Bronco Spotlight: Karlee Hancock
Food Away From Home Category Development Analyst at Hormel Foods
I am a Category Development Analyst for Hormel's joint venture MegaMex, which represent the Hispanic side of the business with brands like Wholly Guacamole and Herdez. I am responsible for delivering insights to Food Service, C-Store, Club, Private Label, International and Don Miguel through business analytics.
What is the most rewarding and the most challenging part of your job?
From the beginning, you are given so much responsibility, you own meeting the needs of your sales reps and a variety of teams. What is most challenging about this particular role is that this team is newer to having insights, so they may not always know what they need. This means that I occasionally need to create my own tasks and look for stories that I may not know I'm looking for - taking a lot of creativity and initiative.
What activities, resources, or people helped you prepare for your career?
Being in the Food and CPG program, I feel that the classes and professors really prepared us for projects we would also be getting in our careers. The things I am doing in my job right now are exactly like the things I learned in class. Also networking within the Food Marketing Association and going to career fairs is what got me connected with my employer.
What advice do you have for students looking for their career after college?
Make the most of all the different events and opportunities provided to you. Make sure you are going to career fairs, RSOs tied to you major as well as ones that may be outside of those parameters, attend every networking opportunity given to you, leverage the relationships built with other students and professors to get you to where you want to be.