getting ahead

Back to PR School: Experts to Follow for Continuing Your Education

Heather Sliwinski Leave a comment

Career expert Peter Weddle advises job seekers to always work on their career fitness. We expect it of ourselves and so do our employers. Just because new professionals are no longer in school, doesn’t mean you can’t take some time this fall to go back to PR school and learn more about the burgeoning industry to which we belong.  

To be a successful public relations practitioner you need to know everything from social media, search engine optimization, reputation management, marketing and more. But how can you be all things to all people?

The Internet is a never-ending resource for newsletters and blogs to help you (and to help build Klout scores!). Many industry experts will place their presentations on Slideshare. The following are my favorite newsletters and experts to follow: 

  • Lee Odden (TopRank Online Marketing) – SEO is not just about finding the keywords that yield the most traffic. SEO is about using relevant content to attract your specific audience. Temper this in with social media and its rapidly changing venue and you need expert advice to stay ahead of the curve and to keep impressing the boss. TopRank Online Marketing produces an e-newsletter chock full of guidance and success stories written by Odden. When your employer asks you to write web content or an SEO-optimized press release, Odden is the man you want to follow on Twitter. Subscribe to TopRank’s e-newsletter, and your knowledge will soar.
  • Deirdre Breakenridge – If you haven’t been asked already, it’s only a matter of time before your employer expects you to write a social media plan. You will need to know how to set goals and use the best tactics (measurable ones) to best help you meet those goals. Following Breakenridge on Twitter and seeing what she’s pinning on Pinterest is a great start. When you are on a job interview, you want to show your potential boss you can hit the ground running. You may even consider doing a mini social media plan for the interview. You will stand above the crowd.
  • Peter Weddle and Weddle’s E-newsletter – To survive in the workforce today, being qualified is not enough. You need to be what Weddle calls a “career activist”. A recruiter, HR consultant and business CEO turned author and commentator, weddle knows what it takes to keep growing in the field. His favorite term is “work strong”. Subscribe to his e-newsletter and you’ll not only learn as a job seeker, you’ll gain knowledge from an employer perspective as well. One of his many books, Recognizing Richard Rabbit will change how you think about your current and future career.
  • Recruiting Trends – My dear friend and expert recruiter Sandy Charet of Charet & Associates always mentions the very difficult job recruiters have. They not only have to review resumes sent their way, but also need to constantly comb through LinkedIn to find the best “passive job seekers”. They are completely overworked and need to process a voluminous number of job orders within superhuman deadlines. A recent study showed that recruiters decide within six seconds whether a resume winds up in the “yes” or “no” pile. Therefore, it’s key to understand where recruiters are coming from. If you understand the pressure they are under, it will change how you approach them when following up after they have sent you on a job interview.
  • FINS Newsletter – While the advice may not be tailored directly to public relations, there’s a multitude of career and resume advice on this Dow Jones career and employment website. Their topics have universal appeal regardless of your career specialty. It is one of the best places to read about writing your career story, the 25 toughest companies for interviews and facing feedback from your employer.
  • Mashable – If you are just beginning in your career, you want to know who the heavy hitters are in making news and headlines. Mashable not only covers major technology trendsetters, it will help you show potential employers that you’re fully up-to-date understanding the challenges in the business world.

While the list of resources is always growing, consider following these experts:

  • Eric Schwartzman – With Schwartzman, you learn about social media from A to Z. His knowledge will take you from the beginning of setting up your Twitter account to blogging and expertly tagging your digital content.
  • Dawn Edmiston – Recruiters not only want to know about your resume – they will research your professional online presence. Dawn is an expert resource. The most critical resource you have is your own branding. Dawn will help you take ownership of this.
  • Sandy Charet – We all know how important LinkedIn is to recruiters. You want to present the most professional and complete profile possible. Charet knows all the ins and outs of working with LinkedIn. 
  • Brian Solis – His conversation prism will graphically show you all the facets to social media. When setting up a social media plan, you need to know which tactics will work the best. However, how many of us really know all the forms of social media out there? Solis gives the best starting point by displaying all or at least most of the available forms.
  • Andrea Nierenberg –Networking is key to your career survival, but how do you approach someone? What do you do if you’re an introvert? How do I really use the “give to get” principle? Nierenberg’s thoughts and insights will help you network with results.

