Jerilee Hopkins, Editorial Director
Spring 2002
Even for a copy editor, alumna Jerilee Hopkins proves it pays to think outside the box.
Before Hopkins graduated in 2002, she was the editorial director for TGC, as well as a copy editor for The Orion. It isn’t very often that people go into the work that they do in college, but for her it just worked out that way.
One of her clients was the School of Communication, and she enjoyed putting together the COMM newsletter and seeing the finished product. Hopkins also found TGC rewarding in that she got to be in charge of something, have a lot of responsibility and work with a team.
“I made some good friends there,” she said.
For almost the past five years Hopkins has been working for a company called OTR Global as the senior copy editor. She edits and analyzes stock market research.
The company has reporters all over the world who do research on a company or an industry’s stock and then send it in. It is Jerilee’s job to get the research, check the numbers and see if it works with what Wall Street is saying.
Even though she may not be very pushy in her personal life, Hopkins was very persistent in her job hunting. She kept calling companies and getting voicemails, but she didn’t let up.
“In this job market it is better to have more offers then none,” she said.
Though she really didn’t have any financial experience at the time, Hopkins was able to land the job due to creative thinking.
“You have to think outside the box,” she said. “You have to be assertive, and pushy, and really energetic about it.”
Hopkins spent hours searching online for a job, and finally she found a posting for OTR Global on craigslist. The company wanted her to submit an editing sample, so she did, with a clever twist.
“To stand out and be creative I edited their job posting,” she said.
It takes courage to take something that they have done, and show them they are incorrect and edit it, she said.
Hopkins is happily living and working in San Francisco, and is getting married in two months.
Reconnect with Jerilee!
Personal e-mail: jerileehopkins@gmail.com
LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/930/435
Facebook: http://en-gb.facebook.com/people/Jerilee-Hopkins/724888358
By: Everett Meyers