Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Keegan Shoutz, a senior at St. Cloud State and one of our Fast Horse Experience Facebook friends, who paid us a visit and shadowed George a couple weeks back. Keegan is at left with George.

As an upcoming college graduate, come May I will be thrown out into the real world with hopes not much unlike any other college graduate. Find a job I like, in an area I want to live in, near people I want to be around. Although our economy is struggling and jobs are hard to find, I have been privileged with the opportunity to get an inside look at the public relations field on many occasions.

My advice to any college student is this: Get involved! Become active in student organizations and events you are interested in. Doing so will open doors you may have never thought possible. Don’t believe me? Feeling like it’s too much work? Well, take me for example. I joined the Public Relations Student Society of America my sophomore year in college. I was an average member; helped out when I could but never really took advantage of the opportunities I was provided.

Fast forward to my junior year, when I became a more active member within the organization and decided to run for the presidency. Turns out I got it and quickly was given a world of opportunities and experiences not only for myself, but for all the members of the organization. I began the year with a plan: work hard, but work together to benefit our group as a whole. In doing so, each member of PRSSA has been given an opportunity to make a number of great connections within the public relations field. We have been focusing on topics such as informational interviews, tours of agencies we are interested in, social networking sites and job shadowing.

Which brings me to where I am today, sitting in the offices of Fast Horse, “a consumer marketing agency,” located in Minneapolis.  If you had asked me at the beginning of the year if I thought I would be confident enough to seek out an agency I am interested in and ask if I could go in to job shadow for a day, you would have received a simple “no.” Getting more involved throughout each year of college has truly created opportunities I never knew existed. The ability to sit in an office such as this, right next to the very people who have the job I want, is an eye opening experience.

Most of us spend four or more years in college, and although we attend class and go through the motions, many of us cannot imagine where we really want to be after graduation. It takes initiative, hard work and dedication to find a career and let’s be honest, just going through the motions is not going to cut it.

It’s important to network, get your name out there and find the answers to any questions you may have about how to get to that dream job. Use social networking sites and the Internet to your advantage. Times have drastically changed and it’s even more important today to get your voice out there. Do anything you can to distinguish yourself from the others searching for the same position, and create your own opportunities.

The time is now and graduation will come faster than you think. So get out there, find what interests you and strive for achievement. In the end it will take you places you never though possible.

We can all learn from Lady GaGa. Stop laughing, guys. I’m serious.

Behind the Ace bandages, skeleton costume and pyromania, Lady GaGa knows what’s up.

I’m not here to tell you what you can learn from GaGa. That’s for you to figure out. I’m just here to say that GaGa is teaching us all a lesson.

“Norah Jones watch out,” boldly states one of the judges after that performance by Stefani Germanotta.

Oh no, Norah Jones, you best watch your back before Stefani Germanotta is right behind you. Along with a hundred other vocally gifted college girls who can play the piano.

Lady GaGa, on the other hand, gave the finger to Norah Jones as she went straight to the top of the charts. She stiff-armed those hundred or so college girls with heart-breaking vocals and delicate fingers. In the process, she managed to gain the adoration of a nation. A nation saying, “Norah who?”

Stefani … errr… GaGa knew that it simply wasn’t good enough to be a pretty girl with heart-breaking vocals and delicate fingers. She had already missed the proverbial train on that. So she took the voice that makes me melt, those fingers that grace the keys, and re-packaged them. She took something that was old and made it new. Made it exciting. Made people pay attention, whether they liked it or not.

She took the ordinary and made it unordinary. She looked at the standard for her style of music and said: Forget that, I can do so much more.

And she killed it.

Next is Zack Holtman, a student who visited us to see what life is like at a marketing agency. His mom is Jeanette Holtman, one of our clients at Creative Memories.

My visit to Fast Horse was a great time! I really enjoyed the opportunity to check out the business and how you go about doing what you do. Not only was it very educational and inspiring, but also an enjoyable experience with plenty of personality and humor. This visit has really given me an insight into how a company in marketing works and the kind of work I would be doing if I should decide to pursue a career in this field.

I learned the most by talking to the staff here. Their experience and knowledge about the industry was very interesting. I started off by talking to Hilary, who really helped me to feel comfortable and welcome as well as sharing about her experience with school and the job hunting process. Talking with her resonated with me, especially because we have such a similar approach to thinking about design and marketing as a whole.

I also spent time with Katie and Ben, who were happy to give advice and insight on the marketing industry as a whole based on their experiences. This was great, because they had a lot of useful advice about interviews and choosing which career would be best for me. George was also great to talk to, and was very knowledgeable when I had any questions regarding the marketing industry and his experience with it.

Thanks to everyone at Fast Horse for making me feel welcome! I’m sure it had nothing to do with the pizza…

And, of course, thanks to Allison for helping me set up this opportunity, showing me around and introducing me to everyone. It was really a pleasure to visit with Fast Horse, and I want to thank everyone there for a great time!