new professionals

New Professionals Section Tweetchat—Promoting YOU: PR Tips for Networking, Landing a Job and Moving Up

Heather Sliwinski 1 Comment

Working in the public relations field, promoting our clients or organizations is the root of what we do. We leverage Twitter, blogs, networking and traditional media to garner the highest praise for our client. When it comes to promoting ourselves for a better position, a higher salary or maybe even our first job, new PR professionals may come up short since we’re used to working behind the scenes.

The PRSA New Professionals Section wants to answer those burning questions you have about how to network effectively, how to stand out in a saturated job candidate pool and how to continue progressing in your PR career. This Tuesday, October 25, the New Professionals Section will be hosting its first Tweetchat with the authors of our July Summer Book Club book, “Be Your Own Best Publicist: How to Use PR Techniques to Get Noticed, Get Hired and Get Rewarded at Work”. Jessica Kleiman and Meryl Weinsaft Cooper will be live Tweeting at 7:15 p.m. EST with the PRSA New Professionals Section.

How to Join the Conversation

We will be posing questions from the PRSA New Professionals Section handle, with Kleiman and Weinsaft Cooper providing insight from their handle. You can follow both @PRSANewPros and @BestPublicist on Twitter, or simply monitor the #npchat hashtag to see what the whole Twitterverse is saying.

Didn’t get a chance to read the book? No worries. Read Blog Co-Chair Diahnn Henderson’s discussion of the book to get a preview of the advice you’ll gain during the chat.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from two experts in PR, publicity and personal branding and make yourself indispensable to your current or future employer! Follow #npchat with the New Pros on Tuesday night!

Our featured participants:

Jessica Kleiman is currently VP-public relations for Hearst Magazines, one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines. A graduate of University of Michigan with a BA in Communication, she started her career at a magazine publicity firm and then served as director of PR at The Knot, a wedding media company. In 2011, Kleiman was nominated as “Publicist of the Year” by PR News.  She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and daughter and enjoys posting words she finds funny on Twitter, Facebook and her blog, Funny Word of the Day.

Meryl Weinsaft Cooper is a co-founder and principal of Allen/Cooper Enterprises, a marketing, exhibitions and events company with a focus on art and lifestyle brands.  Previously, as managing director  of the DeVries Public Relations‘ Home & Lifestyle division and as SVP-Partner at LaForce+Stevens, she led programs for a variety of hospitality and consumer brands including Veuve Clicquot, Belvedere Vodka, Pepperidge Farm, Samuel Adams Beer, New Amsterdam Gin and Ecco Domani Wines.  A graduate of Ithaca College’s Park School of Communications, her PR experience includes stints in art, music and entertainment, including time at the Screen Actors Guild’s New York office.  She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and dog, and spends her spare time writing and producing films as well as seeking out the best culinary, travel and art experiences, which she documents in her blog, Searching for Jake Ryan.

Both authors are contributing bloggers on Forbes.com’s Work in Progress section.

Getting the Most Out of PRSA International Conference: 4 Tips for New Pros

Heather Sliwinski 1 Comment

So, you’ve registered for the PRSA 2011 International Conference. Now what? All you need to do is pack and relax, right? Well, maybe. This year’s conference is going to rock! Most likely, you’ll leave with a few business cards in hand and, most importantly, the tools and knowledge necessary to take your career to the next level. But, there is much work to be done.

Here are a few tips for new PR pros to help get the most out of conference:

  • Plan your schedule– the International Conference is jam packed with sessions, and it may be hard to choose which ones to attend. By planning ahead, you’ll be able to enjoy the conference more. Look for sessions that relate to your everyday job and ones that might challenge you. As a new PR pro, you may want to consider sessions like “How to Pitch to Overworked Journalists and Harried Bloggers and Come Out Unscathed” or “The Personal Branding Project – Crafting Your Identity.” Sessions like these will help hone your craft and position you to the right audiences, especially if you are looking for a job.
  • Network, network, network – so much of what we do is about creating and retaining relationships with key media and stakeholders. It’s only fitting that in order to excel in this field, we need to make connections with other professionals. You never know where your next job offer will come from, and you never know who might become your mentor. So, don’t be shy–introduce yourself to someone new at each session you attend! A must-attend networking event is the opening-night reception hosted by PRSA Orlando (shameless plug). The reception will be a great way to kick off the conference with other industry professionals from across the country. Other must-attend events include the PRSA Connections Networking Luncheon and the PRSA and Inside PR Tweetup by the lazy river. (Yes. You read that right. There is a lazy river at the hotel. Let’s do this!) 
  • Enjoy Orlando – conference isn’t all work and no play. There will be plenty of time to soak up some sun or venture off property to explore the other side to Orlando.
  • Follow up with your connections – be sure to send personal notes to all the connections you make at conference. You’ll want to keep in touch. In fact, when you get a business card from someone, write a note on the back of the card about what you talked about or where you met them to help jog your memory later.

