Category Archives: Job Search
Getting Creative with Your Job Search
As we inch towards May, the sounds of “Pomp and Circumstance” can be heard. It’s a time of great joy and excitement. College is over and the real world is waiting for you. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean a job is waiting for you. Statistics show that very recent grads may be at a higher risk of unemployment. Look at the Class of 2011. By October of their graduation year, about 5 months post-commencement, 14 percent were jobless, according to a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
Not exactly reassuring, right? Well, here is where I and a group of other great PR pros hope to help you out. On Thursday, May 2 from 9-10 p.m. EST, I am moderating the HAPPO Twitter chat on “Creative Job Search Strategies.” What is HAPPO? It was started by Arik Hanson and Valerie Simon to connect job seekers in the PR field to those that could help in some way. We hope that some of the ideas
that are tweeted can help you in your search. Before next week’s chat, here are a few ideas on getting creative with your search.
- Keep Your Eyes Open- You never know when a great opportunity may come upon you. Never just dismiss it; think about the pros and cons. I always do a personal SWOT analysis at every opportunity.
- Spread Your Wings- As much as you may not want to, considering a job in another city or state could be the perfect move. It offers the challenge of learning a new area and making a name for yourself. Plus, meeting new people always helps to challenge us. This may not sound “creative,” but some grads just think about staying near home.
- Be Strategic- Some say to “pepper” firms/agencies with you resume. This isn’t the best move. By focusing your search and your resume, you give yourself a better shot at impressing a recruiter. Don’t use the generic cover letter. Show passion in your writing and your approach.
- Don’t Doubt Yourself- This sounds easy, but it isn’t always the case. You are the one that knows your skills best; believe in yourself and know that even though you may not know it all, you can still be a success.
If you have more creative ideas for the job search, leave them in the comments and join us on May 2 on Twitter! You can find me @JasMollica.
Guest Post: Job Search =Life Search
(Jas’ note: I’m thrilled to have Alex Crispino guest post on the blog today. She’s a fellow Temple Owl and someone I’m proud to call a colleague. She never backed down during her job search challenges and her story is something everyone can learn from.)
As a senior in college, I started my job search early, thinking I would find my dream job right after graduation. Most of my friends did the same. We worked hard during college and felt prepared to enter the real world. But, honestly, nothing prepares you for that.
Both graduating college and job searching bring a wave of emotions. You feel excited to start your life, but you’re also terrified that you will fail. My job search started in March 2012 and did not end until November 2012 when I landed my first job. Here are the three major lessons I learned, thanks to that process.
- Know Yourself: When I started job searching, I was so desperate for any job, that anywhere I applied, I either wasn’t qualified for or I didn’t like. You must know yourself, what you are passionate about, and the general direction you’d like your life to go in.
- Be Flexible: Yes, you can be somewhat picky. But, you must have an open mind, apply to jobs that utilize your skillset and are interesting. I thought I would only have a job in PR. However, my current position has little to do with PR. That doesn’t mean I don’t find it interesting and I use tools from my PR toolkit daily.
- See the Bigger Picture: Landing your first job out of college is very important. Of course, your goal should be to find a job you love that supports what you studied in school. But, your life, your existence, should not be defined by this first job. Your career will be filled with jobs, successes, failures and constant changes. Stay grounded and remember work is just a part of your life.
My job search taught me so much about who I am and what I want out of my life. I learned that you never truly know what you want and that’s okay. Each day with each job, you must work to better yourself. If you don’t continue to challenge yourself and set higher goals, you will become stagnant.
My job search became a soul searching mission. It helped me to align my professional goals with my personal ones as well as showed me my true strengths and weaknesses. Despite unemployment, I am grateful for my post-graduate journey and learned so much during the process.
Alex Crispino graduated from Temple University in 2012 and currently works at Pricewaterhouse Coopers as a Learning and Development Consultant. While at Temple, Alex was Director of PR for PRSSA, an Account Executive for PRowl Public Relations and a Resident Assistant. She currently lives in New Jersey, but enjoys working in New York City. You can follow Alex on Twitter, @AlexCharli and her blog, Rockstar in Training.
