By Rachel M. Esterline
The Prize:
International Communications Strategy: Developments in Cross-Cultural PR and Social Media by Silvia Cambie and Yang–May Ooi(There will be two winners because I have two copies) - each worth close to $50 each
We all grow out of things. Barbies, Hot Wheels and even blogs.
I will continue to blog, but from a new blog called Esterline Public Relations. I might think of a new name for it, eventually. Check it out because I plan to have giveaways this month! Be sure to change your subscriptions or links!
The blog change represents the new steps I am taking. I’m quickly transitioning from PR student to PR professional. While I am still a student, I also am a working professional now and I feel like I need a fresh start. In addition to the blog, I’ve also completely redesigned my Web site.
The spam on this blog also has gotten absolutely out of control! Right now I have 2,684 comments (135 pages worth). I know that I am not that popular. This is partly my fault because I never was able to get my spam filter to work right.
So check things out, but don’t comment on this blog anymore. I don’t have the time, nor energy, to sort through all of those comments!
I just read, “The new Gen Y employee refused to get coffee!”
It makes me wonder what Gen Y public relations interns think about this. Feel free to comment anonymously if you’d like, but I’m really curious. Do you think it is OK? Or, is it unfair?
I have mixed feelings about it. As an intern, I expect to get less-than-glorious work on occassion. I don’t show up at an internship expecting to be counseling clients and pitching to CNN. Have I been asked to get coffee (or something similar)? Certainly.
But, in both cases the person asking me was nice and respectful about it. They didn’t act like it was my responsibility because I was the intern. In one case, it was lunch needed for a client meeting. In another case, it was for the students helping out with an outdoor commercial on a very chilly day. I didn’t mind at all.
But, I’m not sure how I would feel about being asked to fetch coffee daily because I was the intern. I don’t even drink coffee, so I don’t understand why people will wait in long lines to buy an overpriced coffee from Starbucks (just my opinion on Starbucks).
For me, it would depend on the internship experience. If I am learning a lot and growing my skills, I don’t think I would mind. If you are busy working most of the day, it’s kind of nice to step out of the office for a few.
But, if I were only given assignments such as fetching coffee, sorting mail and making copies, I might be disappointed in the internship experience.
What do you think as a Gen Y intern/employee? Or, what do you think as someone who manages Gen Y interns/employees?
Brazen Careerist launches its new, updated Web site today, completely reimagining how to the online community can function to benefit the users. I was able to get a sneak preview of it and interview Doug Haslam, account director at SHIFT Communications, the firm that helped with the launch.
Below are the questions I asked Doug about the launch from a public relations aspect. Feel free to ask questions for Doug to address by commenting.
1. From a public relations aspect, what is being done to promote the launch of Brazen Careerist?
Even though we are promoting a social network, getting attention through traditional media channels is still important. We are looking at publications that face general consumers (e.g. newspapers), human resources, and Internet beats, among others. Add to that the many blogs that cover careers and Generation Y issues, and the help of the Brazen Careerist community itself on their own blogs, and there are many potential touchpoint for people to hear about this launch.
2. What has been SHIFT’s approach in pitching to traditional media?
Our approach is to make sure pitches are customized, that we know who each person we pitch is, what they write and why we are pitching them. We do not subscribe to the “Spray and Pray” tactics that are still too prevalent in PR.
We are scheduling “pre-briefings” to take place shortly before the August 25 announcement date with any media person that we feel will honor the embargo. The rest will get the news as it is released (or perhaps shortly before), so that no one goes out before the embargo date.
Another important factor has been Penelope Trunk’s relationships with editors due to her long career as a columnist. We are being careful not to tread on her relationships, and in a number of cases she is making the introductions.
3. What has been SHIFT’s approach in pitching to social media? Has it been easier to pitch to social media rather than traditional?
Pitching bloggers is a lot like pitching the rest of the media, in that pitches must be customized, and we must show every one pitched the courtesy of knowing something about their blog or podcast. The difference with social media is that we (actually, Brazen) can be content creators as well, from commenting on blogs to using the Facebook page or Twitter account to communicate with them.
The other big difference is that many bloggers are not trained journalists, and we have to keep that in mind when pitching, especially as it comes to established journalistic tactics such as the embargo or even the press release itself.
4. Aside from media relations, what other tactics is SHIFT using to promote the launch?
As mentioned above, Brazen Careers has outlets, including their own site content, but also their Facebook Page and Twitter account, to communicate news. Brazen’s staff actually manages these accounts, but we are a consultative voice in helping them use these channels.
5. How many team members are working on this launch?
We have a total team of five people. There are three members doing the bulk of the media pitching (and therefore the bulk of the work), and as Account Director I am not one of them. They get all the credit for the success we hope to achieve.
6. Approximately how much time has been spent planning for the launch?
We began our engagement with Brazen Careerist in mid-July, giving us about six weeks to plan and execute.
7. Are there additional details you would like to share that a public relations student or young professional might be interested in learning about?
I have been happy in the past year to see that PR students are getting more social media in their education. It’s important, as the media world is changing, and now social media is an important concept of virtually all PR campaigns.
