Ok, so you have a few job opportunities on your plate and you need to make a decision on which one you want to pursue further.
I would like to get a sense of how other people prioritize things and the rationale behind those priorities.
There are several things to consider:
- The position: the opportunity to advance as well as job security
- The location: economic and weather climate, close to family, friends, support system
- The benefits: insurance, free stuff (i.e.- universities and free tuition)
- The money: hourly or salary, a lot or a little, based on experience or commission
- The company: reputation, product/service offerings
Basically list which things you think are most important to you and which of these don't matter. Feel free to add to the list as well!
n/a
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
First Time Jitters
“I’d say it’s a mix between uncontainable excitement with a touch of nausea…”
That was my status for most of the day yesterday. It is a feeling that I hadn’t had before, and I honestly wouldn’t mind having again.
Through my pre-professional career (in school and interning) I had only experienced some very preliminary steps of the job searching process. When it comes to finding positions, sending resumes and cover letters, and getting no response: I have that down pat. But when it comes to absolutely falling in love with the idea of working somewhere and spending all day putting together the strongest list of recommendations and the best strategy to make sure you get the job: yesterday was my first time.
I have definitely dealt with pre-emptive excitement over a position. I got googly-eyed over a position at a small university down here in their PR department, to find out that the last line of duties that said, “and some administrative responsibilities” really meant that it was a secretary position.
Don’t get me wrong, that is totally fine! But I have been working with some elite PR professionals down here, and to be demoted to secretary and to make a salary doable by a McDonald’s manager… I have to expect better!
Back to the point…
I realized so many things yesterday that I remember being mentioned by some of my mentors, but I never really took to heart.
It’s not what you know but who you know.
Absolutely, positively, 100% true. If you are well connected, the path to the doorway is so much smoother. However, all your connections can do is get you an interview. And you have to remember that those resources put their namesake on the line because they believed in you… so you definitely don’t want to be a let-down!
Know the position inside and out.
You cannot expect to be an innovator or make yourself visible (two points I brought up in the last post) without knowing the position that you are innovating and visibilizing <- not a word.
READ the duties of the position. RESEARCH the company or institution. TALK to whoever you can to get a sense of what the position entails and what the last person was like. If you can do these things, you can blow your employer away with your wealth of knowledge.
Keep your eye on the prize.
Don’t get sidetracked or discouraged by things like, “Well, the position might just have been posted for formality’s sake. They probably already have someone.” Or, “You don’t really meet the requirements, your application will get tossed right away.”
Trust the work that you have put into your application materials, and be confident that you have done a good job.
If that doesn’t make you feel better … Pray.
n/a
That was my status for most of the day yesterday. It is a feeling that I hadn’t had before, and I honestly wouldn’t mind having again.
Through my pre-professional career (in school and interning) I had only experienced some very preliminary steps of the job searching process. When it comes to finding positions, sending resumes and cover letters, and getting no response: I have that down pat. But when it comes to absolutely falling in love with the idea of working somewhere and spending all day putting together the strongest list of recommendations and the best strategy to make sure you get the job: yesterday was my first time.
I have definitely dealt with pre-emptive excitement over a position. I got googly-eyed over a position at a small university down here in their PR department, to find out that the last line of duties that said, “and some administrative responsibilities” really meant that it was a secretary position.
Don’t get me wrong, that is totally fine! But I have been working with some elite PR professionals down here, and to be demoted to secretary and to make a salary doable by a McDonald’s manager… I have to expect better!
Back to the point…
I realized so many things yesterday that I remember being mentioned by some of my mentors, but I never really took to heart.
It’s not what you know but who you know.
Absolutely, positively, 100% true. If you are well connected, the path to the doorway is so much smoother. However, all your connections can do is get you an interview. And you have to remember that those resources put their namesake on the line because they believed in you… so you definitely don’t want to be a let-down!
Know the position inside and out.
You cannot expect to be an innovator or make yourself visible (two points I brought up in the last post) without knowing the position that you are innovating and visibilizing <- not a word.
READ the duties of the position. RESEARCH the company or institution. TALK to whoever you can to get a sense of what the position entails and what the last person was like. If you can do these things, you can blow your employer away with your wealth of knowledge.
Keep your eye on the prize.
Don’t get sidetracked or discouraged by things like, “Well, the position might just have been posted for formality’s sake. They probably already have someone.” Or, “You don’t really meet the requirements, your application will get tossed right away.”
Trust the work that you have put into your application materials, and be confident that you have done a good job.
If that doesn’t make you feel better … Pray.
n/a
Friday, August 21, 2009
My Secret Project
As I said in my last post, it is important for interns, graduates and employees in general to take initiative and try to make yourself visible. One way to do that is to be innovative.
Luckily, you don’t actually have to INVENT something to be considered innovative in the workplace. There are so many developing techniques, strategies and philosophies out there in every industry that leave you plenty of room to introduce a fresh idea to your company.