We also hope that you will read the 70+ articles on PRSA Jobcenter. Having a full range of job advice and resources will ensure a very long and very happy career.

 

Richard Spector is the manager of client services at PRSA.

Three Tips for Breaking into Your PR Career by Richard Spector

Heather Sliwinski Leave a comment

As the PRSA Jobcenter manager, I frequently present to groups of graduating seniors on tips for entering the public relations workforce. Most recently, I had the opportunity to speak at West Virginia University’s INTEGRATE Conference, and I found myself searching for the right career advice to give them. What can I say to a graduating class that’s going to be facing a tough economy? I found three tips that could give them an edge in this competitive job market:

Stay optimistic and determined. It’s never easy hearing the word “no”, especially after interviewing for a job you thought fit you perfectly. What’s more bewildering is not even getting an interview. Sometimes you’ll know the reason, but other times you won’t. Take that rejection and let it make you that much more determined to get the job. The passion you will have as a new professional is your strongest ally. Employers will see and recognize it. If this was your dream job, stay in touch with the employer even if they didn’t hire you. Career experts say that 25 percent of employers that initially turn down a candidate will eventually end up hiring them.

If you keep your skill sets strong and continue to form relationships, you’ll always have opportunities. If you want to get connected with a particular company, try volunteering, which may not put money in the bank, but gets you in their door.

Do what you love while you are job hunting. You can’t look for a job 24/7 — although you should be looking most of the time. However, everyone needs a break from the exhaustion of rejection. Rest and recharge with activities you enjoy doing. Take a break from tweaking your resume. You’ll view it with a fresh eye and spot things you never would have seen before.

Most of all, remember that there are some things you can control and other things you can’t. The economy will always go in cycles. If times are tough now, have faith that it will get better.

Prepare for your interview to the point of exhaustion. In the past, doing some research on a company’s website and being somewhat acquainted with the company was enough. Now, you have to be better and more prepared than the next person. Consider these resources when researching a company and how your own skills fit in:

  • Annual report —What is the company’s mission and tagline? How does this fit in with your career goals and qualifications?
  • Strategic plan — How can you help the employer achieve the goals in their strategic plan? What skills and tactics could you bring to the table? Are there new goals you can identify and help them reach?
  • Social media plan — How can you integrate all the different social media venues to help the company grow and succeed? A friend of mine was competing with several others for the same job. How did he stand above the rest? He put together a presentation of the different types of social media he would use to give the company a great social, digital and media presence.
  • Funding companies— How can you use social media such as LinkedIn, Google+ and others to develop and cultivate new leads for the company?
  • Company awards — What standards of excellence do you aspire to reach? Has the company won awards for their website or writing? Are there new skills you need to obtain to help them maintain these standards?
  • Company challenges — Where does the company fall short and how can you help them? Is their branding weak? Does their communications plan need updating?
  • Current employees on Facebook, LinkedIn — Who are the names and faces of the company employees? What do you know about the people that will be interviewing you? Doing your research on current employees helps you identify the corporate culture. You may even learn whether this job truly is a dream job or whether there’s not as much as a fit as you thought. Doing this groundwork will also create some wonderful networking opportunities down the road.

Change with the field. Sooner or later you’re going to have to update your skills. Who thought that Pinterest and Klout would be as important in the social media world as they have become? If you are a public relations expert, you may be asked to create a marketing plan. If you’re a strategic communications consultant, you may be asked to create new webpages for the company’s website that will increase traffic, coincide with their branding and be keyword optimized and content relevant. Peter Weddle, employment and workplace author and columnist, calls this “career fitness“. You always need to keep your skills in good shape. The PRSA Jobcenter has abundant resources for building and exercising your career.

