A summer spent abroad.

My brother is a freshman at ASU and is looking at changing his major to English (from business). It makes sense for him because he wants to build a career in publishing. We were discussing a lot of the decisions he's going to need to make in the next few weeks. We spent some time talking about the options about studying abroad, of which ASU offers a monumental list of options! I spent a summer session in Lyon, France a few years ago and it was by far one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Lyon is the second biggest city (after Paris) in France, but still feels quaint and village like. We studied at the Université Lumiere Lyon 2 and not one of my professors knew any english. We were talking about the benefits surrounding living and studying in a country that has a different language. I've never really put too much thought in it (shocking if you know me and that I overthink EVERYTHING) that I lived, studied, and did really well in a country place where no one knew english. Seriously, it's not like Paris where everyone speaks english too, Lyon is straight french. I highly recommend studying abroad to everyone who is tossing around the idea. Even traveling abroad, to a place where they don't speak english and immersing yourself in their world for a few days is lifechanging. Don't try to find the people that speak english, practice a new skill, have an adventure!

Job search begins....now!

Did you know that Career Services keeps an archive of past webinars? I do now thanks to our Career Services Manager Maryjo Douglas Zunk . You can find the archive HERE!

Since I will be graduating in May with my MPA I decided I should watch the Job Search Webinar and see what things I could learn that will help in my quickly approaching venture towards careerdom. In this 47 minute video they went over the process to best benefit you as the searching employee. They started with mentioning a few good tips that I have heard before...

• Do NOT wait until you need a job to start looking for a job.
• The best time to look for a job is when you already have one. 
• If you are graduating in May, start looking in August. (ring, ring, ring, are you paying attention?!)

Before you start your quest there are five things you should do:

1. Identify the job that you want. 
2. Build a winning Résumé. 
3. Find open positions meeting your wants.
4. Brush up on your interview skills.
5. Evaluate the offer. 

When building your résumé, keep it to 1 page per 10 years of work experience! And here are some great buzz words to keep in mind when creating that eye catching résumé!

They mentioned the importance of LinkedIn account in todays job market. (Side note to the importance of a LinkedIn, my mother was scouted by her current company through her LinkedIn to be the current Vice President of Development. They found her profile and decided they wanted her for the position. It's a great tool when used to your advantage!) Other outlets that you should use to your advantage is the SunDevil CareerLink. 

When preparing for an interview, use the Career Services Center to set up a mock interview if you feel uncomfortable. Don't forget to make a list of questions to ask the interviewer as well! I always struggle with the questions but there are oodles of suggested questions on the web. Here are some to keep in mind.

After ou have rocked the interview and there is an offer, what do you do? Take it and run? No...negotiate! These were the things they suggested when talking about evaluation of the offer:

• Research the salary ranges, know the market value of the position you are being offered with other companies or agencies.
• Know YOUR worth, the skills you bring to the table are valuable, how valuable? 
• Let them bring up the salary+benefits and look at the entire package, benefits are valuable.
• When starting salary range, it is okay to extend the range by $5,000. (I don't believe that is translatable to all sectors though)
• Focus on your goals!
• Know when to stop the negotiation...there needs to be an end and if you go too far you might risk the position or relationship.

I was going to start my search around this time anyways for after graduation, but I'm glad to know that I'm not being too eager! 

RECon 2013

RECon is a large scale conference for retailers and municipalities held in Las Vegas. Thousands attend to meet with brokers, retailers both large and small and municipal governments in an effort to bring together businesses and communities. It is no small feat to get prepared for this conference and it was another of my large assignments while being at the city.

Week 5: 

This week had me working on economic development, looking at vacant properties that could be filled with business we were hoping to meet at RECon 2013. RECon is an annual convention that is held in Las Vegas occupying the country’s largest businesses and Cities from across the country, trying to build connections to bring the businesses to the various cities. Alex, the other intern, and I were compiling a list from the 420+ pages of attendees that we felt would benefit the City of Casa Grande by meeting with, and discussing the options of bringing their business to the Sun Corridor of Arizona. Another piece of this puzzle required a COSTAR report of all of the vacant retail, office, industrial and restaurant space in the city limits. The hope and expectation is that at RECon, the City of Casa Grande will be able to bring new businesses and greater opportunities to the city by presenting the vacant property and establishing the need for their business here. And there are plenty!