The Value of Mentoring
On Monday night, Feb. 18, various PR pros gathered for the HAPPO chat on Twitter. The HAPPO community are PR folks from around the country who help new and current pros with career guidance and information on the job market. HAPPO was co-founded by Arik Hanson and Valerie Simon in 2010 and, since then, has helped many a pro. I’m lucky to be part of HAPPO as Buffalo, N.Y.’s champion.
Monday night’s Twitter chat focused on how to build and sustain a mentor in public relations. I couldn’t have been more excited about this because I enjoy being a mentor to future and current pros. Whether it is a simple phone chat or reviewing a resume, your advice and guidance can be invaluable. What makes a good mentor? Here are my five things that I believe do.
1.) Trust- There’s no doubt that trust is the first one here. If you don’t trust your mentee or they don’t trust you, there’s no relationship. Understand that your actions (on both sides) will help shape the future. If you show a potential mentee that trust doesn’t matter, you’ve failed.
2.) Honesty- It doesn’t help you or your mentee if you just sugar coat everything. Be honest in your assessment of their resume, cover letter, approach to interviews, etc. Your mentee should want that honesty because it’s going to help them in the future.
3.) Make the time- If you agree to mentor someone, stick to it. Don’t say you’ll talk and then blow them off. It shows that not only are you disingenuous, but may also hurt your relationships with others.
4.) Touch base often- If I haven’t heard from a mentee or chatted in a few weeks, I’ll reach out with a short email, direct message or tweet. I never want a mentee to feel I’ve forgotten about them. It’s also a great way to see if your mentee may be struggling with anything.
5.) Think about the future- Your chats and resume reviews may end up being a great asset. As you continue the relationship, you’ll be able to (possibly) assist a colleague in filling a position or even a position in your own business.
Keep in mind you can not force a mentor/mentee relationship. It has to work on both sides!
Blog Series: Taking the Next Step in Your Career
Maybe you are a recent graduate and entered the workplace just months ago. Or, maybe you have been in your job for five years. Regardless, you should always be thinking of this phrase: How do I take the next step?
Complacency is never a good thing, so you should always be driving yourself to be a success. By settling, we lose the drive and the ambition to take that next step.
I’ve had a number of jobs and switched careers. All those experiences helped me launch my own business. Here are five tips that I believe can help you take your next step.
1. Keep Your Eyes Open- You never know when a great opportunity may come upon you. Never just dismiss it; think about the pros and cons. I always do a personal SWOT analysis at every opportunity.
2. Be Smart- I never would tell someone to jump to another job just for the sake of jumping. Do your research. Look at what you can offer them as much as why they can offer you.
3. Spread Your Wings- As much as you may not want to, considering a job in another city or state could be the perfect move. It offers the challenge of learning a new area and making a name for yourself. Plus, meeting new people always helps to challenge us.
4. Listen to a mentor- A trusted colleague can sometimes be the best sounding board. They can also often give terrific career and life guidance. They’ll also be blunt in their opinions, which you should listen carefully to.
5. Don’t Doubt Yourself- This sounds easy, but it isn’t always the case. You are the one that knows your skills best; believe in yourself and know that even though you may not know it all, you can still be a success.
Do you have some tips that have helped you take the next step? Let me know in the comments.
The Post-Internship Rules
Summer vacation is over, but it never really started if you had a PR/marketing/social media internship. Even before you packed up your dorm/apartment, you were already working at that internship.
Well, now it’s time to head back to campus and say goodbye your supervisor and co-workers from that agency, firm, or business where you (hopefully) had great learning experience. Wait, did I tell you to say goodbye? Don’t!
Now is THE MOST IMPORTANT TIME of your internship. Why? Because you need to effectively use these last days in helping you move forward for your career. Here are five things that should be part of a Post-Internship Checklist:
- Check with your internship supervisor regarding work you can use in your portfolio. You may have felt you did a bulk of the work, but review the projects you worked on with your superior(s). See if it is okay to use clients’ names, projects in a portfolio to show potential future employers or internships.
