Looking for your dream PR job? Five ways to become the right candidate today.

Everyone dreams of that PR job - The One. Just imagine taking an elevator to your office where you fully immerse yourself in the brands, products or services you personally believe in. It doesn’t get any better than that.  But how do you work on getting there? Not only will the right preparation help you land the right job, you’ll also discover what that dream job truly is. 

After I finished my BA in Public Relations, I was sure I would work at a public relations agency.  That’s exactly what I did, but I soon realized that agency life just wasn’t for me. There were many other opportunities I hadn’t even considered because I was set on agency from the start. I finally found my fit as manager of the University Program at Cision, where I now help students uncover what they love most about PR.

Here are five ways you can start to prepare for your dream PR job:

1. Create an ePortfolio. 

Scrambling to assemble a perfect portfolio the night before an interview is the last thing you’ll want to do, not to mention juggling the demands of your current job.  Make sure your best work is within arm’s reach, so you can focus your pre-interview prep on learning more about the industry, the organization and the interviewer you will need to know about tomorrow.  

About.me is a non-traditional take on a bio. Platforms like Wordpress and Wix (which I use personally) also provide turnkey site templates where you can share portfolio items.

2. Update your LinkedIn profile - often.  

A burst of activity on your LinkedIn page shouldn’t send your current colleagues into a tailspin wondering why you’re suddenly “linking in” so much. Maintain a consistent presence on the site; doing so will not only increase the likelihood of showing up in the right person’s feed, but also shows how much you’re continuing to develop yourself professionally. And especially if you’re in – or think you’ll be in – the job market soon, don’t forget to ensure your profile is accessible.


3. Keep up with your network. 

Engaging with others in the industry is the best way to stay on top of trends. This isn’t about having three references “on request,” but about knowing what skills you’ll need to add value years from now.  

If creating a network from scratch is intimidating, start small. Attend alumni events where you can connect with peers, as well as more seasoned alums. Industry organizations like PRSA regularly host events where you can meet peers, potential mentors and future employers.

Many professionals forget that networking is about maintaining the relationships you already have. You wouldn’t want someone to reach out to you only on occasions when they need a favor, so don’t be that person yourself. Remember to drop a note to say hello, ask about their current work or find opportunities to simply shoot the breeze. If you stay plugged in to your network, when an opportunity comes up, you will be top-of-mind.

4. Challenge yourself to develop expertise. 

Ongoing professional development is vital to excelling in the field.  Look for avenues to enhance your expertise.  For example, Cision offers free CisionPoint access to universities. As a result, grads say their employers are impressed when they hit the ground running. But this isn’t so much about learning to use a tool of the trade – which is always good – but the demonstrated interest and commitment to PR as a practice. 

This applies no matter where you are in your career. You could be getting your accreditation (APR,) launching your organization’s first measurement dashboard or live-tweeting every free webinar you come across. There’s got to be something about your current job that you absolutely love, so dive right into it. 

Dedication to being personally exceptional in the industry makes a difference to future employers. 

5. Test the waters


If you’re looking for another job while employed, take advantage of your situation to develop new skills. If your current role is too prescriptive, branch out of your comfort zone and simply ask for different tasks. It’s the best way to enhance your skills and open new doors.

If you’re not given new or exciting projects, create something for yourself that will impress. That’s how Cision’s University Program came to be.  Hard work and extra hours created a brand new program that now introduces newcomers to public relations to one of the industry’s most widely-used and popular platforms (granted, I’m biased!), and an essential skillset. 

Taking the initiative on new projects proves to a future employer that you’re innovative and, most importantly, that you’re a self-starter. 

Even if you love your job, it’s worth starting to develop these habits. Consider what you hear again and again when you ask someone how they landed their current job – it happened before they knew it, when they weren’t even looking, when they least expected it. (And that’s no surprise - no one wants to leave a position after it has been “a long time coming!”)

If you love what you do, success and opportunities will follow. And, if you keep acquiring more and more experience along the way, before you know it, your dream job will have found you.

By Sonal Moraes, Product Specialist at Cision and manager of Cision’s University Program

Eight Questions to Answer Before Accepting an Internship

Once again internships are prominent in the news.  Just last week we learned from an article in the Atlantic that barely one third of the U.S. Senate pay their interns.  The White House also was recently chided about not paying interns.  Even the foundation of the COO of Facebook has finally and reluctantly relented and has announced that the foundation will begin paying interns.    

I have written before about the internship on behalf of the Public Relations Society of America and have not changed my opinion one iota.  Internships are legitimate work and should be compensated.  PRSA is so adamant about the issue that it published nearly three years ago an advisory for its 30,000 members about internships.  As noted in a past post  on internships, PRSA believes it is ethically improper to employ anyone who adds real value to a public relations agency or department without compensating them for their work – whether that compensation is monetary or in the form of educational credits. If billable work is being performed by an intern, he or she deserves some form of legal compensation.

 

There was a time many years ago when internships were employed by organizations to give back to society by offering summer employment to students in disciplines related to their academic studies.  Later the internship evolved to a way by organizations to solve interim staffing issues.  On the candidate side, the internship was a way to get practical, real world experience in the field that would supplement academic training.  Somewhere along the way, internships started to be viewed as a volunteer function and organizations treated them as such.

