Driven by Self-Promotion: Pauala Garavel

During WRTC alumna Paula Garavel’s senior year at JMU, she served as the Risk-Management Director for SafeRides. During her time as Risk-Management Director, it was her primary responsibility to organize vehicle pick-up with the Enterprise-Rent-A-Car location in Harrisonburg, where Saferides rents cars for its weekend services. As graduation for Garavel closely approached, she was convinced her future career title would be heavily writing intensive, as she focused on the many aspects of writing through the WRTC program.

As it turns out, Garavel’s current career is not solely a writing position. However, it is still closer to home than she ever anticipated. Not only is her job close to her hometown in West Hartford, Connecticut, but it is with a company she is certainly no stranger to: Enterprise-Rent-
A-Car.

Garavel now works professionally as a Management Trainee for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, where she handles anything from marketing strategies to a variety of businesses, customer service protocols, recording all efforts and findings, training employees, and underwriting procedures. Garavel says that she does “a little bit of everything” in this position. “I have learned speaking and negotiation skills both over the phone and face to face in person.”

Along with helping students perfect their writing and editing abilities, Garavel says that her time as a WRTC undergrad also prepared her to perform adequate self-marketing and promotion skills, which has proved to be a crucial aspect in her career thus far.

“Making connections and networking was emphasized and stressed to be of great importance all throughout the WRTC program. This is essential throughout all steps and phases of life – it’s about who you know, and how well you are able to market yourself to others.” This especially helped Garavel in her career search upon graduation because of the connections she made as an undergrad.

“I established a really good relationship with the management team at the local Enterprise branch [in Harrisonburg],” said Garavel, “and as graduation was approaching they encouraged me to apply. I shot them down almost immediately saying ‘I’m not renting out cars. I’m not a business major, I know nothing about business.’”

However, because of the internship she completed for her WRTC major requirement, she realized her major in WRTC indeed taught her about business. She crafted an internship in which she paired her WRTC skills with completing further organization of operations and safety protocol for SafeRides. Upon applying toEnterprise, graduating, and returning to Connecticut, she was hired by the Enterprise-Rent-A-Car in West Hartford within a week.

As a WRTC alum, Garavel still uses the many lessons she learned in the school that went beyond the studies of writing, editing, and rhetoric.

“Relate what you have done and accomplished to what you can do and will achieve,” said Garavel on her most useful lessons learned in WRTC. “This will enhance your self-promotion and marketing – it shows that you are invested in your personal success and further development towards your professional career. [I learned] to never hold back from showcasing myself.”

- See more at: http://sites.jmu.edu/wrtcalumni/2013/11/20/driven-by-self-promotion-paula-garavel-13-and-her-ride-from-wrtc-to-enterprise-rent-a-car-2/#sthash.xGjj0Gq1.dpuf