Step 14 - 3 Steps for Mastering the PR Job Search

Be Prepared for After Graduation

Job searching is one of the most time-intensive and stressful processes of graduating. This time last year, I was relieved to not have to search for a job, knowing that I would be going back to school. Now that my postgrad is coming to an end, job searching has become a must. I have to say that I began the process a couple months ago, and now that I am in the midst of it I can share with you some of the things I have been doing and some of the interesting tips I have learned along the way.

Job searching has its ups and downs. It can become overwhelming, especially if you don’t know what you are looking for. This is why you need to know your career goals before you throw yourself into the search for the perfect job upon graduation. Check out my post on assessing you career path.

#1 - Where to Look
The first step in my job search involved answering the question: “where will I look?” One of the most obvious answers was job search engines, but even these can be confusing. There are so many to choose from. So I discovered that the best ones to use are the engines that compile job postings from various sources, which saves you a lot of time.

#2 - Hidden Market 
Another question I needed to answer was: “where else am I going to look?” Because in this day and age you can’t rely on job boards and search engines. Thousands of people are looking at these sites as well, so your application can get lost in the process. A better place to look is LinkedIn jobs, which will suggest jobs that match your career field. Twitter is also quite useful, as people in online networks often tweet job opportunities. Also, I have been keeping a keen eye on certain career pages of company websites. I like using RSS feeds for career postings or even job alerts. These deliver potential jobs straight to your computer.

Ultimately, knowing where to look is important as it will make the job search more effective, but remember, only 20 to 30% of jobs happen this way (the rest is from networking). So you may need to take a more proactive approach.

#3 - Timing of Search
Another thing that I have figured out is that timing is important for job searching. Certain times of the day are better than others, and certain days of the week yield more job search results. When you find an opportunity you like, you also have to keep deadlines in mind. I like to leave time to research the company so I can personalize my application. I keep track of the dates I apply on, so I know when to follow-up. And following-up is essential.

Job searching is not easy. Start out with these simple steps, and work from there. This is how I am making this process work while I am in school. With more time I would take more active approaches. Regarding the proactive approach remember that networking is an asset. Every once in a while I will reach out to companies I like to let them know how I can be an asset to their team. I also think letting people in your network know that you are looking is a good thing too.  Proactive strategies will compliment more passive approaches and make your job search efforts worthwhile.

So I would like to ask you, how do you go about job searching, do you have some tips to share?

P.S. I love PR.

Step 13 - The Social Resume

Don't Underestimate the Power of Social

Lately I have been seeing a lot of buzz around the topic of Non-Traditional or Social Resumes. I came across this article from Platform Magazine that gives a great overview of non-traditional resumes. But non traditional or not, social resumes are the new it thing. And coincidentally I just finished reading a book by an expert on the subject Miriam Salpeter's "Social Networking for Career Success". In her book, Salpeter covers how to use Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook in your job search. The topic itself is timely for me as I begin my job search and it has led me to research and question more this idea of using social networks for employment goals.

If you want a career in PR you need to have a successful online presence, and so that is why I have chosen to make this Step 13. I suggest seeking out as much information on the topic as possible and leveraging it to your advantage.

Here I will cover what I learned about Twitter, LinkedIn, other tools and where a social resume can take you, but keep in mind that I am not an expert. These are some of the things I have learned that you may find useful. First, the popularity of social resumes has not gone unnoticed by employers. They are now somewhat expected in PR and marketing anyway. Apparently 92% of employers use some form of social media for recruitment in 2012. This coincides with the increase in social resumes created by job seekers. 88% of job seekers have a social profile, while 64% have two and 44% have three separate profiles on social media.The reason for the use of social resumes is that you are able to include information that goes beyond work experience. You can showcase visuals, creativity and more of your personality. That is why a social resume should remain consistent with your personal brand as I discussed in Step11: Personal Branding 101.

And of course here is a handy Infographic that can sum up some of the research on social resumes.

Social Resume Tools

Twitter
1. Make the best of your Bio
Ideally your Twitter bio should include  your career specializations and goals. You will want to use a professional photo rather than one shot from last Saturday at the club. And to help keep your "personal brand" and online presence consistent, link back to your other sites like LinkedIn, blogs, websites, a Slideshare, Pinterest or whatever link is most useful for you.

2. Tweet like a professional
Tweet about your job search, your industry, or your goals. Make sure your tweets have content and not just hashtags that will alienate followers. Share links that followers will find useful (and use a shortlink to save on space in your tweet). Also, try to avoid tweeting about your personal stuff like trips to the gym, don't use hashtags that don't apply to your tweet just tog get attention, try to tweet some original thoughts or opinions. Doing these things right will make you more retweetable and more credible in your area of focus like PR. And always remember social media etiquette.

3. Who to follow?
It is safe to follow influencers like industry professionals and organizations.You can follow past employers, past colleagues, your school's alumni, professors, companies you're interested in applying to and government bodies that affect your industry. Once you follow someone take a look at what they are tweeting and see if you can join in the conversation to network. Twitter chats are also great to follow. Remember not everyone will follow you back, and that doesn't mean you shouldn't keep them on your own list.

