Why Being a Fresh Prints Campus Manager May Not Be For You
Prioritize candor over comfort.
- Fresh Principles
Hi! Have you been invited for a Campus Manager interview with Fresh Prints? Maybe you've already gone through the process and got the offer. Maybe you're a blog that gained consciousness and has no other way to communicate with the world except for writing blog posts.
Sorry, don't know what got into me there. Back to what I was saying -
If you're interested in working at Fresh Prints, that's great. Here are a few resources to get you started:
BUT if you have more questions or you're just not sure if this is the right fit for you, keep reading.
At Fresh Prints, we say 4 words often: prioritize candor over comfort. It means that we speak with honesty no matter what. So even though I, a sentient blog, firmly believe that Campus Management is a great opportunity for students to learn and grow as young professionals while making money -- I know that it still isn't for everyone.
And I will be honest with you about that.
We've had over 3000 college students work with us in the past 10 years. Some stayed as CMs until they graduated, and some left after one semester. Most graduates work in other companies like Goldman Sachs, Google, 3M, Deloitte, EY, etc. Others graduated and started working full-time for Fresh Prints. It's safe to say we know what we're talking about, so let's break it down.
Starting with misconceptions.
If you think you need to major in fashion or have some interest in design to do this job well - you'd be wrong. In fact, most of our best Campus Managers have majors and interests completely unrelated to what they do at Fresh Prints. Frank Amaefuna, a former Campus Manager at UConn, now works as a Dentist. Angelica Benares was a Campus Manager at Lehigh and now works as a Tech Risk Consultant at EY. They were both successful Campus Managers.
You might say - okay but you gotta be studying business to do it well. Right?
Although many of our CMs are in business-related majors, we've seen many successful Campus Managers come from other majors. Not only do we not think that you don't need a related major to do well here, but we also think majors have nothing to do with Campus Management at all.
Zevi Siegal is a Campus Manager at Yale and he's studying English Literature. He's also one of our top CMs. Lauren Cohen, another one of our top CMs, is majoring in Business Administration but she fully admits that she only chose that major because she didn't know what to pick.
A major doesn't completely define who you are and what you're capable of. It doesn't even accurately predict what you'll end up doing professionally. So why should it dictate what you can and cannot do in college? Besides that, being a CM is about building client relationships and working through logistics to make orders happen - you don't need a business major to learn how to do that.
Ryley Fredericksen, a recruiter at Fresh Prints once told us, "We don't look for specific majors or fancy experiences. We know that business skills are teachable. We look for friendly, driven, and authentic people - those are traits we can't teach you and they play a big role in your success."
Campus Managers have their own managers who mentor them. New CMs also go through extensive training that sets them up for success. All we require is you come in with a desire to learn.
Now, let's talk about when Campus Management isn't the right fit.
As a CM, you set your own hours.
Well, that's not fair, blog. That sounds awesome! No set working hours? I can do whatever I want.
Setting your own hours means controlling when and how much you work. That all sounds great until you realize that it also means holding yourself accountable. Your manager at Fresh Prints will support you as much as they can but ultimately it becomes your responsibility to do what you need to do.
Your success is fully in your hands. Many new Campus Managers struggle with this - and it's understandable! They're coming from a background of being pushed to do things at school and at home so when it's time to hold themselves accountable - it can be hard.
If you have never done that and want to use your CM experience to build that self-discipline - by all means - apply! Your manager will work on it with you. But if you aren't ready to go there yet, Campus Management will not be the right fit for you.
You're going to be uncomfortable.
You can break down the stages of a typical order a CM works through in many ways but, for the sake of this article, let's break it down this way:
Pitching your business -> working on designs -> helping them pick products -> collecting logistical information -> placing the order -> maintaining the client relationship
In all those stages, there will be at least one thing you're not great at. Maybe it's the part where you approach them for the first time. Maybe it's the part about helping them with design. When we're doing things we kinda suck at - we're uncomfortable.
It's good to remind ourselves that new things feel uncomfortable because we just aren't that good yet. It takes a few attempts - mostly poor attempts - in the beginning to get better. But this is easier said than done. Especially if you just wanted a standard college job and didn't sign up to feel that discomfort.
You're going to truly own the business on campus.
Another thing we say often is - we own our work. You'll find our CMs going through the slow season successfully persuading their clients to do merch just for the heck of it. Our CMs will get our art team to mockup a merch design for an event weeks ahead so that they're making the client's job easier. Our CMs will fight with our logistics team and come up with ways we can shorten timelines so that their client can get a last-minute order in time.
You know what we call that? Owning our work. It's the culture at Fresh Prints. Campus Managers who truly believe that they're running the business on campus and need to give it their 110% are the ones who succeed and make the most out of their experience.
We prioritize candor over comfort.
Maybe we should have turned this article into a drinking game for this line.
At Fresh Prints, we train our people to give feedback in a straightforward and honest fashion. We never want you to guess what's expected of you - we will tell you that directly. We recognize the importance of saying things as they are because beating around the bush or sugarcoating feedback does everyone in the conversation a disservice - especially the person receiving the feedback.
Think about your closest friends. They celebrate your successes with you but they also call you out on your bullshit. They know that if they don't do that, they aren't doing their job as your close friend. They're not really looking out for you. You may not befriend your manager but their role is to support you. They aren't doing their job well if they aren't honest with you.
It's important to note that candor over comfort does not mean you can be a mean-spirited terrible human being and say whatever you want - that stuff does not fly here. Candor over comfort means giving and receiving honest constructive feedback. This can be daunting if you aren't used to it.
Overall, the campus management program at Fresh Prints is designed to help you grow as a young professional. Growth is challenging and will take commitment on your end to achieve. If that doesn't interest you, then being a CM will not be a great fit. If it does, let's chat.