Sarah Hines

After leaving highschool in 2008, I was still unsure of where or what I wanted to do, so I started working as most everyone does. I landed a job working at the Corporate offices of The Beer Store. I started out by helping in the Payroll department (where I also complete the CPA program), which then led to helping pretty much anyone in any department who needed something done a.s.a.p., from Payroll, to Real Estate, to Marketing to Finance and even the Mailroom! For extra money, I decided to start working nights in one of The Beer Store's retail shops near my house in Etobicoke. I knew I didn't want to spend the rest of my life working as a CSR and working in Payroll which helped me to realize, I like working with people and I'm good at it, so what was I doing taking Payroll courses? I decided to apply for a few different Marketing programs as various Ontario Colleges. I chose George Brown College, King St campus, right in the heart of downtown Toronto. Who knew that this would be my calling. It felt good to have something in my life that not only was I interested in, but did well at too! I was really enjoying my courses, so I chose to not take my summers off and was able to graduate early in December 2012. Then came the fun part...finding a REAL job.

I was asked to fill in at The Beer Store office as the receptionist for a few months in 2013, which worked out perfectly while trying to find myself a job in my designated field. I went to interview after interview after interview, and really, they are ALL the same. It's rare to find someone who isn't going to ask you all the typical textbook questions, but real life questions to find about who you are as a person not only in work life but your personal life as well. Looking for jobs online is tough, there are too many people applying for such a small amount of jobs you become a dime a dozen. Luckily, through a connection of mine I landed an interview with Samsung Electronics, where I was fortunate enough to be offered a contract position with the company. I was scared but I knew this would be the perfect start to my career.

I was hired to assist the Service Marketing Department. Here I was able to use the skills I learned in school, such as SEO and anaylitcs tools such as Google Adwords and YouTube Analytics. I was put in charge of maintaining their YouTube channel, mobile app, as well as producing new 'How-To' consumer content for TV/Video, Digital Imaging, PC & Office and Home Appl