What I am doing now, as my last hoorah in the internship, is an online social media plan for one of the non-profit clients. There are a couple of factors of this project that make it an innovative project.
1. It is online social media.
Old people don’t like it, new people don’t know how to run it. So it takes a special someone that is classically trained, but contemporarily knowledgeable. You need to grasp the concept of relationship marketing while being able to convey appropriate tones through the Web … which is harder than you think!
2. It is non-profit.
Especially in the communications consulting approach, non-profit organizations are a hybrid breed of clients. In this particular situation, all the work we do for them is pro bono, meaning the work that is being done through the agency is not getting compensated for … meaning not a lot of people are jumping at the chance to stay up until 3 a.m. coming up with something.
Luckily, as an intern, I am not an expense, so it makes sense for me to spend time on it.
The difficult part of the project is finding social media tactics that can be executed by a limited staff on a limited budget who work limited hours. If you know anything about social media, those three things are quite the opposite of what is necessary to be successful.
Since social media is free (the newest kind of earned media), the only investment is time. So in order to come up with a proposal that takes less time with fewer people, the tactics have to be quick and easy, but also effective.
Here are a few of my ideas in case you ever run into this situation, like I did.
ESTABLISH A BLOG
It doesn’t have to be fancy like mine : P There are plenty of free sites to create an account, and they are amazingly user-friendly. Upload videos and pictures, send links to relevant news stories, give some insider information about the company. You don’t want to update too much where you become annoying, but just enough to keep up with what’s going on.
TWEETDECK
Or any other kind of program like it, that can update Facebook and Twitter statuses from one location. This streamlines your promotion of the blog entries, so it saves time. Using services like bit.ly will allow you to track the clicks and develop some profiling information of your audience.
USE FACEBOOK
A lot of people have a Facebook account, but don’t utilize all of its features. If you are a commercial company, put on some promotions through your wall to drive traffic and increase fans. If you are an event center or museum, use the events feature to let everyone know about what’s going on. (If you were really good, you would send them to your blog from your Facebook, and the blog would send them to your main site.) FB is the most popular social networking site on the Web, so your presence there will make or break you.
I know this was long, and irrelevant to most people, but these things are the beginning of a new revelation of PR, marketing and advertising. It is so subtle, and so relationship-based, that we will find ourselves building relationships with brands … maybe even Facebook-official relationships!
n/a
Luckily, you don’t actually have to INVENT something to be considered innovative in the workplace. There are so many developing techniques, strategies and philosophies out there in every industry that leave you plenty of room to introduce a fresh idea to your company.
What I am doing now, as my last hoorah in the internship, is an online social media plan for one of the non-profit clients. There are a couple of factors of this project that make it an innovative project.
1. It is online social media.
Old people don’t like it, new people don’t know how to run it. So it takes a special someone that is classically trained, but contemporarily knowledgeable. You need to grasp the concept of relationship marketing while being able to convey appropriate tones through the Web … which is harder than you think!
2. It is non-profit.
Especially in the communications consulting approach, non-profit organizations are a hybrid breed of clients. In this particular situation, all the work we do for them is pro bono, meaning the work that is being done through the agency is not getting compensated for … meaning not a lot of people are jumping at the chance to stay up until 3 a.m. coming up with something.
Luckily, as an intern, I am not an expense, so it makes sense for me to spend time on it.
The difficult part of the project is finding social media tactics that can be executed by a limited staff on a limited budget who work limited hours. If you know anything about social media, those three things are quite the opposite of what is necessary to be successful.
Since social media is free (the newest kind of earned media), the only investment is time. So in order to come up with a proposal that takes less time with fewer people, the tactics have to be quick and easy, but also effective.
Here are a few of my ideas in case you ever run into this situation, like I did.
ESTABLISH A BLOG
It doesn’t have to be fancy like mine : P There are plenty of free sites to create an account, and they are amazingly user-friendly. Upload videos and pictures, send links to relevant news stories, give some insider information about the company. You don’t want to update too much where you become annoying, but just enough to keep up with what’s going on.
TWEETDECK
Or any other kind of program like it, that can update Facebook and Twitter statuses from one location. This streamlines your promotion of the blog entries, so it saves time. Using services like bit.ly will allow you to track the clicks and develop some profiling information of your audience.
USE FACEBOOK
A lot of people have a Facebook account, but don’t utilize all of its features. If you are a commercial company, put on some promotions through your wall to drive traffic and increase fans. If you are an event center or museum, use the events feature to let everyone know about what’s going on. (If you were really good, you would send them to your blog from your Facebook, and the blog would send them to your main site.) FB is the most popular social networking site on the Web, so your presence there will make or break you.