So, pack your bags and trek on down to Orlando. The awesomeness that is the PRSA International Conference starts in a few short days. Who’s ready for some PR fun in the sun? 

Christina Morton is on the PRSA Orlando Regional Chapter Host Committee. She is an account executive specializing in social media for CBR Public Relations in Maitland, Fla.

Save the Date: New Professionals Week 2011

Diahnn Henderson 1 Comment

I love planning events for the New Pros especially when it’s a national weeklong event celebrating young professionals! You can never have enough young professionals in your Chapter; after all, they are the future.

This year, during November 14-18, we will host our very first New Professionals Week. This week was designed to celebrate young professionals, but also to help connect young PR pros with their local PRSA chapter.

Who’s invited? Everyone. We’re encouraging everyone who’s interested in this week to get involved! PRSA New Pros National will support your local event via guest blog posts and social media channels.

How can I get involved? If you interested in contributing to our blog, contact blog co-chairs, Heather Sliwinski and Diahnn Henderson. For events, visit our website and download a fact sheet and an event registration form. This website will be the hub for all events held during New Pros week. Once registration forms are submitted, you’ll be able to see a list of events on our website, promoting local events.

We understand that not everyone may have a budget to host an event this year. For those of you who have tight budgets, here are a few budget friendly ways to participate:

  1. Host a private showing of a PRSA New Pros webinar. During New Pros Week, we feature a webinar on a topic of interest for new pros. We anticipate the webinar will be held in the afternoon on Wednesday, Nov. 16 available for purchase (only $35 for New Pros Section members) to host a private showing – invite local new pros to an office, bring a bag lunch and have a discussion after the presentation. The playback will also be available for purchase and our guest speaker can be reached throughout the week for questions via Twitter.
  2.  Host a New Pros focused PRSA Chapter meeting. What topics are particularly interesting to young professionals? What issues are they concerned with during their first few years as a PR professional? Schedule a Chapter meeting during this week and cover one of these topic(s) and/or issue(s).
  3. Participate in New Pros week via our social networks and blog. Follow our hashtag #NPWeek to join the coast-to-coast virtual networking. We’re always looking for a fresh, new perspective on any aspect of PR for our blog; consider drafting a post about your Chapter’s local new pros group, or your personal experience as a new pro.Elizabeth Rhoads

It’s going to be great week of celebrating young professionals. If you have any questions about getting involved, please email me .

Elizabeth Rhoads
PRSA New Professionals Section Programming Chair

Professional Development Brown Bag: Exploring Post-Graduate Options in PR

Heather Sliwinski Leave a comment

Is graduate school something you’ve considered? If so, will you choose MBA or Masters? What about getting your APR? Where does it all fit in? Do you start right after you graduate from college or after you’ve been working a couple years? For some it’s obvious, if you’re more in line with a business field, you’ll go for the MBA, but what about the rest of us? Our next Brown Bag, “Exploring Post-Graduate Options in Public Relations”, should help answer some of your questions!

We have the opportunity to hear from a panel of three guests: Arthur Yann (APR), Meg Kane (Masters) and Heather Read (MBA). Each of them comes from a different industry and will shed some light on their career and education path.

The Brown Bag will be held on Friday, September 23 from 2-3 pm. Remember, it’s free for PRSSA and New Pros Section members! Register here.

Arthur Yann, APR is vice president, public relations, at PRSA. In his 20+ years of New York agency experience, Yann has launched and revitalized consumer and business products, developed national and local media relations strategies, managed corporate reputations and crises and built brands. Yann holds a journalism degree from Ohio University.

