Guest post from Auburn grad, Evyan Mischke …

Last Monday marked my second month at Evins Communications and looking back, I can’t believe I’ve only been here for 60 days. I feel like the advice I’m going to give to college students I heard over and over, but never listened to. The best word I have for the last two months is “whirlwind.” I thought I knew so much after my internship this summer, but that internship only skimmed the surface of public relations in NYC.

It’s important to keep in mind that the agency I’m at is small and my role here is a little untraditional. Technically, I’m supposed to work 50 percent on clients and 50 percent on social media. Finding the balance of this has been a little more difficult that I had anticipated. I’ve been thrown pretty quickly into two accounts and have been working on social media things on the side. However, my focus lately has been a lot more on social media and the company plan for 2008.

What does this mean for students who are about to be young PR professionals? To me, it means to give it all you can give. One thing I have learned is that it’s ok to be wrong, and it’s ok to ask questions (actually, a tip: I think they like it when you ask questions).

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This: Email or bookmark the post

At one point in time, I’m sure each of us has been victim — yes, victim — to a really, really baaaad handshake. Did you know … employers are more likely to overlook body piercings than a bad handshake? Seriously.

Personally, I’m not very forgiving of poor handshakes. There’s a broad range: too strong, too tight, too flimsy, too long, and everything in between. Mediocre handshakes are just … mediocre. But they’re somewhat more forgivable that the extremes of too aggressive or too weak.

I guess I have little patience for poor handshakes because it’s SUCH an easy thing to address! And the benefits of nailing a good handshake can be huge. Don’t you want someone to shake your hand and literally think to themselves, “Hmm, good handshake. I like this person so far.”? (Yes, I’ve literally had that cross my mind when meeting someone new before.) So what makes a good handshake? I would describe it as … firm, but not too strong, a brief pause without lingering, one or two small and solid shakes (from the elbow, not the wrist), with confident and friendly eye contact. It’s also good to step toward the person and lean slightly forward as you extend your hand. (By the way, I learned this from a workshop session with a career and etiquette coach. I’m not just pulling this out of my arse!)

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This: Email or bookmark the post

After a rather unusual introduction from your hosts, Luke Armour and Paull Young, we roll the recording Paull did at Podcamp Boston with some thought leaders in the online public relations and marketing space. Featuring Bryan Person author of the Bryper Blog and the voice of the always informative New Comm Road podcast as well as Anna Farmery all the way from England of the Engaging Brand blog and podcast.

Show Notes:

• 00:13 A very Young/Armour Intro
• 01:16 Housekeeping:
• 01:23 UGA wrap up
• 03:47 The rundown on The Rundown
• 04:16 Podcamp Boston
• Special Irish Pub Converseon edition of Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation #75 podcast. Featuring:
• Constantin Basturea – The New PR Wiki – Converseon.
• Christin Eubanks – My PRception – Converseon.
• Scott Monty – crayon – The Social Media Marketing Blog.
• Bryan Person – Bryper Blog - New Comm Road.
• Paull Young – Forward Podcast – Young PR – Converseon.
• 05:18 Paull thinks he’s funny
• 07:50 Interview with Bryan and Anna
• 09:10 Global vs Local hiring/Cultural Shifts
• 11:36 Social Media Resume
• 13:40 PR Tools You Need
• 15:30 Personal vs. Professional Online activities
• 18:12 Anna mentions Wal Mart stats and follows up via email with “Ryan Lohen of Wal Mart Stores Inc said in Wall Street Journal that he spends 1-2 hours per week searching through blogs for new talent or information about candidates. He says that he had filled 125 vacancies that way…”
• 20:45 Legal Issues
• 23:00 Wrap Up

Please leave your comments for Paull, Luke, Anna or Bryan about this podcast or any ideas you have for future podcasts. We are here to serve you! Well, Paull is, Luke is here to sip drinks with tiny umbrellas.

Listen Now:

 Forward Podcast 34 :: Getting Hired in a Google World: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1690)

Share This: Email or bookmark the post

If you are familiar with me at all, especially through my LinkedIn profile, you are aware that I try my best to live the Pay-it-Forward life.

Contrary to the attitude of “what’s in it for me,” the Pay-it-Forward philosophy starts with the question: “How can I help you?”

I am blessed with a wife who is the love of my life and a job I can’t wait to get to in the morning. In return, I try to help and give back to others as much as I can on a regular basis.

Here are a few ways you can start living a Pay-it-Forward life…

1. Enter new business relationships without an agenda. How many times have you met someone in a business setting and the first thing that crossed your mind was “how can this person help me?” Turn it around. Look at new business relationships as an opportunity to help others. Develop a network that will be mutually-beneficial not just to you, but to others you know.

2. Remember where other people are coming from first. When you talk with someone, do you ask them their needs, listen to their concerns, or are you wrapped up in you and your agenda? “Pay it Forward” means working with others to help them along, so in turn, they can help someone else.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This: Email or bookmark the post

Money…they say it’s what makes the world go ’round. I am not sure about that, but it can determine your fate in getting a position you want. Most people do not like dealing with salary requirements and negotiation. It seems to have become a game between job candidates and companies. I have received questions as of late in terms of a salary negotiation strategy and thought I should share my opinions to help you in your negotiation efforts.

Companies typically handle the initial discussion of salary in one of two ways: the company will provide you with the position salary range or the company will ask what you desire in terms of salary. It is always a gamble when pitching a desired salary to a company. Some companies are very in-tune to market salaries and skill-worth while other companies think it perfectly acceptable to pay a very low salary for a very valuable job. A good company should engage in negotiation, but some companies simply remove a candidate from the applicant pool if the salary request is too far out of range.