LinkedIn
The advantage of LinkedIn is that every time you connect with one person you are expanding your network (think 6 degrees of separation). Here are some reasons why LinkedIn is a must for your social resume:

• It is where employers hire from the most in the social networking world.
• It ranks high on Google and search engines -  this gives you a stronger online presence.
• It is a solution to staying in contact with the people you meet through networking.
• It is more professional than Facebook or Twitter - this works well for a personal brand.

LinkedIn is simple to use, but the toughest part may be your personal summary. Make sure to answer these 3 questions:

Who are you?
Who do you want to help?
How are you going to help them?

Once the different sections are filled out do what you can to make your profile complete. You are 40% more likely to come up in search results when you have a profile that is 100% complete compared to 90% complete. That is a huge jump!

I also recommend that you personalize your LinkedIn URL. In edit mode click the edit button beside your current URL and change it to get rid of the useless numbers. Instead use your name and maybe your profession. So for instance mine is danielleaprilboucherpr.

Once this is done you can share your LinkedIn on your other profiles and in your email signature.

Other tools
Some other tools you may want to consider are Blogger, WordPress, Flikr, Pinterest, YouTube, ResumeSocial.com, VisualCV.com, SlideShare and Facebook.These tools can be used to create online portfolios of your work. Finally, after you have put in all this work, you need to optimize it. That's right SEO! There are some great resources out there for enhancing SEO and then you need to monitor. Google Search yourself and see what comes up, use HootSuite, Google Analytics. These are all tools you should know how to work for your job anyway.

You may wonder why a job seeker or recent grad should put in all this effort to create more online presence in their social resume... Well some recruiters are not even considering paper resumes anymore. And joining this trend shows you are ahead of changing times and know what your industry (PR and Marketing) look for in candidates.

If you need an idea for where to start check out this online resume via SlideShare. 
And here are some other ideas that will get your creativity flowing. 

What do you think about Social Resumes? How do you use social networks for employment goals? And do you think paper resumes are a thing of the past?  

I also strongly suggest you check out this blog called Things Career Related, it is full of useful information for job seekers, many of which are applicable for students and recent grads.

P.S. I love PR.

Step 8 - Tips for Finding a PR Internship

The Hunt for the Unpaid Job

This is it! One of the most exciting posts to date; because Step 8 is all about getting the elusive internship. That’s right I will share some of my experience in finding an internship. And this is so exciting that it had to be written in 2 parts. The first part will outline where I looked and how I contacted people. The second part will cover the responses I received throughout, the decision process and provide some details on the internship I landed.

First, I will explain that this internship is not the “first job internship” that I dream of having when I graduate. It’s the unpaid, credit earning internship that you do while simultaneously taking 8 classes. Sound a little crazy? From what I hear it is quite hectic; with classes 3 days a week and an internship 2 days a week, which only leaves the weekend to take on another full-time job… Job searching. How many copies of a resume to personalize, how many applications to fill out, how many emails to write, calls to make, follow-ups, dead ends, interviews… And moments of frustration will I be able to cram in alongside the busy overloaded semester? Luckily, I have dealt with work overload before, I have mastered my “dealing with stress techniques” and I am ready to take this on. But let us back it up to September and the internship search process.

So months ago when I started searching for an internship I used the trusty Google to search for PR agencies. I used search terms like “communications agency”, “PR agency” and “marketing agency” and got quite a lot of hits. I made a list of PR agencies and marketing firms ranging from Toronto, Oakville, and Burlington to Hamilton. This was time consuming and in retrospect, probably not the best approach for finding an internship where I could only go in on Mondays and Fridays for 105 hours. That being said it was not a waste of time because I still have this magical list and plan on using it for my job search for after I graduate.

What I have to say about this approach is that some firms are difficult to search for and aren’t as visible online. This eliminates some great opportunities. The solution: build connections. I never thought I would have connections that led to a position and my network did not actually get me my internship. I just spoke to people in PR and learned about places I didn’t know about and added them to the contact list, this is one of the advantages of joining a professional association liked the CPRS or IABC as a student.

I also used Twitter to look of PR agencies. I followed them and checked out their websites. The key is to always look where they are located. The firm may sound great, but that’s pointless if they don’t have an office near you.

So I made a list. My tip is to use Google Bookmarks to keep tabs on this list. This way you can catalogue information about each firm and organize the list how you like. You will also have quick access to all the places at once to look up each firm’s website. You will also have the date you added the link and you can label things by categories including where they are located, what type of agency they are etc. This also means you won’t lose the information should anything happen to your computer because you can access the bookmark list from any computer. It’s a great tool.

Then came the part where I researched the firms. This was intensive as I dug deep in each places corporate website to learn more about their body of work, their niche, their team atmosphere, their culture and their history. Then I wrote cover letters for each place that suited me. To make things easier I used a base cover letter that I made changes to when I needed. Then I took my resume and transformed it for every firm as well. I will not lie this took entire days to do and I strongly recommend setting aside designated time to do this.

Also time consuming, keeping track of the emails I sent out and the responses I received. I will go more in detail about this in the next post, but I will tell you I quickly learned that when you check your email multiple times an hour you are being obsessive. Be patient and don’t panic if you don’t hear anything the same day or even the same week. Sometimes they just take a while to get back to you. But to keep you interested I will save the rest for the next part.
Continued in Part 2

P.S. The effort is worth it if you love PR.

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