Where’s The Box? Lessons Learned on The Job Search Trail
I first came across Mitch Derman when I participated in HAPPO (how great was that?). He took me up on my offer to showcase job seekers on my blog but, as luck would have it, was imprisoned by my spam filter that day.
To make up for it, I asked Mitch if he’d like to guest post on WUL, which is what led to a precursor to this post. I got delayed in publishing it, so what a grand surprise it was when Mitch asked if he could edit it slightly because… he’d found a job! Here are some great lessons he shares while on the search (image, Sascha Assbach, Creative Commons). And congrats, Mitch.
In my mind, every time that I envisioned getting laid off, I always thought there would be an empty box by my desk.
So when there was no box by my desk in November 2002, I was surprised by the call to come down to the General Manager’s office at the PR firm where I worked, only to see him seated at his meeting table with the HR rep by his side and a folder with my name on it. I knew right away it was my last day of employment with the company.
While the moment surprised me, I had a feeling this might happen given the dotcom era had been replaced by the dotbomb era. And all of our clients were in the technology industry.
Certainly this was a traumatic experience and one I would not wish on my worst enemy. Needless to say, it was a learning experience.
For me, the biggest thing I learned the hard way was that I did not have a strong network in place.
At the time, while there were Internet resources such as Career Builder, Monster and others, there was no LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook. I immediately joined IABC and PRSA, and attended various networking events.
Those activities certainly helped, but I know now that I would have been far more successful had I already built a strong network before the layoff. It took me nearly six months to get a new job.
When I re-joined the workforce, I took my lesson to heart and tried to the best of my ability to stay active in professional and social interactions, where I could meet and network with as many people as possible. I attended many events, participated in volunteer efforts and became active on social media channels once they started becoming ubiquitous in 2006.
Flash forward to today.
While different circumstances than 2002, I found myself on the job search once again earlier this year.
I left a job in February. This time around, I was in a much better position.
I had multiple interviews; many of which were a direct result of networking. Once I knew that I would be leaving, I reached out to everyone I could through e-mail, LinkedIn and Facebook. So many people offered to help and forwarded me leads. And these were people that I stayed in touch with beyond just friending them on social networks.
I would post things, send congratulatory notes when people started a new job or were promoted, and I would forward job leads to those I knew were looking or were recently laid off. I also started a blog.
Thanks to the help of my network, I’m happy to report that I started my new job on March 29.
Additional resources:
- Starting a blog is easy. I used blogspot.
- The Twitter Hashtag #happo (Help a PR Pro Out) is a great resource.
- On LinkedIn, there are many networking groups to join; one being the Capital Communicators Group. PRSA and IABC also have forums on most social media channels.
Guest author Mitchell Derman is a communications professional with more than 15 years of experience helping organizations enhance their visibility with external and internal stakeholders, in industries such as technology, telecommunications, media, aerospace and defense. He is now Director of Corporate Communications for i2, a leading provider of intelligence and investigation management software for law enforcement, defense and intelligence analysis. Visit him online at Mitch’s Beltway Banter.
Job-hunting Long Distance? Five Do’s and Don’ts To Jumpstart Your Search
Job-hunting’s still very much on people’s minds, judging by the number of emails I get – and, I’m sure, you do as well. As I was reading Chuck Hemann’s fabulous guest post from yesterday on how to land a job in social media, as well as Thursday Bram’s post on online networking over at Women Grow Business, I thought I’d share what I’ve learned about job-hunting long-distance – because that’s what I did when I moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to the nation’s capital.
1. With an open mind, you’ll find opportunities in the unlikeliest of places
I’ve always been the kind of person to get involved in clubs and organizations. In San Francisco, I was on the board of a small publicity-oriented group, but wasn’t at all involved with IABC, simply because I didn’t have the time (ironic, huh?).
But when I knew I was moving to DC, which houses the largest IABC chapter in the country, I knew I had to check them out. After arriving here and settling in, I looked up their events calendar and started going for EVERY event I could, regardless of whether it catered to me or not; I figured the more people I met, the better for me.
