Aspire to Higher - Benchmarks for a PR Pro

This post first appeared in Spin Sucks.  

Much continues to be penned on the role of public relations and how the field has changed throughout the years. It is the subject of lively discussion as popular as “what came first the chicken or the egg.”

Everyone has an opinion on who is the lead dog in the race for hearts and minds in the reputation game in the 21st century. Is it PR, marketing, advertising or some other function? And what does 2016 hold for the field and for public relations pros?

Public relations, for the foreseeable future, is essential to building trust with people who have a vital stake in an organization’s operations and success.

It is critical to fulfilling an organization’s missions and responsibilities. Public relations is the conscious in the board room. And if you don’t believe that, fasten your seatbelt, the ride will be rocky.

The fact is PR is all about building and sustaining relationships.

Always has. Always will.

The demand for public relations professionals has never been better and 2016 will likely accelerate the need for folks who are, “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.”

Benchmarks of Successful PR Professionals

Here are some of the most powerful characteristics successful PR professionals will need to be going forward:

• PR professionals are activists, seeking to engage, enlighten, and energize an organization’s constituents. They are not gatekeepers between their companies and the media.
• PR professionals advocate not just for their organizations, but for their organization’s constituents and stakeholders. This adds the important role of presenting the stakeholder’s interests and views to management. It is all about representing all those with a stake and making them understand their inherent obligations.
• PR professionals are strategic content developers and storytellers, helping their organizations formulate key messages that resonate with stakeholders and are coherent with the corporate culture and nature of the organization.
• PR professionals help an organization build mutual trust by encouraging and fostering transparency and integrity throughout the organization.
• PR professionals are counselors who actively advise and guide organizations in honestly communicating and behaving in the best interests of society and its constituents such as customers, employees, shareholders, and the communities in which they operate.
• PR professionals are enablers and connectors, helping organizations stay grounded, stay human, and stay sensitive to the needs and desires of their communities.

In essence, the role of today’s public relations professional is akin to being the conscience of the organization, being ever vigilant to ensuring that the organization is “doing the right thing” and not just saying the right things.

What do you think are the benchmarks of successful PR professionals?

How to Electrify Your Resume

Even while channels proliferate to communicate your passions, position and career preferences, the resume remains firm as your calling card and one of the essential documents that helps you define who you are, what you do and the value you bring to the table.  I know, there is much talk today about the importance of the resume or the declining value of it.  The fact remains that the resume is still used by the majority of talent hunters in today’s hotly competitive job market.  It is what can get you in the front door, if done well, or prevent your entry, if not.

I have written extensively about the resume over the years including these posts, It's About the Accomplishments,  Is the Resume Dead, Constructing a Compelling Resume , Rebooting Your Resume,  among others.  I have also advised employing your resume as the basis for your LinkedIn and Facebook profiles.  This assures consistency, repeatability and better search engine optimization by focusing on your essential and core competencies.

So given the continuing importance of the resume, it is vital to keep the resume fresh, vibrant, interactive, enticing and engaging.  The following simple techniques can help to accomplish this and serve to electrify or bring your resume to life with your legacy, life and professional longings.

Opening Salvo.  Include the urls to your Google+,  LinkedIn and Facebook profiles at the top of your resume along with your email address.  Make certain they are hot links so the hiring manager can easily dive into your data that resides on these social infrastructure platforms.

Link it live.  Use your summary or qualifications statement to bring your elevator speech to life.  Make it a live link to either an audio file of you reciting your elevator speech or an on camera rendition.  You can accomplish both tasks using the video function on your smart phone or other tools such as Skype for the desk top or Google+.  Upload the resulting audio or video file to your YouTube channel allows you to institutionalize it for all to see and hopefully marvel.  If you do not have a YouTube channel create one.  It is on this platform that you can create and store original video and audio content for immediate access through links in the resume.

Embed links to owned/earned content.  Employ direct links to your online content within your experience section to provide evidence and validation of your accomplishments or contributions to your employers.  For example, if you wrote copy for an online annual report or the script for a mini documentary, provide the direct “hot” link in the description of the accomplishment.   If you have quantitative data showing the result of a campaign or increased revenues link to an infographic that visually tells the story.  This will help you keep the copy succinct on the resume while providing an easy way to see the full content.  Even if your contribution is a successful pitch to a journalist, provide the link to the actual story.  Adding links to content enhances your resume without needlessly making it lengthy.