- Provide tangible results. You may have nailed a number of media placements or garnered new Facebook followers. Use statistics to show the before and after as well as the planning behind it. Potential employers love to see your planning and implementation skills.
Miranda certainly remembered Andy, right?
- Ask for a letter of recommendation and to use as a reference NOW. Don’t wait until later when a supervisor MAY not remember who you are. You are on their minds now. Ask if you can call down the road and use them as a reference. Also important: Make sure that you let that reference know you are going to use them. Nothing is more embarrassing than a potential employer calling a reference and they are caught off guard.
- Update your LinkedIn profile (if you haven’t already). Much like adjusting your resume is number one, taking the time to update LinkedIn should be 1A. It also would be a good idea to take my third point and ask for a LinkedIn recommendation.
- Make ‘em Smile- I know… students don’t always have a ton of money. Dropping off muffins and coffee is something that isn’t going to break the bank. It also shows you appreciated the time you spent there. Yes, a simple “Thank You” note is also fine. Handwritten, of course.
Think your boss may remember you in a few months? Maybe. But, take the time to make sure they WILL NOT forget. Make certain your most-recent (or first) internship helps lead you to success after you get your degree.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
If you could speak at commencement…
“Members of the Class of 2012…” Those words are going to be uttered by college presidents and deans, and commencement speakers over the next few weeks. It has been 15 years since I graduated college. It’s a day I remember like it was yesterday, though. Bill Cosby’s wife, Camille, spoke at Temple University’s commencement ceremony at the Spectrum in Philadelphia that day. It was inspiring. Mr. Cosby even got up to say a few things.
After seeing blog posts and tweets about student friends that were graduating, I began to think. So I posted this on Facebook on Thursday.
I didn’t initially plan to make a blog post out of these, but the responses were wonderful. So, I share with you what friends in the social space would tell a graduating class.
@MattLaCasse- Your profession is likely practiced in every state in America, and most everywhere else in the world. Your happiness will be more dictated by where you are than what your job is. Do your job someplace that makes you happy.
@JBMHR (Jeannine Brown Miller)- ”Listen” to the direction that you are intended to be going..if you keep running into obstacles..stop and reassess where you are, what you are doing and determine change necessary to remove some of them. If we keep doing the same thing that isn’t working, we will get the same results (the old insanity thing). Embrace change, recognize that challenges bring lessons and blessings, and be open enough to be able to find the good in all that comes your way!
@JoshfromMaine (Josh Morris)- You don’t choose a life, you live one. There are no such thing as limitations, only fears. Pursue a position based on people, profession and location, and paychecks will come. Don’t get cable.
@BigGreenPen (Paula Kiger)- Don’t fool yourself into thinking you have all the time in the world/don’t think you are above doing the unnoticed little work to get familiar with an environment you want to be a part of.
courtesy: Temple U. Col. of Liberal Arts
@PaigeHolden- Stay in your own lane. You only start to doubt yourself when you worry about what everyone else is doing. True success has nothing to do with conventional measurements like position, wealth or winning thing. It has to do with finding a balance that works for you, and only you.
(I liked the honesty with Rachel Donner’s answer) @RMiriam- The next 6-8 years are pretty much going to suck. You’ll be at a frustrating entry-level job with lots of work and no authority. You’ll likely drift away from most of your college friends, and have to establish new relationships. Don’t let it get you down and doubt yourself. You’ll get through it and be better off for it, knowing much more clearly who you are, where you want to be and the path ahead.
And finally… @Buffalogal (Nicole Schuman)- You cannot plan every aspect of your life. Embrace change!
What would I tell a graduating class? “People are going to tell you that you can’t. You can. People are going to doubt you. Don’t doubt yourself. Most of all, you will be faced with adversity. Don’t turn away from it. Take it head on and conquer it. The only way you’ll grow is if you face failure, doubt, and negativity. Why? Because all those things will make you stronger. It’s up to you to use the failure, doubt, and negativity, and make it positive. Go with confidence.”
I’d love to hear what you would tell a graduating class. Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Monday Minute: Evolution
Think your resume is dead? Think again.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.