One of those meetings happened to be an “accreditation funshop.” I’d started getting interested in accreditation a couple years prior, so off I went to learn more about it, even though it wasn’t a job-hunting or networking event per se. At that event, I got to know, and hit it off with, an extremely active IABC-er who ended up sending me the way of her neighbor… whose organization just happened to be looking for a PR professional of my level.
I interviewed and ended up getting a job offer, which I considered strongly, but didn’t take (I’ll tell you why in a moment). But I’m still in touch with some of the folks from the organization and none of that would have happened had I not ventured out.
2. Put your money where your mouth is… wisely
Even before I moved, I’d looked up IABC (as I mentioned) as well as the other networking groups in the area. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that trying to get the lay of the land when you’re completely new to it isn’t easy. Still, through some pretty intensive Internet searches, I knew that WWPR and PRSA were a couple of other groups I should start getting to know.
At the time, I couldn’t afford to join IABC or PRSA before I’d moved, but WWPR’s membership fee was relatively inexpensive. So I signed up – while still in the Bay Area – and once my membership went through, promptly emailed a couple of board members to introduce myself and let them know I’d be moving to the area.
Then, when I got to DC, I followed up with them and joined the organization’s pro bono committee. Through my activity with them, I not only made some great friends I have to this day, I got… you guessed it, another job offer (which I also didn’t take… yes, I’m coming to that).
If you want people to take you seriously, you have to show them you’re serious. And more often than not, that means putting your money where your mouth is. I know it’s tough, so do it wisely… but you really shouldn’t expect something for nothing.
3. If you think a job is right for you, use your leverage if you have it
The year we moved to DC – 2003 – was memorable for another reason; it was my first encounter with Katie Paine, measurement queen, mentor extraordinaire and who I’m fortunate to call a good friend. I’d organized an event at which Katie was speaking (there’s that professional development thing again!) and we hit it off. She gave me an introduction to a good friend of hers who was with Hill and Knowlton at the time – and I followed up when I was in DC.
After meeting, and getting along with, me, said friend gave me an introduction to four extremely highly-placed and well-connected agency friends, one of whom happened to be the Director of Media Relations for Ruder Finn. The minute I heard “Ruder Finn,” I knew I wanted to work there; I wanted large agency experience and their origins in art-related PR struck a chord with my entertainment background. I followed up with her, we had lunch and she set up a series of informational interview for me at RF. They loved me; I loved them. And over the next few months, I kept hearing that… but no offer was forthcoming.
One week the stars aligned. I received not one, but two job offers (#s 1 and 2 above). But I really, REALLY wanted to work at Ruder Finn. So I called my contact and let her know – nicely – that I had a great job offer on the table to which I needed to respond by week’s end. That this was not a shakedown, but that, if they were at all considering hiring me, now would be the time to make that known.
I had an offer in 24 hours.
Make no mistake, I would have taken that other job. But I leveraged the job I wanted. And you can too; just be prepared to walk the talk in case it doesn’t go the way you want.
4. Networking’s not a right, it’s a privilege
“It’s not a right, it’s a privilege,” is one of my husband’s frequent remarks about driving, and I think that applies to networking as well.
I know many people who make introductions and connections on a regular basis – I’m far from the only one – for no monetary gain whatsoever. There is certainly the “karma” aspect, though I don’t think any of us are intentionally trying to earn karma.
So when people give of their time and connections, remember this isn’t just a favor they’re doing you; they’re making a choice to spend time with or on you, as opposed to something else (which could quite possibly be earning them money). So please, please, please don’t take it for granted.
What does that mean? “Thank you” will go a long way, especially as a hand-written (yes, hand-written) note or card.
Along those lines, please don’t tell someone you’ve never met to “feel free to pass my resume along to anyone you think might be interested.” It’s not their job to help you. It’s YOUR job to help you.
