jason van
creative marketing professional
THE COMPLETE CREATIVE PROFESSIONAL
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why ME
I AM SO MUCH MORE THAN A DESIGNER Creatively Led, Strategically Driven and focused on Employer and Project Success. I possess qualities and skills that very few “designers” have. Shellie, you know what’s best for Golden State Foods, but since you need a professional designer that is a complete package, there is only one logical way to get it; Simply put, Hire ME. To help solidify your decision, I’ve broken the process down to four core attributes that I believe set me apart and above any other potential candidates that you may be considering. • Skills: Award winning talent and proven ability to make the best product. • Leadership: Treat others with respect and help them exceed their expectations. • Values: The ability to always make the “Right” decision. • Desire: It’s more than a job. Finding creative and compelling new ways to interact with others while maintaining the highest standards.
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
AWARD WINNING DESIGNER
REALISTIC and EFFICIENT
ME EXECUTIVE and BUSINESS OWNER
HANDS ON LEADER
15+ YEARS of MULTI-INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
Institute for Business Value, CEOs identify ‘creativity’ as the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future.” -Business Week
Going beyond that, my management and marketing experience give me the ability to see the “Big Picture” and understand market opportunities. In the “design” world this combination of skills is incredibly rare I would be incredibly valuable inside Golden and has been a focus of mine to be sucState Foods as the Manager of Corporate cessful at all of these skills. Communications. Taking account of all my Beyond the creative, I have honed my creative skills and abilities I can take a concept ability to pay attention to the world, and turn them into a full-featured product. analyze the market, speak to vendors,
watch customers and consumers, then take all that information to identify potential opportunities.
The added value to GSF?
Utilizing all of my creative skills and abilities, I can take a concept and turn it into an exciting and engaging product. My thought process is very entrepreneurial, combined with an excellent aesthetic eye and an understanding of user experience.
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decorated award winning
SKILLS
UNIQUE INDUSTRIES WITH DESIGN AWARDS IN EACH What better way is there to validate one’s ability than to submit it to your professional peers and have them decide who’s product is best? Q: OK, so you’ve won an award or two, what’s the big deal? A: The crux of my statement is that I’m talking about different forms of design. From print to electronic and even product design, each discipline has their own unique set of skills that one has to master. Many designers and creatives have worked entire careers in singular industries and have never achieved what I have been able to accomplish in several industries. By all accounts I have proven my expertise and had it validated in every profession that I have worked in.
How does this Benefit GSF?
Awards may be a good validator, but it is really about making the best product and never settling for less. The insatiable drive to design the best product while doing it creatively is arguably the most powerful force
in business. I will pursue collaborative relationships with GSF’s clients and partners to find the hidden potential of people, brands and business through leadership, teamwork and most importantly creativity.
effective
TEAM leader
YOU MUST WALK YOUR TALK Being a “leader” is an easy thing to say, but a much harder role to accomplish. Over the years being an executive and director I have developed the qualities of a successful leader. Beginning with supervisory roles and management positions I started working on my skills, but to become a true leader, it takes much more than a mechanical ability to conduct business affairs. I have been fortunate to have good mentors in my past that helped me take my skills and go beyond the current norm of “manager title equals leader”. One of the most important traits regarding being a leader is my decision to become one. It was as a natural progression in my professional career. One of the biggest things I took away from my years at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo was the educational philosophy of “Learn by Doing”. Throughout my career I have adapted that philosophy and applied it to my leadership approach. With my extensive ex-
perience fellow employees and even superiors come to me for insights, tips and answers. Creative departments tend to be information hubs for many employees and cross-over departments. As the “go-to” guy I have developed a few key traits that I have found to be very successful and give an insight into my leadership qualities: • Take charge, behave ethically and live your values. • Make others feel important and appreciated. • Set the pace through example and expectations. • Provide inspiration and opportunities to grow. • Establish an environment of continuous improvement. • Provide vision for the future.
Why should this concern GSF?
When a company has strong, cohesive leadership, the company culture naturally develops as opposed to being forced. This is very obvious at GSF and my personal management style fosters the same company culture that is currently in place within the Corporate Communications Department and the company as a whole.
Good Leaders Are Invaluable To A Company. Bad Leaders Will Destroy It. - Forbes
honest
VALUES ha do
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g i r ht s ’ t
s y a alw
I AM DEDICATED, MORAL AND ETHICAL
The Golden Rule—treat others as you would want to be treated—It lies at the heart of ethics. It is an expression of the basic human instinct to bond with others and a cornerstone value in the creed of Golden State Foods. Respectfully, it is one of the important reasons I believe I am the perfect fit for GSF. It’s a value system that I have applied to my own work for many years. Ethics are a rare commodity nowadays. Fred Reichheld, Author/Speaker on Loyalty has said it quite well “...read company annual reports or sit in on MBA classes, and you’ll often find ethics treated as an alien concept, shoehorned into special sections or seminars and sounding slightly fluffy next to the mathematical rigors of GAAP accounting and ROI calculations.” I approach all work and business relations with dedication, integrity. The key to my success has been to always do what’s right even if the consequences do not end in my
The Golden Rule finds no limit of application in business. -James Cash Penney favor. In the rare times this occurred, I have used it as a learning experience to improve my skillset. When a company treats you right or sells you a terrific product, you feel happy. You feel loyal. You’re likely to buy more from that company. You’re likely to recommend that company’s products and services to friends, family and colleagues. I applied this approach as the Global Brand Manager for Rogue Stand Up Paddle Boards. In my research I have found, in most industries, companies that are the loyalty leaders such as GSF have a compound annual
growth rate that is more than twice that of their competitors.
GSF is already a loyalty leader, so what is your advantage? Hiring the right employee, such as myself, speeds up the team integration, enhances your work culture and pays you back a thousand times over in high employee morale, positive forward thinking planning, and accomplishing challenging goals. With that in mind, choosing me to fill the position of Manager of Corporate Communication becomes a very clear decision.
authentic
DESIRE
SETTING EPIC GOALS AND BEING MOTIVATED I choose personal goals that have big missions even though there’s no easy way to put it on a to-do list. The key is to enjoy the journey by celebrating the problem solving victories along the way. I’ve said this several times while interviewing at Golden State Foods; working as an independent contractor and starting up a small business I see myself as a service provider. I find motivation in creatively solving my employer’s problems. It’s the thrill of working through the process and finding the best solution. Sometimes these are problems my clients didn’t even realize they had, or problems they were well aware of, but hadn’t historically had the power to solve. It’s a never-ending process, because the rate of change in the business world and the integration of technology generates all-new challenges, along with all-new opportunities to solve them.
A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others. -Ayn Rand ability to handle the mental demands of the job; my work style is consistent with the styles of those who are currently in the Corporate Communications Department and GSF. Through our meetings I have gained a deeper understanding of GSF and the open position in the Corporate Communications Department. I can How does this motivation help GSF? confidently say that I genuinely enjoy the I’m a self motivated and highly qualified kind of work that the position requires person who is committed to the goals and and would appreciate the opportunity to objectives of GSF. I continually look at join your team. finding business solutions. I possess the That’s still the core of my mission today, “...the biggest thrill for me is what I do everyday-increase the financial and intrinsic value of my clients’ companies.” This is a much more ardent business oriented position than saying “I like to design things” which is the most common stance that my peers take.
the complete creative professional
*ME
jason van
creative marketing professional
*I’M ABLE TO START WORK MONDAY