If I could give new professionals the best lesson, it’s to always keep that youthful exuberance. Each time I present at a university, I’m always impressed by the graduating students’ enthusiasm. Enter a field because it’s something you love. Don’t go into a field because you think you’ll make money. Having a passion for your career ranks as high as having a passion for living. Hold onto that.

Richard Spector is the manager of client services at Public Relations Society of America.

Professional Devleopment Brown Bag: “What PR Bosses Wish Their New PR Pros Would Do But Won’t Tell Them” with Michael Smart

Heather Sliwinski 2 Comments

All of us have different relationships with our bosses. Many new professionals hear from their bosses more than they’d like, while others may not hear from them enough. Some can walk into their boss’s office anytime to ask a question, while others need to get on their schedule and prepare a little bit to speak with their boss. Regardless of where your relationship with your boss falls, one thing is true – your boss is not telling you everything he/she appreciates or wishes you wouldn’t do at work.

Our next New Professionals Section Brown Bag features someone who has not only worked with countless PR executives, but has also mentored several successful young pros (who have gone on to Edelman, Waggener Edstrom, Fleishman-Hilliard and Harvard Business School). In working with these PR executives, Michael Smart has often heard them rant and rave about their young employees. Now he’s here to share it with us – the good and the bad – in our upcoming Brown Bag, “What PR Bosses Wish Their New PR Pros Would Do But Won’t Tell Them.”

Don’t miss it! Join us Monday, June 11 from 1:00-2:00 p.m. EDT. Register here.

Michael SmartMichael Smart teaches PR professionals a smarter way to get PR results. He’s regularly the highest-rated speaker at the industry’s largest conferences, including the PRSA International Conference last year. He has trained more than 4,000 communicators from Frankfurt to Bangkok how to land top-tier media coverage. Smart also coaches communications execs at companies ranging from Fortune 200 firms, such as Aflac and GlaxoSmithKline, to mid-sized companies and PR agencies. Follow him on Twitter.

The Brown Bag is only available to New Professional Section members.

Trust Your Gut: and Other Advice for Graduating Seniors

Heather Sliwinski Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again! The class of 2012 is graduating college and entering the PR workforce. Most new professionals have spent a few years in the industry and have learned more than a few lessons from both our successes and mistakes, on the job and during the job search.

We asked our Twitter followers and Facebook fans what they wish they had known when they graduated–the bits of advice they would bestow on seniors so their professional careers can start off on a great note. Here’s what they had to say:

“@PRSANewPros You already bring a unique and generational perspective to the table. Be confident in your skills and in yourself #PRadvice” Door24Agency2 via Twitter

“@PRSANewPros Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and make the call!” Justin Lax via Twitter

“Finally updated #LinkedIn and am cleaning up my resume. It’s always a good idea to keep fresh on the #professional profile. #PRadvice #HAPPO” Amanda B. Nguyen via Twitter

“Make the most of any job opportunity. You never know where it can lead!” Jeanne Cardin Kurasz via Facebook

“Have a detailed, public LinkedIn account. I was found through a recruiter for my current employer. Also, a strong, versatile portfolio showcasing STRONG writing. Best pieces of advice I could ever offer anyone looking to get into PR.” Marysa Falk via Facebook

‎”1. Trust your gut. Don’t take the first job offer you receive if it doesn’t feel right. 2. Your first job probably will not be your dream position, and that’s okay. You still have 40+ years left to find it. Instead of focusing on finding your dream job, pursue an opportunity that aligns with your career goals and helps you learn and grow as a professional.” Rebecca Odell via Facebook

“@PRSANewPros Brand yourself online, and make sure your #socialmedia presence aligns with your professional profile. #PRadvice #HAPPO” Amanda B. Nguyen via Twitter‏

“@PRSANewPros Be prepared to start at the bottom. Don’t be afraid of #networking your way up! #PRadvice” Nicole White via Twitter

“@prsanewpros Make sure to evaluate the environment/culture before you accept a job. It’s just as important as the actual position. #PRadvice” Jenn Cartmille via Twitter

“Ask a ton of questions, save successful campaign examples & practice writing RT @PRSANewPros PR for graduating seniors? #PRadvice” Bethany Rae Cramer via Twitter

 

Good luck to the Class of 2012!

