Class gets business first-hand

An Anderson School of Management class turned itself into a real-world marketing firm for students to gain hands-on experience while simultaneously serving the community.

MGMT 487 Promotional Management, taught by professor John Benavidez, will be working with the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) to start a recruitment campaign designed to attract more doctors and health care professionals to the unarmed uniform service organization dedicated to disaster relief.

Eric Estvanko, the student project leader, said the class is different from anything he has taken so far at UNM.

“It offers great real-world opportunities and experience that you can’t get from reading a textbook or sitting through lectures, giving students an advantage over other job applicants in an increasingly competitive job market.”

Students are assigned various roles, from advertising to marketing to administrative positions, that would exist in a real company.

Estvanko said coordinating a marketing firm without a company presents some difficulties.

“The only real problem is trying to coordinate so many schedules outside of class,” he said. “Had the 23 students in the class all been employees at the same marketing firm, we would all have time to work together on the same 9-to-5 schedule, instead of being students trying to work around it.”

Despite that difficulty, student Victoria Gonzales said the project was exciting — she said the USPHS representative made it clear that the class was doing something beyond just gaining work experience.

“He really made it clear that the type of people who do his line of work have to have a passion for helping those who are underserved,” she said. “They’re a group of skilled medical professionals who are genuinely excited about helping people.”

Having completed its research, the class is ready to start its campaign.

Benavidez said the excitement is noticeable.

“So far they have exhibited a great deal of initiative, and I fully expect them to meet or exceed the measures of success outlined by the client,” he said.