5. Stay in touch and return the favor when you can
One of the first things I did before I moved to DC was get advice on my resume. Through a friend, I was put in touch with a senior executive at APCO Worldwide and while she didn’t have any openings for me at the time, she did spend an inordinate amount of time making suggestions on reformatting my resume (and it’s a format that has remained, to this day, and which I share freely with others, so if you’d like to see it, all you have to do is ask).
I can’t tell you how grateful I was – and still am – for all the time she spent with me. And even though we still haven’t met in person (I know, I know), I make it a point to keep in touch and one day, I’m convinced, will get that proverbial cup of coffee. Not because I want anything from her; but because I’m genuinely grateful for the time she gave me, which was invaluable to my job search.
Take it from me; when someone’s taken the time to review your resume, introduce you to a few folks via online or offline, they deserve more than a bcc email you send all your contacts to announce your new position before you disappear into the blue yonder.
Sure, send the bcc email; but always follow up and thank them personally. And keep in touch over the years as best you can. It’s the right thing to do.
And now, for some additional resources:
- Ned’s Job of the Week is a free, weekly jobs e-zine that I’ve written about before, and to which you should subscribe
- If you’re moving to DC and are looking for a job in communications, IABC, PRSA, WWPR and WNG are just a few of the organizations you should check out and start getting active in
- Again specific to DC and the PR field, PRofessional Solutions is a terrific PR temp agency
- If you haven’t already created one, VisualCV is a terrific complement to your LinkedIn profile; I strongly suggest you have both, and keep them updated
Those are my top tips for job-hunting via long distance, though I think they apply to job-hunting in general. What can you add? Do you have stories to share that we can learn from, perhaps get a chuckle out of? The comment section is yours!
Image: Ame Otoko’s Flickrstream, Creative Commons
Filed under Career, Networking | Tags: getting a job, job hunting, long distance, Networking | Comments (17)Getting a Foot in the Door with GoodieRecruit
If you’re in the PR field, a Gen Y-er, a recruiter, based in the Washington, D.C., area, or “all of the above,” you’re well aware of Heather Huhman. Heather’s one of the most prolific tweeters and writers I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know, and she focuses on helping entry-level job seekers navigate the often- (and now, it seems, always) turbulent waters of getting their feet in the proverbial door.
In addition to her “day job,” keeping up her column and religiously sharing job leads, Heather recently launched Come Recommended, an “exclusive online community connecting the best internship and entry-level job candidates with the best employers.”
And if that weren’t enough to keep her busy, she’s now getting ready to add GoodieRecruit to the CR family of services, again focusing on entry-level recruiting. She calls it “next-generation recruiting for the next generation.”
I thought this was really interesting; one doesn’t typically think of hiring a recruitment firm for entry-level employees, so I asked her to tell me more about it.
What interested you about focusing on recruitment services for Gen Y-ers – what got you started?
I am passionate about helping students and recent college graduates pursue their dream careers – have been since I was in their shoes. Because of my experience as a hiring manager of interns and entry-level employees, I understand the needs of today’s employers and job seekers. I realize there is a need for change in the recruiting process as more and more baby boomers turn 60 every day and organizations seek more cost-effective hiring processes.
Have you ever been a recruiter yourself? What interests you about that field?
I have not been a “recruiter” by trade, but I’ve been in the position of hiring interns and entry-level professionals and very much consider myself a skilled college/campus recruiter.
Tell me a little about “experiential hiring.”
Employers always tell me they wish there was a way to “test out” entry-level candidates before hiring them – short of a three-month internship program, of course. Well, now there is – experiential hiring. This concept capitalizes on the notion that Gen Y learns best by jumping in with both feet and participating and serves as an extended interview of sorts. Think NBC’s The Apprentice.
How did the idea for GoodieRecruit come about?
The national unemployment rate has reached more than 10 percent, and the number is even higher among entry-level professionals. Because of this, there is a huge shift taking place in how organizations are going about attracting new candidates. Organizations are forced to work harder and smarter and not spend nearly as much money as they are used to. Many employers are reluctant to hire simply because they are not sure if the candidate is perfect for the job after only meeting with them for a very short period of time.
