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Dalton State College School of Business faculty members
Dr. Marilyn
Helms, Professor of Management,
and Dr. Donna Mayo, Dean
of the School
of Business, displayed Coca-Cola products prior to the
College's
first
Business Networking Club (BNC) meeting for fall. The BNC
invited
Coca-Cola Enterprise (CCE)
representatives to talk to
business majors
about job prospects and how to prepare for upcoming job
interviews.
On
the back row are Associate Professor of Marketing Dr.
Stephen LeMay,
CCE District Manager of the Southeast Business Unit
David Meeks, CCE
Logistics Service Manager Dave Thornton, and CCE
Regional Director for
Logistics Mike Williams.
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Around 60
students enrolled in Bachelor of Business Administration degree
programs at Dalton State College heard from executives of
Marietta-based Coca-Cola Enterprises on Thursday, on a range of
topics which included how to succeed in a job interview.
Mike Williams, Regional Director of Logistics for Coca-Cola
Enterprises, told students from the College's Business
Networking Club and business administration faculty members that
the three most important qualities their company looks for in
potential employees are leadership abilities, organizational
skills and communication talents.
"When someone comes in for a 30-minute interview, we can tell
within about five or six minutes whether or not he or she has a
shot at this position," said Williams, who hires district
route specialists to
schedule trucks and drivers and plan the deliveries of canned
and bottled Coca-Cola drink products throughout the southeast.
"We're not looking just for the recent graduate who earned a
4.0 grade point average," he continued. "We value leadership,
and we look for candidates who can demonstrate what they've done
in their lives to show how they've influenced others or
managed other people, whether it be in the workplace or in a
volunteer organization."
Having excellent organizational skills, or the ability to
"juggle" multiple tasks at once, is the second determining
factor, Williams added, noting that recruiters will ask
candidates to give examples of
how they "juggle" the different roles they play during a given
day.
Finally, being an effective communicator is essential, Williams
says, because the positions they fill require employees who can
interact with colleagues with varying educational backgrounds
and communication abilities.
"Folks, in 2008 you are going to have to "talk" to people," he
emphasized. "You cannot text message your way through a job
interview."
Explaining to the students that the purpose of supply chain
management is to move products from the time raw materials are
purchased to the time the finished products end up on a storeβs
shelves, Williams said that his company has 63 distribution
centers in the southeast alone and manages 1,800 delivery routes
daily. The company employs nearly 74,000 employees worldwide and
brings in almost $20 billion in revenue yearly.
With respect to his operation, Williams said around 1,000 sales
representatives in the field take orders from the stores in
their territories and transmit those orders to the
Marietta-based planning office. At that point, the district
route specialists take over and plan upcoming routes for the
delivery truck drivers.
"In the supply chain process, you're always spending money to
move the product. The key is figuring out how little you can
spend and still meet the clients' needs. For example, while
coordinating the next
day's routes, you may have to decide between sending out 14
delivery trucks or 15 trucks. In effect, you're holding the
purse strings for those budgets."
Williams was on campus to encourage business students who will
graduate this fall to apply for a position as a district route
supervisor. He regularly recruits students from Dalton State
College, Mississippi State University, and Auburn University for
these positions, he said.
Ashley Attaway, a marketing major from Cartersville, found his
presentation to be "awesome."
"I think telling us about those three essential qualities to
highlight on a resume will be very helpful," she said.
"Listening to the presentation has encouraged me to figure out
how I can take on more leadership activities."
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