APAOC
October 2008 Meeting

In October, we interviewed four panelists who are instrumental in the hiring (and firing!) of Production and Traffic Managers throughout the OC and LA areas:

Virginia King, whose credits include Director of Marketing / Merchandising and VP at such companies as Mattel, DirecTV, Encore Software, and Merle Norman Cosmetics;

Vivian Green, currently Sr. Production Manager at The Irvine Company, formerly Professor of Graphic Production at USC;

Janet Wood, Director of Human Resources at The Designory, responsible for interviewing & pre-qualifying candidates for hire, strongly influencing the final decision; and

Michael Rejniak, Division Director of The Creative Group (Irvine office), which specializes in placing highly skilled creative, advertising, marketing, web and public relations professionals with a variety of firms.

Some of what we found out: What kind of work should be included in a portfolio, how many pieces there should be, how to target an employer’s specialties through directed conversation, whether the use of portfolios enhances candidates’ presentations, plus other things candidates can do to distinguish themselves from their competition. We also got a look at a few active portfolios from our panelists!