I saw a need to offer a cost-effective service for even the smallest organizations where employers and candidates could build a relationship. GoodieRecruit looks to create a recruiting service that is personalized so employers are sure they are hiring the right person.
You can read more about why I’m launching GoodieRecruit on our blog.
What’s the GoodieRecruit process?
For employers, the process looks like this:
1. If you are not already a Come Recommended member, we will work with you to complete your account.
2. A GoodieRecruit representative either comes to your office to observe the culture or surveys current employees electronically.
3. The GoodieRecruit representative meets, either in-person or over the phone, with whomever in your organization typically writes job descriptions to help them craft a description that will both appeal to Gen Y and clearly demonstrate what you are seeking in a candidate.
4. GoodieRecruit will work with you to identify a local nonprofit at which the “experience” can take place, based on both the specific position(s) you have open and preference for a particular nonprofit.
5. GoodieRecruit takes over the entire process from there—coordinating with the nonprofit, attracting candidates, evaluating candidates during the “experience” based on conversations with you and your team, narrowing down the selection for you to 2 to 3 top candidates, and providing you with a complete portfolio on each as to why you should hire them.
Will GoodieRecruit focus on specific industries?
Yes, GoodieRecruit currently focuses on identifying top entry-level talent in the following fields:
- Public relations/communications
- Public affairs/public policy/government relations
- Marketing
- Graphic design
- Development/fundraising
- Sales/customer service
Can you share five tips for new professionals to put their best foot forward when entering the job market?
1. Personalize your job search materials: Employers like to see that you have taken time to research their organization and have found ways to contribute if hired. This means describing how your past experience has prepared you for work with their organization in your cover letter and including accomplishments relevant to the job description in your résumé.
2. Dress professionally: Even if an interviewer says the interview will be casual, it is always a good practice to dress to impress. If the interview is business casual, you do not need to wear a suit, but slacks (or a skirt) and a nice shirt or blouse is appropriate and dress shoes are a must!
3. Come to interviews prepared: Show you have done your research. This is more than simply glancing at the organization’s Web site 10 minutes before walking into the interview. Research ways you can help the organization by thinking about how your past experiences fit into the job description and organization as a whole. Also, always come with thought-provoking questions.
4. Network online and off: It is crucial that Gen Y knows how to professionally use social networking sites and how to conduct themselves at networking events. These days, networking is one of the best ways to land interviews and be the first to know about upcoming opportunities.
5. Keep an online portfolio: This is less cumbersome to take to interviews and employers can peruse your work at their leisure. Also, online portfolios illustrate your technical abilities.
It’ll be fascinating to see how GoodieRecruit takes off as it integrates social media into the recruitment process; not to mention the obvious benefits to hiring organizations as well as non-profits who sign up to be the “lab” – what a great way to identify potential candidates for non-profit organizations as well. And candidates – remember those dress shoes!
Heather, thanks for taking the time to fill us in and please do keep us posted. By the way, Heather is also generously donating a GR package to the IABC/Washington holiday party raffle, where we’ll be supporting Bread for the City, so if you’re at an organization with entry-level hiring needs, you might want to come check us out, or contact Heather, or both!
What do you think of the GoodieRecruit premise and process? Do you have more questions for Heather? Do let us know by leaving a comment below.
Communicator, Sell – and Share – Thyself
A couple of weeks ago, IABC/Washington (of which I’m president-elect) held its annual “resume review and networking night.” This has become something of a tradition for us, and one of the chapter events I enjoy the most. Every August, we scrap our usual monthly meeting format (bar, dinner, speaker, you’ve all been there before) and devote the evening to networking.
Um, yeah. Nothing new.
What I think adds a different dimension to this event is that we schedule a limited number of free resume reviews and career counseling sessions, which take place throughout the evening, which senior communicators – both members and non-members – graciously donate their time to do.
It’s a bear to organize. Putting the schedule together, dropping people in, rearranging things because folks have conflicts that come up, handling late requests and walk-ins when the schedule is already overflowing… yea, you get the picture.