The key to successful salary negotiations is to first, DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Research salaries for the specific type of position for which you are applying. When matching positions on those sites, try to match the position and your skill set as close as possible. The second key is to KNOW YOUR WORTH. You know your education level, experience, and so forth. Know what your skill set is worth and be prepared to defend that worth in a salary negotiation. The final key to salary negotiation is to KNOW WHAT YOU WANT. If you have your heart set on a specific geographic location with minimal opportunities, the company may be in a position to offer lower wages. If this geographic location is really where you want to be, you might have to accept a salary that is not exactly what you want. If you are focused on a particular career path, it may require you to start low. You need to be educated and realistic in approaching your salary negotiation. Do your homework…know your worth…and know what you really want.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This: Email or bookmark the post

Whew! First Forward post from me in a long, long time. Apologies up front. But no excuses. (None are adequate.) Just diving in to the post …

I’ve been working hard the last year or so. Buried myself in getting oriented in my new career. All’s well. Good news is I’m finally surfacing with some thoughts and perspectives worth sharing. (Well, I think they’re worth sharing anyway.) Interestingly, over the past year, I’ve had several lessons from my younger years resurface and be overwhelmingly relevant.

It dates back to when I was in high school, working for my parents at our family business. My mother was my boss. She supervised many a’ high school students over the years and she earned a reputation for being a tough boss. Very high standards for her employees. She expected the best from them, and by golly, she would work with them patiently and firmly until they were polished into first-rate employees with stellar work ethics. Me working for her? Same top-notch standards applied, naturally.

My random lesson from Mom for today: follow directions.

This simple, seemingly insignificant thing is actually enormously important and can set you apart from other young professionals. It’s easy to shrug this off. “Well, of course. Everybody knows you should follow directions.” Yes. You SHOULD. But you’d be surprised how few people actually DO. Even fewer who do this well.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This: Email or bookmark the post

Forward Podcast 30 tackles the topic of interviewing with special guest Nettie Hartsock. Nettie wears many hats. She is a book publicist, a freelance journalist, a PR professional and a blogger. She authors the Professional PR and Must Read Business Books for Allbusiness.com as well as her own blog. To fully appreciate what you hear in Forward 30, read about her extensive and incredibly impressive career.

Nettie and Luke talk about both sides of interviewing: being the interviewee (think: job interview) as well as the interviewer (think: what does my client actually do and how do I tell other people). Nettie shares her experiences and advice on everything. As PR professionals, I think it’s important to remember there are more chances you’ll be interviewing someone else rather than being interviewed. It’s more than setting yourself apart in that first job interview, but also dragging information out of that CEO or engineer who hired you to communicate what they do to people who don’t understand what they do. Whether it’s a white paper, brochure, press release, media advisory, speech or doctor’s excuse (alright, I made that one up) you need to know how to get that information.

As always, leave your comments or questions here for Nettie, Paull or Luke. As an added bonus, Paull will now be making rash, inflammatory statements at the beginning of each Forward Podcast. Tune in twice a month to hear the irrational ramblings of an Aussie in NYC (and the dulcet tones of a guy in rural Ohio).

Listen Now:

 Forward Podcast 30 :: Interviewing with Nettie Hartsock: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1955)

Share This: Email or bookmark the post

I’ve declined an invitation to write a heavyweight textbook because I’m more interested in writing a lightweight one. My aim is to write A Beginner’s Guide to Public Relations that I hope will be published in the Forward Guide series. Its focus will be vocational rather than academic.

It will be written for two main groups:

1. High School students faced with a choice of college courses and careers advice
2. Graduates from other disciplines needing to turn their skills in a vocationial direction

As a social media enterprise, I’d like to involve others in reviewing chapters and contributing sections to this. (As a social media enterprise, it doesn’t need a publication date or revision schedule; it can start small and grow over time.) While it will be an English language publication, it shouldn’t be entirely anglo-centric in its view of the world. But I need your help to achieve this.

So, if you fit one of the categories above (or were recently in one), then please read on. I’d like to hear from you.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This: Email or bookmark the post

An interesting discussion took place on Julie Rusciolelli’s PR Maven blog a couple of months ago regarding PR students and information interviews.

Being a public relations student, I’ve heard the term “information interview” float freely through the lobbies and lecture halls of my college since I started school back in January. From what I understand, academia has been having a love affair with the information interview for a long time. It’s a great way for students to tap into the knowledge of an experienced practitioner and make valuable connections in the PR community.

But is the information interview becoming outdated?

As pointed out in the post on PR Maven, the internet has become an excellent source of information for students looking to get into public relations. The increasing popularity of social media is making it easier for students to tap into the thoughts of industry leaders without actually having to meet with them.

Has technology transformed the information interview into nothing more than a job interview in disguise? Are students really going in for information, or are they just looking for the quickest way to get a foot in the door?

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This: Email or bookmark the post

Forward Podcast 21 aims to give advice to young PR professionals in their first PR agency jobs (interns, AAE’s, AE’s) to help them get ahead.

Paull Young asks two of Canada’s leading PR bloggers and podcasters, David Jones and Ed Lee, to share some thoughts from their lengthy experience in PR agencies.

David Jones is a Senior Vice President at Fleishman Hillard, Toronto, and one half of the excellent Inside PR podcast. Ed Lee is a senior consultant at iStudio and the author of Blogging Me, Blogging You. Between the two of them they have 19 years of experience in PR agencies.

Read the rest of this entry »

Listen Now:

 Forward Podcast #21 - Advice for your first job in a PR agency [15:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1654)

Share This: Email or bookmark the post