Real NC Careers
M.A. Digital Communication Assignment
The assignment
In this project, assigned in my Media Innovation in Practice course, I was asked to use entrepreneurship and design thinking approaches to:
define a problem
explore and evaluate current proposed solutions
develop and propose a solution
defend the desirability, feasibility and viability of that solution
The problem
A 2021 survey of older millennials found that 47% of them wish they had pursued a different career, and the average American spends one-third of their life at work.
What’s the path forward to making sure younger generations don’t regret or dislike one-third of their life?
The Process
To learn more about this challenge, I conducted interviews, sent out surveys and analyzed secondary sources. I learned that high school students in North Carolina need to be exposed to more careers linked to their interests because it’s a crucial first step in their college search.
In my interviews, surveys and exploration of current solutions, I found that existing options often:
place too early of a focus on the college search,
feel too stale and unrelatable, or
can’t be offered consistently to students at all schools.
Project Actions
Interviewing 20 high school students, college students and their parents
Surveying 31 educators in 21 counties
Empathy mapping
Developing value propositions
The Result
I proposed @RealNCCareers, a social media account for YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook that would feature user-generated-content style videos in the day-in-the-life or Q&A format of alumni of UNC System institutions that now work in North Carolina.
To communicate this solution, I presented a pitch deck and also wrote a report. I also created an example prototype of a short-form video.
My final project was used as an example for future classes and scored the highest possible grade given in my program.
Minimum viable product/prototype of day-in-the-life video created to show the type of information and content that would be included.