Meg Kane is currently an account supervisor for Brian Communications in Philadelphia, Penn. She holds a Masters degree in Strategic Public Relations and Political Rhetoric from the University of Maryland. Kane has worked on the agency side of public relations for more than five years, working with brands such as Tastykake and the Philadelphia Orchestra Association. Additionally, Kane served as the director of public relations for Mount Saint Joseph Academy as well an adjunct professor of communication at La Salle University.

Heather Read, MBA is an award-winning specialist in strategic communications and has 14 years of experience in business-to-business and technology PR and marketing. Read is currently public affairs program manager at DuPont, managing social media as it relates to issues and crisis communications. Previously, Read was the senior director of communications at Afilias. She holds a MBA from Temple University’s Fox School of Business and and is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt.

Intro to Agency PR by Heather R. Huhman

Heather Sliwinski Leave a comment

Think you’re interested in working in agency PR? Here are a few questions you might want to ask yourself first:

Why would I want to work for a public relations agency?

Unlike in-house public relations professionals, those who work for PR agencies get to work with a variety of clients on a daily basis. You can easily become an expert in a variety of niches by working with different organizations. Some agencies even specialize in a specific niche, focusing their efforts on a certain type of client in a particular field or industry.

What’s a typical day like in agency PR?

No two days are alike when it comes to public relations, particularly if you’re juggling several accounts. Depending on the agency and type of clients, a typical day might consist of any combination of the following:

  • Participating in client meetings
  • Creating content such as press releases, blog posts and media pitches
  • Recording press mentions
  • Speaking with members of the media
  • Arranging interviews between journalists and clients
  • Researching to develop content, media lists or other documents
  • Sharing content via social media channels
  • Monitoring local and national media
  • Brainstorming new strategies and tactics
  • Organizing events and press conferences

What types of skills or attributes should I have if I want to work in agency PR?

In order to work with different types of clients in a fast-paced environment, you should be a quick learner. You also need to have superior communication skills – both written and verbal – in order to successfully get your client’s message across. Deadlines are often tight in public relations, so you should be able to work well under pressure. Obviously, based on the variety of tasks, you should also be good at multitasking as well.

What challenges should I expect?

Working with different clients can be challenging. Some clients trust your ideas, while others are more reluctant to let go of control of their organization’s messages. Similarly, some clients micromanage their PR efforts, while others let you run with your ideas. It can also be stressful and challenging to meet tight deadlines.

What skills should I learn that might not be taught in the classroom?

  • Social media: PR pros are now expected to be proficient in the different social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, among others. You should know how to use each platform and have a solid online presence on the platforms you participate in.
  • Content marketing: Blogging, e-newsletters, webinars, podcasts, whitepapers—these are all strategies that you might need to leverage on behalf of a client. You should understand what each is and have a basic understanding of the benefits of different content options.  
  • Writing for the Web: Blog posts, social releases and social media releases all have a different writing style than “traditional” content. Writing for the Web is much more to the point, and includes hyperlinks, images, video and other content along with it. Oh, and don’t forget about search engine optimization!

How can I break into a specific agency?

Intern at the organization. Internships are one of the top ways to land an entry-level job at a particular company. According to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers reported 39.1 percent of their entry-level hires came from their own internship programs. Not only does landing an intern position help you get a foot in the door, but it also helps you gain experience, skills and networking connections for the future.

Follow key employees on social media. Connect with folks who work at the company online. Engage in conversations and inquire about the organization. Express your interest in learning more about their role at the company. Once you’ve built a mutually beneficial relationship, you can set up an in-person meeting, informational interview or job shadow.

Network with your peers, colleagues and professors. Build your network before you start out your job search. You never know who your connections know—and how those connections could help you land a job in the future.

Heather HuhmanHeather R. Huhman is a career expert, experienced hiring manager and founder & president of Come Recommended, a content marketing and digital PR consultancy for organizations with products that target job seekers and/or employers. She is also the author of Lies, Damned Lies & Internships: The Truth About Getting from Classroom to Cubicle (2011), #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010), and writes career and recruiting advice for numerous outlets.