The thing to remember is that the industry will continue to evolve. 1999 PR was unrecognizable to the 1989 Fax/Mail/phone set, and 2009 PR, with disparate social media channels supplementing email and phone, is stranger still. You have no idea what communications and media will look like in 2019, and neither do I.
This post was written by Janet Aronica, a rock star PR grad from St. John Fisher College who is the Boston entry-level career examiner and intern at SHIFT. Follow her on Twitter and check out her blog.
A Degree Isn’t a Job Guarantee
This NY Post article has me razzled. A 27-year-old graduate of Monroe College is suing her alma mater because she can’t find a job. I’m sorry, Gradzilla, but a career services counselor isn’t your Fairy Godmother and a bachelor’s degree isn’t a magic wand. Just because you went to college does not mean you are entitled to a job.
From a young age we are told that if we go to school, study hard, get good grades, and go to a great college, we can be anything we want to be. Politicians and some well-meaning yet self-preserving educators alike pound the inflated-importance of college into our heads.
This message has a negative impact on just about every student. The truth is that college is overrated. Not every student can graduate in the top ten and get into a really “good school.” Consequently, those students feel discouraged about the prospects of future success just because of their academic track records. On the flip-side, those who do get the grades and get into “good schools” can’t rely only on their education to get ahead. College isn’t the golden ticket to success. It is a stepping stone.
Here’s my story: I went to school. I studied hard. But no matter how hard I tried, I sucked at math and sucked at science. I’m not sure which one I sucked more at. I clearly remember third grade, little Janet, scoring less than 50 percent on some addition/subtraction homework and sitting there wondering what the eff was going on when the teacher rambled about tadpoles and ecosystems. Honestly, I still suck at math and I still suck at science; I always need a calculator to figure out what to tip and quite frankly I don’t always understand what they are talking about on the Weather Channel. (So I smile and nod, flip my hair, and blog about it.)
No writing award or A in English or history class could overcompensate for the less-than-stellar grades I got in math and science. My GPA was around a 90 percent. It was decent, but wasn’t awesome enough to get me into my dream school. In high school, I was surrounded by the idea that failing to get into *the* college (an ivy league or something close to it) was a self-imposed life-sentence to mediocrity. Heading to your safety school? Get ready for a lifetime living at home with mom and dad. Scored less than a 1500 on the SAT? You might as well sign up for welfare.
In contrast, many kids succeed academically. Some have to work extremely hard at it. For others, it comes quite easily. Either way, we throw them up on a pedestal, toss academic awards their way, accept them into prestigious colleges, and fill their heads with a false sense of security.
Millenials are all-too-often criticized for their supposed sense of entitlement. I think the alleged “you owe me” factor stems from a lifetime of homework, standardized testing, over-nighters and intense pressure to scholastically achieve – all leading to the allusive light at the end of the tunnel: graduation. Students come out of college, pockets empty, heads full of theoretical facts and knowledge, slapped in the face with the fact that getting good grades and getting a good degree from a “good school” just isn’t enough. Everything you ever worked for doesn’t cut it. That’s not entitlement you sense. It’s disappointment.
To peel back another layer of the issue, I think there’s a point to make about the financials behind the frustration. Many internships are unpaid. Extracurricular involvement is unpaid. Membership in professional organizations and attendance at networking conferences usually costs money. Personally, I was able to do multiple unpaid internships and be an extracurricular junkie because I got a lot of financial help from my wonderful parents. They’re generous, and career-wise they are in a position to help. But what about the students who are paying for college on their own? Many students work full-time just to pay for the education. How do they fit in anything other than class work?
I feel for students like this. As for those in this situation, in my humble opinion, I would suggest going part time and taking an extra year or two to finish the degree. Even if it takes longer, it seems to me that it would be a much wiser investment to come out with a degree and have the time to work, intern, and network – as opposed to rushing through and graduating with no industry experience at all.
Times are different for graduates these days. A degree doesn’t give you an extra edge in the job market when just about everybody has one. You need internships. You need real world experience. You need to network. No one will hire you (legally) to write a term paper. You need to gain skills that will apply in a setting outside of the classroom so that you can contribute something a company can pay you for.
When it comes to college, the old saying is true: It isn’t where you go – it’s what you do with it.
College is a business. Businesses want to make money. To make money, businesses market themselves to you to sell you a product or service. Colleges want you to pay tuition, so they sell you degrees. To get you to attend and pay tuition, they market their brand to you. They brand themselves with promises of prestige, job placement, mentorship, challenge, fun, experiences, status, and success. And you know what? College can be fun, but you can’t have fun if you don’t go to the party. College can be challenging, but you can’t be challenged if you don’t go to class. College can offer status, but you can’t earn status if you don’t network with the alums. College can offer prestige, but that means nothing if you don’t leverage that reputation and apply for a job or an internship.
I’m a fresh graduate, and hindsight is 20/20. What I know and feel about education becomes clearer every day. By this time next year, I’m sure that my understanding and appreciation for education will change, and deepen. But what I know for sure is this: I wouldn’t give back a single night that I cried over my math homework or a single sunny afternoon I spent after school getting extra help from my chemistry teacher. It taught me that things don’t always come easily. Because of my issues and inabilities with math and science, I’ve always expected that I would have to go the extra mile to get what I want – so I do. It prepared me for the challenge, and sometimes failure, of searching for internships and jobs. In the end, I don’t think I needed my dream school.