It’s completely worth it.
If you’ve ever been a job hunter, let alone one in a down market, you’ve felt the pain of paying a few hundred dollars for an “expert” to look over your resume. Perhaps they made great edits, but your search hasn’t gotten any easier. You have no clue what you’re doing wrong … are you doing something wrong? And you get even more depressed when everyone around you seems to be getting the jobs they want (or at least, say they want).
It’s great to be able to provide this service free (the meeting registration is the only fee). Granted, most of the volunteer reviewers are not avowed experts in that area, but you figure after 20, 25 years in the business, they know a thing or two about resumes. More often than not, what people are looking for is not a once-over of their resume, but for someone to listen to them, bounce ideas around with, and perhaps walk away with a couple of new doors to knock on.
This year, we had 24 such sessions scheduled. Thanks to the generosity of our volunteers, we were able to knock out 54 such sessions – we accommodated everyone on the wait list, and then some (you can see some of the photos from the evening here).
But what really makes this kind of event, I think, is the recharging of batteries that almost everyone experiences – especially those who’ve been on the hunt for a while. I didn’t, but almost teared up, when one of the attendees told me that he’d barely been able to get out of bed in six months, since being laid off (and this is someone very senior we’re talking about here) but that this event – the first he’d attended in those six months – made it worth it. Yup, I’m mushy like that.
What added even more value to our event was the presence of Kate Perrin, CEO of PRofessional Solutions, the DC area’s only PR temp agency. Kate, who’s a stalwart of the DC communication community, made brief remarks on job hunting in a down economy; reassuring (don’t lose your confidence) but also candid (don’t apply for any and every job, get to grips with SM and put new technologies to work for you, don’t ignore the cover letter, and market yourself because you are your product).
Here’s a brief clip of Kate talking about marketing yourself. Yea, the camera’s shaky (I didn’t have a stand and it’s the first time I’ve done this), but hopefully it’ll give you a flavor of the evening.
By the way, if you’re interested in putting on a similar event for your own professional development group, PRSA or IABC chapter, please let me know; either shoot me an email or leave a comment below with your contact information. I’ll be more than happy to share our formula.
You’ve got to share – and sell – yourself. It works.
What programming have you found most beneficial, no matter where you are? Do you have a formula for job hunting or career success? Do share it so that we can all learn.
Photo: permanently scatterbrained
Social Media, Social Karma
There’s an awful lot of social karma going around lately. 
JOTW: My First Experience With Social Karma
For the last few years, I’ve occasionally guest-edited the free “Ned’s Job of the Week” e-newsletter. If you don’t know about it, it’s a free weekly newsletter that lists job postings sent to Ned Lundquist, ABC, by subscribers (as well as many he finds himself) in the spirit of sharing.
For a couple of weeks every year, I experience what Ned goes through on a daily basis: sifting through job postings sent by readers, looking for them myself, telling people how to subscribe and unsubscribe (even though the instructions are clearly listed in the newsletter) and then compiling all the information, along with other announcements that would be relevant (such as communication/PR events) into a newsletter that’s sent out every Monday.
It’s a lot of work, and I’m exhausted and relieved when Ned returns; but I’m always grateful for the additional connections I make by filling in for him, as well as honored by his trust that I’ll keep JOTW rolling along.
And I always ask myself: how on earth does he keep doing it?
The answer is very simple: Ned believes in social karma. Or rather, as he puts it, JOTW is dedicated to the “positive, unanticipated consequences of nedworking.” And no, that’s not a typo.
Ned didn’t start publishing JOTW to get something out of it. He did it to help a few folk he knew, and figured he might – just might – help himself along the way. Since its inception with a handful of subscribers, JOTW has grown tremendously; at last count, there are more than 11,111 members of the JOTW network. It now has a home on the Web as well as advertisers and sponsors.
The WIIFM Factor
Is Ned getting something out of JOTW now? You bet. But that’s not why he started it, and not why he keeps it going, or why he keeps it free to subscribers. And that, in my opinion, is why he’s successful.