I know this was long, and irrelevant to most people, but these things are the beginning of a new revelation of PR, marketing and advertising. It is so subtle, and so relationship-based, that we will find ourselves building relationships with brands … maybe even Facebook-official relationships!
n/a
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Some Kind of Summer
My last post was on June 3 which was a loooong time ago.
So much has changed since then with my working situation, my personal situation and my relationship situation. It is amazing how much change can happen in a short amount of time.
You know things had to be hectic if I wasn't able to log on at least one time last MONTH. So I though it would be appropriate to bring you all up to date with my revelations of this summer!
1. Long distance relationships work if they are with the right person, in the right relationship.
So many times relationships fall apart with distance. I am here to tell you that it is not always the case! If the feelings that you have for your girl/boyfriend are based on legitimate aspects, distance will not have a major effect on the "end result" of the relationship.
Por ejemplo, if you can't stand being on the phone with your girlfriend for more than 20 minutes at a time, maybe you don't really mesh well with her personality. If you can't trust your boyfriend to stay faithful to you, even though you were on the phone when he fell asleep, maybe you have some serious trust issues OR he is not doing a good enough job in telling you how he feels.
Distance puts your relationship to the test, and most fail because they are based on the wrong things. Granted, the physical presence of a loved one does make a difference, but if you can still find a way to be completely in love with that person while not seeing them for long periods of time, imagine what it will be like when you are together.
2. Unless you hire everyone yourself, you will not get along with everyone in the office.
You love your family and friends because of the things you have in common, your similar beliefs and goals, and the things you enjoy to do. People at work are generally an inconsistent assortment of people that have nothing in common other than the ability to do their job. Don't get down about it, make the most of it!
Believe it or not, there is good in every person, and most of the time, your rough spots are from misunderstandings. TALK to people and work it out. It will make a huge difference in how you feel about work.
3. Finding a job in a recession is harder than the needle in a haystack.
I just settle with playing in the hay and hope I get poked by a needle, but the analogy has some weight to it. You have to come off as multi-dimensional and innovative or there is no reason for anyone to hire you (unless they are friends with your dad). That's not to say that there aren't any jobs out there, because there are. The amount of people that are APPLYING for these jobs is what has changed.
Find a way to make yourself visible.
4. Don't get cocky about your education.
The things you learn in college are really nothing compared to things you learn in the work place. There are practical applications of things that were mentioned in class, but the "A" that you got in that class may or may not mean absolutely nothing when it comes down to it.
I am glad that I have grown this summer, and there certainly have been growing pains to go with it. They give you character, yes, but they also give you perspective... and that perspective will definitely come in handy later.
n/a
So much has changed since then with my working situation, my personal situation and my relationship situation. It is amazing how much change can happen in a short amount of time.
You know things had to be hectic if I wasn't able to log on at least one time last MONTH. So I though it would be appropriate to bring you all up to date with my revelations of this summer!
1. Long distance relationships work if they are with the right person, in the right relationship.
So many times relationships fall apart with distance. I am here to tell you that it is not always the case! If the feelings that you have for your girl/boyfriend are based on legitimate aspects, distance will not have a major effect on the "end result" of the relationship.
Por ejemplo, if you can't stand being on the phone with your girlfriend for more than 20 minutes at a time, maybe you don't really mesh well with her personality. If you can't trust your boyfriend to stay faithful to you, even though you were on the phone when he fell asleep, maybe you have some serious trust issues OR he is not doing a good enough job in telling you how he feels.
Distance puts your relationship to the test, and most fail because they are based on the wrong things. Granted, the physical presence of a loved one does make a difference, but if you can still find a way to be completely in love with that person while not seeing them for long periods of time, imagine what it will be like when you are together.
2. Unless you hire everyone yourself, you will not get along with everyone in the office.
You love your family and friends because of the things you have in common, your similar beliefs and goals, and the things you enjoy to do. People at work are generally an inconsistent assortment of people that have nothing in common other than the ability to do their job. Don't get down about it, make the most of it!
Believe it or not, there is good in every person, and most of the time, your rough spots are from misunderstandings. TALK to people and work it out. It will make a huge difference in how you feel about work.
3. Finding a job in a recession is harder than the needle in a haystack.
I just settle with playing in the hay and hope I get poked by a needle, but the analogy has some weight to it. You have to come off as multi-dimensional and innovative or there is no reason for anyone to hire you (unless they are friends with your dad). That's not to say that there aren't any jobs out there, because there are. The amount of people that are APPLYING for these jobs is what has changed.
Find a way to make yourself visible.
4. Don't get cocky about your education.
The things you learn in college are really nothing compared to things you learn in the work place. There are practical applications of things that were mentioned in class, but the "A" that you got in that class may or may not mean absolutely nothing when it comes down to it.
I am glad that I have grown this summer, and there certainly have been growing pains to go with it. They give you character, yes, but they also give you perspective... and that perspective will definitely come in handy later.
n/a
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