Below is a recent post I wrote for Brand Yourself about building and maintaining a professional online image.
Go to BrandYourself.com to check out great blog posts about personal branding.
8 Tips to Building and Maintaining a Professional Online Image
Maintaining a professional online image is a very important aspect of your career. Through a simple online search, an employer or client can find out what you like to do, how you blog and tweet and see the overall professional online image you portray of yourself.
Here’s advice and eight tips on maintaining your image as a professional online:
First of all, how often do you update your Facebook status? More importantly, how do your updates reflect your professional online image? The status “At the bar getting trashed tonight” does not sounds professional. Neither does the wall post from your friend talking about that last party.
Tip No. 1: Don’t use your status updates to share information about the actions an employer doesn’t need to know about, censor your wall posts and patrol the posts written by others on your own wall.
The photos you post also can impact how people perceive your online professional image. Although it won’t hurt your image if you have photos showing you outside of the professional setting, it will hurt you if your photos display you in a way an employer may see as inappropriate. Even if you don’t post unprofessional photos of yourself, your friends could still tag you in photos without considering how it could affect your image. Depending on your career goals, the type of photos considered appropriate will vary.
Tip No. 2: Never post pictures of yourself at a bar, party or other situation that may be inappropriate and inform your friends to ask for permission before tagging you in a photo.
Facebook users concerned with maintaining a professional online image also should be cautious about joining groups and fan pages. Groups such as “Party Girls” do not portray professionalism. The various applications on Facebook, such as quizzes and games, also can affect your image.
Tip No. 3: Try to avoid joining groups, fan pages and applications that are not relevant to your field. If you decide to join an irrelevant group, be sure it is about a topic you would be willing to discuss with a company CEO and your grandmother.
Setting your profile to private is one way to avoid professional online image issues. But, people often accept friends who they do not know well. Additionally, a potential employer may go through a mutual friend to see your profile.
Tip No. 4: Even with strict privacy settings, it is still possible for other people to get access to your Facebook account. Always be insistent on maintaining a professional online image, even if your profile is set to private.
Your tweets and the conversations you join are a reflection of your professional online image. If you do not have your tweets set to private, watch what you tweet.
Tip No. 5: Build a professional online image by sharing ideas and information and adding knowledge to the community. Write relevant and useful tweets.
One of the social networks used less often by young professionals is LinkedIn. But, LinkedIn can help build credibility in a person’s professional online image. You should go beyond simply filling out a profile and take full advantage of the site’s features.
Tip No. 6: Request recommendations, join groups and answer questions of other users after creating your LinkedIn profile.
Participating in the blogosphere also can help build a professional online image. Blogging displays leadership and knowledge in your given field. As a blogger, you also should contribute to the community by commenting on other blogs. If you wish to be seen as a professional, you should not write about personal matters on your blog.
Tip No. 7: Strategically write blog posts that will showcase your skills and knowledge and comment on other industry-related blogs.
A personal Web site or online portfolio is a great tool to help build a professional online image. Not only does it show that you are serious about your career, but you also can include materials to promote your personal brand, such as recommendations and work examples.
Tip. No. 8: Create a clean, well-designed Web site focused on promoting your personal brand in your field to help build your image.
Professional online images take time to create and build. By following these eight tips, you can help build a positive and credible online image that can help advance your career.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve already started to look for opportunities to gain experience in PR this fall.
Or maybe I’m just crazy.
But, if you are looking for opportunities, check out Come Recommended’s internships. Positions include:
Be sure to tell Heather you heard about it from me!
Lately I’ve been on a blogging hiatus. But, I think I’m ready to come back again. It’s been nice to have a break, but I hope to find the motivation to write more posts about my experiences in Columbus.
On another note, I would like to restart the public relations book group I had started last winter. I have some new ideas on how to make it more interesting and useful. Hopefully you will see more about this in the near future. One thing I need to think about is a domain name. If I had a domain name, I could use my host for the site and add many different types of features. Have any ideas for the book group? E-mail me at Rachel.M.Esterline {at} Gmail.
Last weekend I went to Podcamp Ohio, a new media unconference. I like the idea of an unconference and enjoyed the Ragan Unconference I attended last May. This unconference was structured quite differently than the Ragan one.
This unconference was not targeted towards professional communicators. There were podcasters, bloggers, marketers, event planners and a variety of other people.
Despite this, I still learned quite a bit about marketing and SEO. I also picked up a little about Twitter tools, event planning and LinkedIn. At one session, Chris Brogan was even brought up on Skype.
It would be great to see a PodCamp in Central Michigan sometime. Better yet, I would love to see a public relations unconference. Maybe we could call it PRoCamp?
I’ve been working at Fahlgren Mortine for a month now. Here are 10 simple things I’ve learned so far:
Founder of
Learn it. Live it. Love it.
Public Relations Book Group
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