Mind you, all this started several years ago, way before “social media” became the “buzzphrase” it is today. But to me, Ned epitomizes the inherent karmic element of social media. If you send something good out to your world – with no expectation whatsoever – something good will come back to you.
Twitter and Social Karma
One of the reasons I love Twitter is that it’s a perfect platform for social karma. Want to know who can enrich your network? Head to #followfriday. Want to show someone some Twitter-love? Re-tweet something interesting they’ve shared.
And through Twitter, I’ve come across even more instances of social karma.
Mark Story, for example, has started #blogmonday, where he highlights bloggers who might not be very well known. Arik Hanson posts interviews with professionals he thinks are “PR Rockstars” on his blog. Heather Huhman provides a wealth of PR resources by tagging relevant posts with #PRadvice. And there are countless others.
As far as I know, Mark, Arik and Heather aren’t necessarily “getting” anything out of their efforts. But I’m pretty sure they are enhancing their reputations (don’t worry, I’m not going to get into the whole personal branding thing here), building their networks and sowing the seeds for “positive, unanticipated consequences” which will have a beneficial effect on their work.
What’s the Communications Angle?
The first thing that anyone – including the many “gurus” out there – will tell you about social media is that it’s about listening, connecting and sharing. Everything else comes later.
If you’re a professional communicator grappling with the amoebic nature of social media, try thinking of it as your path to social karma.
After all, our business is communication, right? Sharing information, educating and informing audiences and hopefully, at the end of the day, doing some good by using smart communications to help organizations (or clients) achieve their goals.
Listening, sharing, connecting – this is what we DO. Don’t get intimidated by the technology behind it, or the buzzwords that tend to change quicker than David and Dania.
Call me naïve, but I believe social karma is a large part of what we do for a living. Social media is just another way to get there.
What about you? Is social karma part of your approach to communications? Have you found social media has increased your social karma? If you want to give props to someone who does, a comment would be a lovely way to do so.
Filed under Communication, Networking, Public Relations, Social Media, Twitter | Tags: arik hanson, communications, community, heather huhman, jotw, mark story, ned lundquist, Networking, social karma, Social Media, Twitter | Comments (22)Of Job Hunting, Cologne… and Twitter
On April 2, a few friends and I put on the “Dream Team” hats that Ned Lundquist, ABC, bestowed on us some years ago, to help folks “Pimp My Job.”
What on earth is “Pimp My Job,” you ask?
If you subscribe to Ned’s free, weekly “Job of the Week” newsletter, which I sometimes guest-edit, you know what we’re about. But in essence, we’re a group of communicators from near and far who provide advice – sometimes mercilessly – to those brave enough to ask for it. They submit their on-the-job – or job hunting – nightmares to us, and we have at it, maintaining their privacy. Advice is compiled and published in the newsletter. You can read previous PMJs here.
PMJ Meets IABC
A few years ago, when I ran IABC/Washington‘s programming, I thought it would be fun to do a real world version of PMJ – and sure enough, it was. A couple of weeks ago, we reprised our “act” at IABC/Washington’s Senior Communicators Council meeting (disclosure: I’m President-Elect for the chapter, currently also Acting President).
Given how dramatically the economy has changed in the past few years, I wasn’t quite sure how the SCC meeting would go (it’s one thing to pimp your job while you still have it, quite another when you, and more and more of your peers, are out of work).
It was wonderful. Folks shared their experiences, asked for advice, gave advice, and I felt a tremendous sense of camaraderie among the attendees. We had some fun too: can you guess which Indian goddess the Dream Team is trying to portray here?
“It’s Not Rocket Science”
Now, none of what we said is rocket science (I couldn’t resist). Career advice abounds, especially these days. But there were two things that stayed with me:
1) It’s easy to get depressed when you’re in a go-nowhere job/laid off/have been job hunting for years, etc. But as Kate Perrin of PRofessional Solutions said, you cannot afford to let the “stink of desperation” cling to you. That’s when you’re in such a poor frame of mind that it comes across no matter where you are, who you’re talking to, or what you’re talking about … and that will come through in your interviews. Do I need to give you examples? I didn’t think so.
