Next Generation Leaders is a unique 12-month rotational program created by Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (DMEF) and Direct Marketing Association (DMA) to provide top graduates from leading universities an opportunity to acquire valuable work experience. The program provides recent graduates with exceptional training in multichannel direct marketing through several assignments at some of the top direct/interactive companies in the field. Associates get to work alongside some of the business’ most experienced direct marketing professionals.
To provide graduates from top universities and colleges, who may have not had exposure to direct/interactive marketing, an opportunity to see the varied and exciting careers that they can have in the field.
This program was created as a vehicle to help the DMEF fulfill its mission of attracting, educating and placing top college students into the field of direct/interactive marketing.
A certain period spent at a sponsor company. During this time, associates in the program work on meaningful projects and are supervised/mentored by top management in the sponsor company.
Associates are given the opportunity to work on a wide range of possible projects including but not limited to new business pitches, user experience analysis, market research, project coordination, event planning and client interaction. In addition, associates will be assigned a group project by DMEF.
Each program year DMEF recruits new sponsor companies for the rotations. Past sponsor companies have included: Goodman&Company, Harte-Hanks, Kraft/Gevalia, Scholastic and Wunderman.
Past programs have been based in the New York City area. In 2010, programs are being planned for Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and NYC.
Rotations are contained in one city but associates do have to move to the location of each sponsor company within that city as they move through the rotations.
Upon completion of the program, associates may be offered positions at one of the sponsoring companies. If associates do not want or are not offered a position at a sponsor company, DMEF will work with the associate to help him/her find an appropriate position.
Applicants must be seniors enrolled in an undergraduate program at an accredited college or university. The program is not open to individuals with graduate degrees or previous full-time experience in the workforce. Individuals with immediate family members employed at sponsoring companies, DMEF or the DMA are not eligible to participate.
Our preferred qualifications are graduates with a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising, Communications, Economics, English, Marketing, Psychology, Public Relations or a comparable area of study. We require a minimum 3.0 grade point average.
Aside from competitive wages, associates in the program enjoy excellent benefits that meet most employee needs.
Visit this page to fill out our online application form.