I’m a fan of infographics. They may be a bit old hat these days but I think they can be a really striking way of presenting information. I had a bash at doing one for ‘How To Get A Job In PR’ and this is the result. It’s surprisingly hard to get across the tone and content of a whole book in one infographic!
Click the image to enlarge.
I write about a dozen employment reference each year for the Taylor Bennett Foundation alumni. A well written reference can take some time to write and can make all the difference to whether or not you are offered a position. Usually new employers ask ex-employers for a reference once they decide to offer you a job and often the contract is sent to you ‘subject to references’ – meaning that they have the right to withdraw the offer if the references don’t come up to scratch.
So, how should you go about getting a good reference? Continue reading
Filed under Careers
There are lots of articles around on interviewing skills, including mine here and here. But what should you be doing to prepare for the interview before you even walk through the door? Here are my top five tips on preparing for PR job interviews: Continue reading
So you’ve just left university and you’re hankering after a job in PR. What should you be doing? Here are my ten top tips. Continue reading
One of the things employers look for when recruiting a new member of staff, is how stable their work history is. If a job applicant has jumped around from job to job over the last ten years, the recruiters first thought will be “why don’t they stick at anything?” Similarly, if an applicant has a significant length of time out of employment, the recruiter may be suspicious about why.
When you’re in an interview, it’s often easy to explain away jumping jobs, or being out of work but you may not even get that far if you don’t make the reasons clear on your CV.
The first thing you should do is label any jobs that were short term contracts, seasonal work, or temp jobs, as such on your CV. Make it really clear that the reason you left the job is because you were only employed on a contract basis.
If you were made redundant after a short period in a job, it’s OK to make a note of that too. In the current economic climate redundancy doesn’t have the stigma that it had a few years ago, particularly if your redundancy was part of a large section of your firm being laid off rather than just your role being made redundant.
If you’ve job hopped because you’ve got bored in the roles, that’s much harder to justify and when you secure your next position you must think carefully about sticking it out for a decent length of time, even if it bores the socks off you. Similarly, repeatedly leaving roles due to a personality clash with a boss or team member can tar you with the “uncooperative” brush so it’s not wise to draw attention to why you left those roles if at all possible.
There are lots of reasons why you may have a gap on your CV. The most common being taking time out to travel, raising a family, illness or bereavement. Don’t leave those gaps on your CV blank – recruiters are a suspicious bunch and will think the worst – so make sure you clearly note what you were doing during those months or years. If you have suffered with an illness it is important that you make it very clear that the condition has passed, you are fully recovered and it will not affect your ability to work. If you took time out to raise your children, or simply to take some time away from work to reassess what you want to do with your career, then it’s a good idea to mention anything you have done to stay in touch with the industry. Do you still have a good network of journalists in your little black book? Do you read industry publications? Have you take any courses to update your work skills?
By making it clear that the gaps are not anything untoward, it gives you a much better chance of getting to the interview stage where you may find the interviewer is sympathetic to your situation.
Filed under Careers, Recruitment
Filed under Careers, Recruitment
Whether you’re a recent graduate looking for your first break into PR, or a seasoned professional wanting to make your next move, job hunting can be a total drag. Here’s ten tips for finding your next role.
1) Set yourself a specific time for job applications. If you’re out of work, then treat it like a 9 – 5 job. Get up, make a cup of coffee, turn on your computer and start hunting. Resist the urge to turn on the telly – Jezza Kyle is far too tempting. Take a break for lunch and then get back to it until the end of the working day. If you’re already in a job then set aside an hour every evening.
2) Do your homework. Before you apply make sure you understand the role and the company you are applying to. Reflect your research in your covering letter and make sure each application is specific to that particular company. Standard covering letters go in the bin. If you are applying through a recruitment agency this is a little more difficult, but try to make your application as relevant to the role as possible.
3) Keep a record. A recent graduate once told me that he’d worked out it was taking him, on average, 33 applications to achieve one interview for a PR role. That’s a hell of a lot of applications but it is not surprising. Competition for roles, particularly at entry level, is fierce. I generally advise graduates to aim for twenty five applications per week, and those people who are already in jobs to aim for one application a day. With that amount of correspondence you need to keep a record of who you have written to, which position you were applying for, whether you had a response and any other info that might be useful – like a copy of the job advert or role specification so you can refer to it if you’re called for an interview. Admin is tedious, but it will make your life easier in the long run.
4) Be persistent. 90% of the companies you apply to won’t even acknowledge receipt of your application let alone give you feedback if you’re rejected. Don’t take it personally. Replying to job applicants takes a huge amount of time and administration and for some firms it’s really low on their list of priorities. As a rule of thumb, if you haven’t heard back from a company in two weeks, you are unlikely to be called to interview. Don’t give up though. It may mean you’re not right for that role, but other positions make crop up that are more suitable so keep applying.
5) Apply speculatively. If you apply for a specific job you are competing against all the other people applying for that role. If you write to a company speculatively here is less chance that you will be competing against others and that your letter will stand out. Make it clear what you are available for – full time, part time, temporary, permanent, contract, internships etc. Ask them to keep your details on file for any suitable vacancies and if you haven’t heard back from them in three months, write again.
6) Network endlessly. Use social network sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ to follow influential PRs and get yourself noticed. Go along to Tweet Ups, conferences and social events – lots of which are free to attend. Make a point of collecting business cards and connecting with the people you have met after the event.
7) Be realistic. If you’ve got two years of experience and are currently paid £25,000 a year, don’t apply for Director level roles paying £100,000. You’ll be wasting your time and that of the recruiter.
8) Dot the ‘i’s and cross the ‘t’s. Attention to detail is incredibly important when applying for jobs. Make sure you address your application to the right person, and spell their name correctly. Don’t just rely on spell check to pick up errors. Proof read your CV and covering letters several times before you press send, and make sure you attach the relevant documents to your email. Good writing and proof reading skills are required for most PR roles so it’s essential you can prove you have mastered the basics.
9) Pay it forward. If you spot a vacancy that would be great for a job hunting friend or acquaintance send them the link to the advert. Hopefully, they will return the favour.
10) Say thank you. If you get a personal response to your application – even if it is a rejection – write and say thank you. If you get an interview – even if you don’t get the job – write and say thank you. If someone introduces you to a contact who then offers you an interview, write and thank the referrer. Such a simple courtesy will make you stick in their minds and will make them more likely to recommend you again in the future. Thank you letters and emails are rarer than you might imagine and are a really easy way to build your reputation as a thoughtful and friendly person to work with.
Filed under Careers, PR, Recruitment
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