Beau Ballinger, PRSA Colorado Board liaison to the chapter’s Student Outreach and Young Professionals committees, provides tips for young professionals seeking employment opportunities in this tough market.
Make no bones about it. The current economy is not an ideal environment for those seeking employment in the PR profession, particularly when you’re a young professional. Maybe you’re looking for your first “real” post-college job, or perhaps you’re rebounding from a layoff. In either case, there are some steps you can take to enhance your job-seeking strategy.
You should begin by fine-tuning your résumé—an important tool for furthering your career path. The main goal of your résumé should be to catch the attention of the person hiring—just enough to make him/her want to learn more about you. Ultimately, the goal of your résumé is to get your foot through the door.
Here are some tips for enhancing the effectiveness of your résumé:
Be creative with your experience: Sometimes young professionals find themselves in a tricky situation. Many “entry-level” jobs require a minimum of three–five years of work experience, but young professionals often don’t have that much work-world experience. That’s why it’s important to highlight activities, events, and internships you completed during college or through volunteer experiences (like PRSA!). If you can articulate how your involvement in those events helped enhance your career skills, some employers may overlook the minimum “five years of work experience” requirement.
Keep it short and simple: We often have a tendency to want to include everything on our résumés. However, it’s important that we only include the most relevant information as it relates to our potential job opportunity. Remember that the goal of a résumé is to grab an employer’s attention and to get your foot in the door. Save the extensive details for your portfolio and for the interview. It is a good practice for young professionals to keep résumés to one page. If you find yourself having trouble slimming it down, try working some of your key accomplishments into the cover letter you submit with your résumé.
Customize, customize, customize: Applying for jobs can feel like a full-time job in and of itself. However, it is imperative that you take the time to customize your résumé and cover letters. Target them to the job you’re seeking. If you know the position you’re interested in specifically focuses on a skill set you developed at a previous job, highlight that job and your accomplishments while there. It’s a good idea to keep a “master résumé” on file—a document that captures all of your work experiences, skills, honors, and achievements. By maintaining a master document, it will be easier for you to customize your résumé for a particular job as you’ll be able to pick and choose the most relevant information.
Be professional: Just as you might not want your future boss to flip through your Facebook pictures, you may not want them e-mailing you at “PartyDude247″. It’s a good idea to set up a professional personal e-mail account for your résumé. The e-mail account you choose to associate with your résumé can speak volumes about you to your potential employer, so keep it professional!
Don’t lie: This should go without saying, and of course if you’re a PRSA member you already adhere to the PRSA Code of Ethics, but you should never lie on your résumé. If you are an expert in a specific software or language, feel free to highlight that. But if in reality you are only familiar with or proficient in that software, it’s a good idea to be upfront about your experience. By being honest on your résumé you are beginning the trust-building process, and employers will be more apt to provide training to a well-rounded candidate than hire someone who happens to be an expert in one specific area.
It’s all about the numbers: One of the best tips I received when working on my résumé was to quantify everything. If you were involved in a project that had measurable results, make sure that you include what those results were, in addition to the role you played. There’s nothing like hard, fast numbers to put your accomplishments into perspective. As a young professional working in public relations you may not have a lot of quantifiable results to highlight, but remember that résumés are a work in progress—a living document—and that you can always include percentages and numbers at a later date once you’ve been involved in some successful endeavors.
Having the perfect résumé is all fine and dandy for those trying to get their foot in the door, but what if you have a few years of experience under your belt but were laid off during these trying times? It’s important to realize that layoffs are generally not a result of an employee’s work ethic or skill set, but rather a result of the elimination of a specific job function or position—an all too common occurrence in this environment. Here are a few tips for coping with a layoff:
View it as an opportunity rather than a setback: Ok, I know this may be hard to do when you’re wondering how you’re going to pay your bills, but it’s more important than ever after a layoff to keep a positive attitude. As young professionals we have not yet pigeon-holed ourselves into a specific area of expertise within the PR profession. Having only a few years of broad experience in PR may give us an edge over some of the more senior folks looking for new gigs. Be open to new challenges and don’t dismiss a position opening just because you haven’t spent a lifetime working in that arena. Being laid off provides the opportunity to branch out and hone your skills in other areas.
Swallow your pride: Although you may feel like an expert, having spent the last three–five years building your skills, the majority of the working world will consider you entry-level. Don’t let that label deter you from applying for positions. If you want to be recognized as a PR expert and respected for your contributions, you’ll need to earn that recognition and respect. Apply for positions with humility, but confidence and you’ll be off to a good start. Plus, if you get your foot in the door now, you’ll have the opportunity to prove yourself so that when the economy turns around you’ll have laid the groundwork for growth and promotions in the future.
Honesty is a virtue: If you’ve been laid off, you need to be honest with your friends and family. Identify those persons who can serve as allies and provide support. If you are fortunate enough to have a family that can help you pay bills, don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you have friends that are always going out, traveling, or checking out the newest band in town, don’t be afraid to tell them that you’ll need to sit a few things out until you get back on your feet. But don’t be discouraged; there are countless fun, free things to do. Encourage your friends to join you on the adventure of identifying and participating in those activities.
Market yourself: It can be tough to put yourself out there at PRSA events when you have to pay a registration fee to participate. But you should budget at least a small amount of money toward those endeavors. You never know when you’ll meet your next boss, or future colleague, unless you’re out there networking. And when you attend PRSA events, make the most of them. Bring homemade business cards, copies of your résumé, and make a list of the reasons why you’d be a great asset to any organization. And be creative in the ways in which you market yourself. Beef up your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. Ask for recommendations. Post thoughtful ideas and pose questions that might resonate with your friends and colleagues and open doors for your career.
Stay (or get) involved: Looking for a new job can be a full-time job. But make sure to set aside some time to get involved in volunteer activities (again, insert shameless plug for PRSA). They’ll allow you to keep your skills sharp, learn new ones, and maintain relationships with your peers. Volunteer to serve on committees or spearhead new projects. Just make sure you follow through on any commitments you’ve made. Participating in volunteer events can be just as harmful as they can be helpful if you drop the ball or let down those who are counting on you.
If you are interested in learning about any upcoming student outreach or young professionals initiatives within the PRSA Colorado Chapter, don’t hesitate to contact Beau Ballinger at bballinger@imca.org.