Three Reasons to Get a Graduate Degree in PR

PRSA New Pros 5 Comments

When I entered the field of public relations at the ripe old age of 22, I felt like a latecomer. I had just moved to Washington, D.C., for an internship in PR at a theater (as I thought I wanted to work at a theater, but did not know in what capacity) and quickly realized how exciting and creative PR could be. With no formal PR-focused education, I decided to take an introduction to PR class in a strategic public relations graduate program at The George Washington University, which turned out to be a great career decision.

PR is a field that doesn’t require post-graduate degrees, and professionals in the field have a variety of undergraduate majors and minors. A lot of schools do have PR undergraduate degrees, such as the Newhouse School at Syracuse, as well as PRSSA chapters. Many people, though, come to PR with a strong background in writing, speaking or community outreach and may be looking for more formalized training, which was exactly what I needed. Benefits from obtaining a master’s degree include:

Learning from classmates

Much of the knowledge I gained from attaining my master’s degree in PR came from speaking with my fellow classmates. In my introduction to PR class, filled mostly with part-time students with full-time jobs, I met people working as press secretaries for senators, account executives at PR firms, graduate interns in formal government postings, sole PR practitioners at non-profits and in a host of other positions. The class also included some less experienced people such as myself, but class conversations were more often carried by people with experience, and it was interesting to hear their thoughts. Though my classmates’ collective experience intimidated me, I appreciated being able to learn from the stories and ideas they shared.

Connecting to internship and networking opportunities

Experience is key in PR. Internships can help a new professional determine what kind of place at which he or she would like to work. (Agency? Non-profit? Government?) They can help a new pro get his or her foot in the door. Networking is also a good way to gain knowledge about the PR field in a specific area and meet people who can connect you to a job. Combining networking and the experience of obtaining a graduate degree is sure way to achieve success, and, in fact, networking and getting experience can be much easier to do through enrolling in a graduate program. Many companies may require internship candidates to be enrolled in a graduate program, such as government Student Career Experience Programs (SCEP), and university career centers often help connect students to internships or full-time positions. Graduate programs or university career centers often host helpful networking events as well, free to students. Take advantage of these if you enroll in a program.

Getting an edge on your resume

Toward the end of my graduate program, I began to look for a full-time PR position through the career center at which I worked. I found a position that required applicants to have either a certain number of years of experience (which I didn’t have) OR less years of experience and a master’s degree. Since I would had the degree, I was qualified…and got the job! In other situations, when your resume may look nearly the same as another candidate’s, but you have a master’s and the other candidate does not, you’ll come out on top.

The decision to get a master’s is a big one to make. Aside from assessing whether it will help you improve your job prospects, you’ll have to consider the cost–what program to choose (PR, communications, perhaps even an MBA), which schools to apply to, whether to go full-time or part-time and if you’ll be able to handle the work load. Try applying for a job at the school you decide to go to. After I started working full-time at GWU, my tuition costs were almost completely covered by the school. Whatever you end up deciding to do, make sure it’s something that will add to your career, that you’ll be learning new information that you didn’t know before and that you’ll enjoy the program. If you apply and get in, make sure to go out and have fun with your classmates—they’ll be your future colleagues!

Whitney GrayWhitney E. Gray, communications coordinator for CropLife America, an international trade association of agrobusiness companies. Hailing from the snowy state of New Hampshire, Gray has been working in Washington, D.C., since 2008. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in theater arts and American studies from Brandeis University and has a master’s degree in strategic public relations from The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. Gray once served as the PRSA New Professionals Section membership co-chair.