Week 7: 

I am now fully juggling both the RECon assignment, the TTF assignment, and picking up little things in the office for learning experience. This week I was able to read 10 proposals we received after an RFP (Request for Proposal) was sent out for a new road construction project off of the Interstate 10.

In addition to reading through the proposals and ranking them, I also assisted in designing a new logo for the Sun Corridor to take to RECon this year. Instead of Casa Grande going as a single city, this year they opted to get a bigger booth and go as a region. The Sun Corridor Arizona is built up of Casa Grande, Coolidge, Eloy, Florence, and CAREDF (Central Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation). In doing so, we wanted a uniform appearance to be presented at the conference. My supervisor and I updated the logo to be used this year and we created a new polo as well as other material that will be going along to RECon. 

Week 9: 

Monday started with a 6 hour long budget meeting. It was the study session taking the entire city budget to council for clarification and to ask any questions. Each agency director sat in front of council as piece-by-piece of the budget was gone through. It went by more quickly than one would expect from a day-long session talking about every dollar the city has. There was another RECon meeting as well as time spent in Scottsdale working on the project.

A list had been compiled with all of the contacts we wished to reach in regards to meetings at RECon. The final list was 87 contacts of retailers, restaurants, and hospitality organizations. Everything from Toys’R’Us to Dunkin’ Donuts were included. Between Alex and I, we contacted all of the 87 businesses, sometimes multiple people at each organization, to request an appointment. Cold calls and emails took up the majority of a day and we left many a messages requesting contacts. It was interesting to see how many businesses simply were not expanding into Arizona at this time, despite the growth that Arizona is seeing once again. The Sun Corridor is experiencing 22.4% growth annually!  

Week 10:  

It is supreme crunch time for RECon. Everything must be ordered to get to the City in time to take with. Shirts, printed material, the furniture, as well as securing meetings with businesses, and building site criteria. The majority of the contacts we were in touch with have responded, however there were a few that we simply weren’t getting a response from. Of those 87, we had set 5 meetings. That is a huge success considering they were the businesses we were most interested in getting to come to the City of Casa Grande!

In addition to the materials needed for RECon, I officially finished all of the necessary documents for TTF for review by the consultant. Everything was put into a binder that John will be able to take with him on his trip this upcoming week. In two weeks, John and I will meet to make sure nothing else needs to be done and then we will take our information to the airport manager at the end of the month for presentation. It was a relief to snap the binder rings shut and see all of the work accomplished over the last few weeks.

Week 11: 

This has been the final leg in the home stretch to RECon. This week consisted of putting the finishing touches on site criteria packets for the businesses we were interested in, packing up the vehicles for the trip up to Las Vegas, and meetings discussing the final pieces of the large puzzle.

In order to get the site criteria packets to be most presentable, we first looked up the site criteria that many businesses post for the public. For instance, if you are interested in a Dunkin’ Donuts, you can google their criteria and come up with a list of the things they desire when considering opening a new location. We then set to seek out the perfect locations in our city that met the desired criteria. Utilizing ArcGIS, we were able to export maps into the documents that included the sites/PADS as well as coinciding criteria like traffic counts for the intersections they would be near to, the zoning, and nearby businesses or other tenants in the plaza. Population demographics can make or break a site selection seeing as how many businesses require a minimum number of people to consider it as an option. I chose to make the site criteria packets match the company’s existing logo and customize them further, matching fonts and colors while adding their logo at the top of the page. I’m hoping the personal touch will catch their eye at RECon and allow my supervisors to proceed with explaining why the spot is perfect for their business.

It’s been a long process to get to this point but I believe everyone feels good about where we are at in regards to progress. We have a great listing of appointments set up with the business we were most interested in bringing to Casa Grande. We have built packets to give to those businesses and we are hopefully going to be able to show that we do meet all of their needs and we will offer them room to grow with our always expanding city. As big of a relief as it is to be done, I’m anxious to see what comes of the actual conference this upcoming week. 

Casa Grande Municipal Airport

One of the main projects I worked on over the time I spent at Casa Grande was working on various assignments for the Airport.

