Career Immersion Prior to Graduation: an Analysis o the Efficacy of Student Marketing Agencies

Modern college graduates are faced with a hiring paradox: employers are more willing to hire workers with experience, but college graduates lack professional experience when they graduate. Many educational disciplines encourage experiential work as a solution to this problem. In the marketing industry, student agencies offer an environment that simulates the setting of a professional marketing industry. Students receive professional guidance and execute real work for a variety of clients. This thesis will explore the processes and benefits associated with student agencies in order to determine the experiential value that they deliver to students involved. A combination of academic research and marketing research in the form of interviewing will analyze the efficacy of such institutions in graduate career placement. This analysis will provide recommended improvements for AdThing, the student agency at the University of Utah.