Don’t Forget School.   Live linking to your education and professional affiliations can also add further dimension to your background and experience.  When listing your academic credentials, make hot links to your university and degree so that with a simple click an interested hiring manager can see directly the detail about your credential and the curriculum you mastered.  The same is true for professional affiliations you maintain or certifications you hold.  Make those live as well to the associations web site and the detail of your certifications .

How to Use Networking to Get Working

There is no debate what so ever, networking is the chief avenue to landing a new job, hands down.  And the plethora of tips, tactics and tricks to network are limitless on the web. Just Google the term networking and you are likely to be inundated with information on how to do it and profit from it.  My cursory search found 127 million inks.   In thinking more deeply about the nature of working your contacts and connections, here are several ideas to get you started to use networking to get working.  So here goes:

Start a group.  Many of the popular social infrastructure platforms have tools to allow you to establish groups so you can gather like minds together in pursuit of common goals, ideas, strategies, friends or virtually anything your intelligent mind can dream up.   In this case though, in addition to virtual groups on LinkedIn or Facebook for example, set up an in-person lunch or dinner group, whereby you get together with colleagues on a monthly basis to collaborate or discuss matters of interest.  It could be a job networking group or a career management group.  The benefits can be many.  The key is consistency, camaraderie and collaboration.

Work your brain.  Sites like LinkedIn, Quora, Facebook, etc., have features that enable you to comment and answer questions from folks that need advice.  And the questions vary widely.  So pick a topic about which you may be a subject matter expert and let loose.  Add as much value as your intellect will allow.  Chances are good that smartly answering the inquirer’s question will be reciprocated in some fashion.  Now don’t expect it to be.  But be aware that adding value to the knowledge stream that is the web often times pays dividends.

Strut your stuff.  “Proof is in the pudding,” as my Grandmother used to say.  Put yourself in the position of demonstrating what you do well.  Volunteer with a non profit for a task or project that gives evidence of your skills and ability.  Perhaps you belong to a membership organization, where there is an opportunity to be on a committee that allows you to strut your stuff.  Is writing a passion or is strategic planning your cup of tea?  If so get busy and use those skills.  In the process you have a stage center role in showing what you can do.  Let others see your value.  Seeing is believing.

Buy coffee.  Yes, buy some coffee, or tea if that is your poison.  Invite someone to have coffee on you.  Look through your network to see if there is someone who works at a company you have targeted for employment.  Write them a note, give them a call, send them an email or even a tweet if that works for you.   Go to your favorite java shop or the closest one to the object of your networking exercise.  Write down some questions you have about how to network your way into the firm.  Ask for advice on your job search, career campaign or other people with whom you can ask for advice.  At the same time, offer your support to them.  Do they have a knotty problem that is keeping them up at night?  Ask about it and offer some concrete ideas to manage the problem. 


Say something nice.  The Web is now crawling with platforms that let you give credit, make kudos, recommend and say something nice about another person.  They run the gambit from Klout, Kred, LinkedIn, PeerIndex Twitter Grader, Connect.me, etc.  Take some time to give credit where credit is due.  Make certain it is honest and authentic.  Recognizing good work by good people is, well, good.  It also conveys to your network that no good deed goes unrecognized.  That said, just remember to never expect to be complemented yourself.  Keep your expectations in check and you will not be disappointed.




Get angry.  Networking is not easy.  It takes a commitment to do it daily.  It is hard work, that is why everyone does not do it.  But for the fortunate few that have the diligence, patience and a kind heart, networking works.  And it is ok to get angry and let out some steam during the job search process.  Take some time to scream, yell and get angry.  Just do it in the privacy of your own home, a deserted beach or empty hallway.  And when you are finished get back to networking or whatever you want to call “shining a spotlight on yourself and the value you can bring to an organization through your terrific skill set, even-keel demeanor and strong work ethic.