2) Senior communicators must start understanding and using online social networks. Being… well, me, I gave the attendees a quick demonstration of Twitter which, as we all know, is just one of the many platforms you can use to connect with people. Time and time again, I hear “we don’t get it,” “I’m not technologically savvy,” what the heck is the point of (fill in your epithet network of choice) anyway?”
The point is two-fold: first, it’s networking. If you have experienced the advantages of meeting and communicating with your peers outside of your work, you cannot afford to ignore online venues that afford you the same opportunities. Yes, you have to then take your online network offline and put it to work for you. But you can’t do that if you don’t have an online network.
Second, you are probably finding that these days, more and more jobs require a knowledge of the online sphere and social media. How can you be competitive if you don’t explore the spaces potential employers need you to have an understanding of? It doesn’t matter if you don’t consider yourself an “expert” (there are too many wannabe experts floating around these days anyway, as Beth Harte points out in this most excellent post). But you’ve got to be able to talk knowledgeably about it – and you can’t do that if you don’t engage.
In my enthusiasm to bring a Twitter dimension to the meeting, I asked my tweeps to submit questions for the Dream Team to me via Twitter, hoping to be able to answer them live from the session. Many thanks to all of you who did (you can read the entire event-related tweetstream here). The meeting had so many facets to it that we weren’t able to get to all the questions, but they (and the answers) have been published in today’s edition of JOTW.
A final word: if you don’t subscribe to JOTW, I strongly recommend you do. It’s completely free and you will experience the “positive, unanticipated consequences of nedworking” first-hand. Subscription (and unsubscription) instructions are at the top and bottom of every email. The annual March 32nd issue itself is worth the price of admission.
The Bottom Line
Yes, it’s tough out there. But it’s tough for everyone, not just you. So check your desperation at the door and start using the networks around you. That’s what they’re there for, and you’ll be the better for it.
(Thanks, Ned for the use of your photo)
Filed under Career, Networking, Social Media, Twitter | Tags: beth harte, Career, iabc, jobs, jotw, kate perrin, ned lundquist, Networking, Social Media, Twitter | Comments (4)Balancing the PR Bubble
If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know that I tweet quite a bit. (Today I apparently crossed the 8,110 tweet-mark without realizing it). But every now and then, I’ll “go dark,” as they say in the theater.
You’ll hear from me once, maybe twice a day. Sometimes I just don’t have anything to say; sometimes I don’t come across conversations I want to engage in. And sometimes I happen upon conversations that are so negative or ridiculous or (enter your adjective of choice here ______ ) that I just need to turn it off for a bit.
What I’ve realized, though, is that when I go dark, I am making my own little attempt to break out of my Twitter bubble. Because there are other bubbles that need attending to.
Please, don’t get me wrong. I love Twitter, the new connections and relationships it has helped me forge, and the incredible amount I learn through it each day.
But there are a lot of other bubbles that are equally important to me; my “IRL” bubble of people I’ve met and worked with over the years, my IABC bubble, my email bubble… you get the drift.
I’ve found that if I get too comfortable in one bubble, the others can suffer. Not in a drastic, bubble-bursting way, but if I don’t watch over those relationships too, they could atrophy, which would leave me immeasurably worse off, both personally and professionally.
Balancing the PR Bubble
PR, to me, is like a bubble. In fact, it’s made up of a whole lot of bubbles, i.e. tactics, that delicately wobble and bounce off each other. When the bubbles are released gently, they can make a very pretty picture; you achieve success for your client or organization using a variety of tactics in a planned, strategic and integrated way. When they’re not, they burst, and all one’s left with is soapy liquid.
There are a lot of bubbles for us PR professionals to play with these days, not the least of which is Twitter. After all, if Jon Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres and David Gregory are talking about it, it must finally be cool, right?
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M – Th 11p / 10c | |||
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Twitter is cool, to many of us. But it’s not the only bubble out there.
