spent some time working as an Account Representative and Product Manager for Ruckus Network, a digital entertainment service aimed at Colleges and Universities. Lastly, I spent some time at Sports Illustrated Magazine and this past summer, interned with EA SPORTS.

On a daily basis, you can find me searching through numerous websites to obtain information I am interested in reading about. They span from sports related websites to city specific websites to tech industry sites. I learned about Path 101 from Mashable.com. I was immediately intrigued about Path 101 for a number of reasons. First, the site was something I felt I could have used while at Ohio State. Second, I am surrounded by friends that are miserable at work and I always wondered why they didn’t do more to find an industry that they enjoyed working in. Third, the site at its bare minimum is being built to better help people figure their career paths out and I am all for helping people.

One of my final assignments in graduate school is to conduct an extensive Brand/Marketing plan for an existing organization. Thankfully, Charlie and Alex have agreed to allow me to work with Path 101 for my Independent Study. Throughout the semester, I hope to accomplish a number of objectives that will benefit Path 101 and its users. The two main objectives for Path 101 is to 1) develop a strategy for reaching young professionals aged 25-34 in order to grow Path’s user base and 2) develop a strategy to reach college advisors. The other main thing I will be working on is developing and writing a study looking at the marketing habits of startups.

While I strongly believe that Path 101 will be a success, I do believe it has its challenges. Its biggest challenge is becoming relevant to its target audience. There are so many sites that claim to be about career discovery, but I have yet to run across a site that is compelling, entertaining and useful to college students and professionals alike. I believe Path 101 will be that site.

Lastly, the best career advice I ever received was to make sure that you wake up everyday looking forward to your job and not regretting going to it. I really look forward to working with Path 101 and will be keeping a blog to document my experience.