I helped to reevaluate the lease agreements used at Casa Grande Municipal Airport (CGZ). I gathered information about the valley's city run airports and compiled a data set with all of the pricing, number of hangars, tie-downs, storage units, and the number of people on a wait list. I also found contracts for each of the airports and then drafted contracts that met the needs for CGZ. After the contracts were drafted, I made new applications for individuals to apply to get a rental space at CGZ. 

This is the roof of the consultants office at the Scottsdale Airpark. It was a welcome getaway where I could take my computer and work in the sun while watching planes fly in and out. 

Six weeks in to my placement with the City I started working in Scottsdale for a contractor, the following are excerpts from writings I did at the time I was working: 

This is a TTF access gate. It allows an airplane to pass from the airpark
to the airside (airport) after an approval process with
the airport.

Week 6: I began my assignment working with a consultant at the Scottsdale Airpark. The assignment is to assist John Mayer, a leading airport property specialist in the country, on gaining Through-The-Fence (TTF) Access by the FAA for CGZ. It’s an important task that will help to build the Donovan M. Kramer Sr. Industrial Airpark and help get CGZ more financially stable. The task includes researching the TTF requirements and looking at other airports that have already gained access. I am then required to help build the documents that the FAA needs to approve the access.

TTF, most simply put, allows airplanes stored in the airpark to enter the airside (airport) through various fences along the border between the airpark and the airside. Granting this access can be a security breach therefore every precaution must be made. It requires drafting new agreements, updating the gate access, and revamping the current standards in place for the airport, and creating new ones for the airpark.

It's 80 feet across to allow for an airplane to pass through. There are a lot of regulations made by the FAA to gain approval for this process to take place and the gates being up to par is barely scratching the surface.

Week 8: I have been continuing my work with the TTF project. After a meeting with the airport manager, I had a clearer sense of direction in regards to the needs of the airport as well as the direction of the airpark. After a tour of the Scottsdale Airport I was able to see the needs and the changes that must take place in CGZ to be up to par. It’s also incredibly important to remember the different needs of the two airports. SDL and CGZ are two completely different worlds in regards to the clientele that each serve. SDL is business travelers and private jet owners on both business and luxury travel trips. CGZ is more of the weekend hobbyist who likes to take their little plane on mini adventures. 

Vehicle Access gates are much smaller and only approved vehicles are allowed to enter the airside. 

These gates must also be kept up to strict guidelines, including always waiting on the other side for the gate to close after you. They are all always being monitored by security cameras and if anyone is found breaking any of the rules, at any of the gates (air or vehicle) there are strict consequences.

Week 13: With Monday being the holiday, Tuesday was a long day in preparation for the meeting with Richard. Making multiple copies and putting together the presentation binders for the TTF access proposal was tedious but rewarding. To have three full binders at the end of the day ready to move forward was a great feeling. It’s incredibly helpful to be able to see your work laid out like that in front of you. Wednesday was the first day in the office since before RECon and I’m going to ship out a prize from the conference. This prize is a signed authentic soccer jersey autographed by the Seattle Sounders FC.

The meeting with John and Richard went well. Richard is going to forward out the documents to members of the board as well as the risk manager and the city attorney to make sure that everything is as it should be. The next step is meeting with the FAA for a first interview. 

After the final meeting with John and Richard, copies of the documents were given to board members, the attorney, the risk manager, and the fire marshall. Even in the final weeks leading up to the end, I never heard back from everyone. I don't like leaving things left undone, however, this project was so big it was quite unlikely I was going to be able to finish it before my time was done.


On a slightly different side note, there was a fun experience with the consultant where I was invited to attend a BBQ held by one of John's clients. The CEO of shamrock foods grilled us some fantastic burgers that we enjoyed next to their jet in their airpark hangar. We got a tour of the plane and were invited to see another hangar managed by John that houses a detailing business. Here are a few goodies from that day.

This is the Shamrock Foods charter and their hangar. 

The front of the charter jet. The towels were all monogramed with and included the shamrock logo. 

The back of the charter jet. These are the ladies I worked with at Airport Property. Stephanie, the girl in front of me is also getting her MPA from another program.

This is a large jet from another hangar that we were checking on. It was getting detailed while we were there. It was massive!

The clients leave their cars while they are away on their planes. When they come back, they are sparkly new. It was a busy day for the business because we had just had a dust storm the day before.

This was a brand new Bentley that they were detailing after the owner purchased it. It was a very, very pretty car.