So in our haste to make sure the Web 2.0 bandwagon doesn’t rattle away without us, let’s not forget that. Let’s not forget what PR is really about. It’s not about using the latest “shiny new toy” just because you can, or because everyone else is. It’s about strategic thinking, measurable objectives and using the best range of tactics that will achieve those objectives for your client or organization.
Take care of your bubbles, both offline and offline, and they’ll take care of you. After all, who wants to be left with a handful of soapy liquid?
What do you think? Do you think tried and tested PR skills are being discounted in light of all the “shiny new toys?” Or have you found a way to blow many bubbles at once? I’d love to hear from you.
Filed under Communication, Public Relations, Social Media, Twitter | Tags: communications, daily show, david gregory, ellen degeneres, iabc, jon stewart, nbc, Networking, Public Relations, today, Twitter | Comments (12)Writing: PR’s Sleeper “R”
My foray into the U.S. public relations world dates back to 2000, when I had just moved to this country. Apparently “networking” was the way to go (in India we called it the “old boys’ club”) and, dutifully following the lead of more experienced professionals, I plunged myself into monthly meetings of the San Francisco Bay Area Publicity Club (which we fondly called “The Pub Club”).
Of all the characters – some offbeat, some extremely colorful – that I met, no one left a more lasting impression on me than “Mr. T.” I can’t remember his full name, but I do recall that his first name began with a “t,” was older than the average Pub Clubber (20-something), had worked primarily in Tech PR, and had recently been laid off (we’re talking late 2000/early 2001 here).
Mr. T said to me, “I can’t write, but I don’t think that’s important. I know how to do PR, and there are enough writers to go around.” (Or words to that effect.)
I remember being quite taken aback by that pronouncement. However, being a (fairly) well-brought up Bengali girl, I smiled politely and moved on to exchange pleasantries with the less-outré attendees at the event. But Mr. T’s words stayed with me. Every now and again, I wondered if he was right.
I don’t think so.
If you’re a journalist, author or successful blogger, you already know why.
PR professionals – especially those who are new to the industry – if you ever had doubts about the importance of being able to write well, consider:
Your communications with clients, the media and internal constituents invariably comprise a high volume of writing. How will you convince them of the validity of your plans, pitches or whatnot if you can’t express yourself well in the written medium?
We live in an age where short attention spans are not just the norm, they’re “ADOS,” as Peter Shankman famously describes himself. Lose your audience before your first paragraph is complete, and you risk the possibility of losing their attention for good.
We are trying to survive through a time of record job losses and the fear and self-questioning that accompany them. If ever there was a time to showcase the diversity of your talents, it is now.
Getting Started on Writing Well
Being able to write beautifully may be a gift, but being able to write well – both succinctly as well as with meaning – can be learned. Here are just a few ways:
Give yourself a précis exercise. One of the most useful high school English classes I had to go through was “précis,” or the practice of distilling several, often long-winded, paragraphs, into a finite number of words without losing the essence of the original writing. Try it: create a table in Microsoft Excel of “x” number of cells, and allow yourself no more than one word in each cell (punctuation marks can be included after a word). How good are your compression skills?
If you haven’t already jumped on the bandwagon, get thee on Twitter. What better exercise in expressing yourself succinctly than in being restricted to 140 characters?
Capture your soundbites. While this word may have been bequeathed to us by audio-visual media, there is nothing more potent than a catchy phrase that rolls off the tongue, that not only captures the essence of what you’re trying to say, but can be used across many mediums, be they press releases, op-eds, or messaging documents.
You may be well ahead of me and, if so, please do share your tips. If you’re still trying to figure out the skills you need to hone as a public relations professional, though, don’t dismiss the ability to write well.
It might make the difference between being – well, Mr. T and you.
Image courtesy Debbie Ridpath Ohi.
Filed under Career, Communication, Public Relations, Writing
| Tags: communications, Networking, peter shankman, pr, precis, Public Relations, SFBAPC, Writing |
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