Alumni Spotlight #11: Joe Kowalke, '09

Today’s Alumni Spotlight beams onto 2009 Communication Studies graduate Joe Kowalke.  Joe is an Account Executive at Charles Zukow Associates (http://www.charleszukow.com/), a boutique PR firm specializing in nonprofit, lifestyle, and theater arts public relations.  Joe works on several accounts including San Francisco Arts Education Project, San Francisco General Hospital Foundation, and Taste Catering and Event Planning.  According to Joe, “I pursue media coverage for clients by pitching story ideas to print and online publications and television and radio shows.  I then coordinate and staff client interviews with the media.  I also write press materials including press releases, media alerts and website copy.  Occasionally, donuts are consumed in between responsibilities.”  Hmmm… donuts are occassionally consumed in between my responsibilities too! 

Communication Studies grad Joe Kowalke

I asked Joe to fill us in on how he got his position at Charles Zukow Associates.  I’m going to let him explain in his own words.  “I had a fancy part-time job working for a PR firm when I was a senior at USF, but the economy tanked a few months before graduation and I was laid off.  The month of May rolled around and I went from being an employed student to an unemployed graduate.  Since few PR firms were hiring, my post-graduation strategy was to use the knowledge I gained from the PR work I did during my senior year of school and apply it to freelance work as a PR generalist.  My first client was a local skincare company I had worked with in the past (http://www.nancyboy.com/).  I helped them secure publicity for their new store location.  I found my second client — a nonprofit technology organization (http://home.techsoup.org/pages/default.aspx) — through networking.  Social networking to be exact. 

 I had been following a gal on Twitter who I thought was clever, interesting, and someone I thought I should meet for lunch.  I reached out to her and she gladly agreed to lunch.  We met, ate, shared ideas and experiences.  After lunch I thought it was nice that we had chatted, but didn’t think anything would come of it.  A couple of weeks later she recommended me for a freelance PR gig.  I interviewed for the job and got it.  While with the organization, I worked directly with the communications director writing press materials and pitching story ideas to the press.

 Throughout my time as a freelancer, I monitored Craigslist, LinkedIn and various job boards for full-time positions.  I did this with the help of RSS feeds and Google Reader.  That way I didn’t have to search for job listings, they came to me.  I interviewed for at least a dozen jobs while I was freelancing and with each one I learned more about interviewing and, ultimately, myself.  Most importantly, I realized what I didn’t want to do professionally and, as a result, what I did want to do came into focus.

With only a week left in my freelance contract, I found my job with Charles Zukow Associates through a job post on LinkedIn.  I interviewed, got the job and it’s been puppies and kittens ever since.  OK, so maybe it hasn’t been that sweet and cuddly, but the job is awesome and my colleagues feel like family.  I didn’t know it at the time, but all of the stress and anxiety I endured as a freelancer helped position me for the success that I’m experiencing today.  It also taught me how to respond to and correct the inevitable missteps that occur with every job — after all, learning doesn’t stop with school.”

Joe "going rogue" (anyone who knows Joe even a little will find the humor in this picture!)

I wanted to profile Joe for the blog because he has some great ideas about how to find job postings.  He also really enjoys his current position.  “What I enjoy most about my job are my colleagues and clients.  Like I said before, the people I’m so fortunate to work with feel like family.  We want to see each other succeed.  And my clients are fun and challenge me to think creatively.”  I also asked Joe how his Communication Studies background helps him in his current position.  “I’m glad I earned a Communication Studies degree because I had the pleasure of learning from professors who challenged me to view messages through an analytical lens.  Much of what I do is to take information from a client and mold it into something that’s newsworthy.  This skill took root at USF.” 

You can learn more about Joe by checking out his website: www.joekowalke.com.  Joe is looking out for our current students and encourages USF Communication Studies majors to send in resumes to Charles Zukow Associates for internships.  The posting is in our Internship Binder in KA 313.  Thanks, Joe, and congratulations on your position!