 

Let’s be clear though what constitutes volunteerism.  Helping a charitable organization tend to the needs of the underserved is volunteerism.  Assisting an organization to sell books or some other product or service is not.

 

As young professionals, your goal is to secure a full time professional position in public relations.  If you decide to go the internship route while you job hunt, exercise caution in doing internships that do not help fulfill your career goals and strategy.  Here are several metrics for evaluating the efficacy of internships after you have graduated.

 

   

1.   Is the internship a paid position?  And is it well above minimum wage?  This is a critical question for which the answer is simple.  If it is not paid, steer clear.

 

 

2.   Is the compensation reasonable for the role?  You should expect no less than $25 per hour, particularly if the job involves in content creation, including writing releases, case studies, blogs, speeches, tweets, Facebook posts and yes, even questions for Quora or content for Pinterest.

 

 

3.   Is the internship/job a 40-hour gig and/or are you expected to put in inordinate time that is not compensated?  Most jobs are reasonably 40 hours a week or at max 50 hours.  Investigate if there is the opportunity for paid overtime or compensatory time.

 

  

4.   What is the probability that the internship will lead to a full time position?  Assuming you excel in the job, will the employer agree to put it in writing ahead of time?  As Ronald Reagan once said “trust but verify.”  If a permanent position is not in the cards, make certain other conditions are sufficiently compelling to make the internship worth your time and labor.

 

  

5.   Is the organization a leader in its category, whether a non-profit, corporation, institution or agency?  Your credibility, integrity and personal brand are all built on your associations.  Make certain that the organization is a thought leader or at least “reputation safe.”

 

  

6.   Will the internship help to appreciably increase your skills, broaden your understanding of the field and augment your network and sphere of influence?  These are all vital characteristics that should be inherent in your investment in the internship.  If they don’t contribute, think hard and long before you accept.

 

  

7.   Can you use the content you create as part of your portfolio?  Will you be able to take credit publicly for your intellectual labor and resulting product?  It is wise to have some evidence that you can use to validate your accomplishments.

  

 

8.   Will your employer give you time for other pursuits including volunteer work, professional affiliations and networking?  Don’t be chained to your desk.  Make sure there is adequate freedom to network, volunteer and attend to other professional endeavors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOW TO BE FOUND IN SEARCH ENGINES

Increasingly search engines like Google and Bing are becoming the first destination of choice for companies and their search firms and human resource professionals when looking for people to recruit or vetting job candidates.


The chief dilemma for the job seeker is to how to make sure you can be found through search engines. Short of stardom and employing advertising, there are certain techniques you can employ to make sure you can be found and in a way that is controllable, professional and complementary.

1. Become part of social media platforms like Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin, Plaxo, Ning, etc. Employing platforms like these enable you to craft the type of profile that spotlights your professional career and equally important your professional and personal accomplishments. Be sure to target those platforms that fit with your profession and your personal brand.

2. Take control of third party web-based databases. These would include but are not limited to www.zoominfo.com, www.spoke.com, www.jigsaw.com, www.spokeo.com, etc. Many of these sites allow you to take ownership of your profile and manage the content. Make sure to delete errors or mistakes that could derail your consideration.

3. Establish a showcase on www.slideshare.com. Slideshare is a fabulous and rich content site on which you can upload presentations. In this case, what you will do is produce a PowerPoint presentation about you not unlike a C.V. You can include your resume, links and URLs to your web content, expanded accomplishments, academic credentials, professional photos and video, publications and other career information that help you tell a compelling story about you as a brand and as a professional. And you can be as creative as you want and need. Remember this is a multimedia medium where you need not spare any expense. Include enough information to tell your story. Last but not least, incorporate your Slideshare profile within your profile on www.linkedin.com, both of which are included in search engine results.

4. Highlight your career on www.visualCV.com. VisualCV portrays itself as “Your resume, only better.” VisualCV is customizable and can serve as a resume, online professional profile, business development tool or mini website. And to top it off, just like Slideshare, it is included in Google search engine results.

5. Don’t forget about Google. Build a Google profile. Yes Google gives you the ability to have a profile. If you already have a Google or Gmail account, a Google profile is the next step. Just go to www.google.com/profiles. Google provides the ability to include basic information about who, what, why, where and when. You can also include information on where you live or have lived, your web links, personal and professional interests, education, employers and aliases. Best of all, the profile is included in search.

6. Become an active Twitterer! Yes I realize this seems strange because you really care not to daily Tweet your food choices. Well don’t. Instead, employ Twitter as a strategic tool to add value to the knowledge stream on the web. If you are an expert or thought leader on a particular topic or topics then provide a steady stream of pithy and helpful commentary that enlightens and entertains. Twitter is actively searched in most search engines.

7. If you have a passion, blog!!! If you want to be recognized for something and develop a following, blogging can be a useful device. In fact, if you have a passion, blogging is a natural. But the key word is “passion.” If you are a thought leader or expert on something let people know and become recognized for your knowledge an enthusiasm. http://wordpress.com and http://blogspot.com are both useful and free platforms to express yourself. Get busy!

8. Get engaged with your communities! Do you belong to industry or professional groups? If you do and are not engaged, consider getting involved. Join a committee, run for an office or board position, volunteer for an event. Often times being a part of a group that is doing worthwhile things can attract attention.