Young PR Pros: Episode #7 - How to use LinkedIn to connect and find a job [ 20:37 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadThis week on Young PR Pros, Kristine Simpson, Julia Kent and Molli Megasko get together over a Google Hangout to discuss how students and young professionals can use LinkedIn to connect and potentially land a job.
But first, check out the TED video we saw by Richard St. John’s called “The 8 Traits Successful People Have in Common: 8 to Be Great”. The three minute video talks about eight traits successful people have in common, a lot of which we mentioned in last week’s episode. If you want to know more, check out Richard’s book on Amazon.
Also, thanks to Sarah Bustard, an interviewee in episode 1 and an avid listener. She shares with us another interesting internship recruitment campaign similar to the Maverick campaing we talked about in episode 5. Check out Sarah’s song she wrote about her social media skills. Kristine uses this example to remind our listeners that we don’t need a recruitment campaign to be unique. Make a video, write a song and share it with potential employers and you will be sure to stand out.
In this week’s episode, Kristine catches up with Mitchell Friedman, a professional and leadership development consultant, trainer, and coach in the San Francisco Bay Area. He shares his great tips to using LinkedIn to land a job.
Mitchell talks about three aspects to using LinkedIn:
- Developing a profile
- Establishing and growing a network
- Using your network
Julia and Molli chime in, saying you should only add people you know or have interacted with. Molli encourages us to tailor our message when inviting someone to connect, because in PR and communications we meet new people every day and we may not remember you if you send us a generic invite.
Kristine on the other hand encourages students to take advantage of their position as curious students and reach out to strangers they may want to know better, be it CEOs or managers. Nevertheless, she still agrees that each message should be tailored. For example, in your message say why you want to connect with that person, what do you want to learn from them?
We want to hear about your advice and tips on how to use LinkedIn to build your career. Share your opinions by writing a comment on our blog, send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinesimpson, @kentjulia or @mollimegasko.
Image curteousy of www.offthemark.com
Best practice dictates communication professionals narrow down their audience to smaller groups in order to communicate properly, using the right channels and tools, thus increasing positive feedback from your audience.
As communications professionals we need to understand different generations to truly understand the wide variety of people we may encounter when communicating for our company or clients. Therefore, this week marks a five-part series where I will define five generations communicators encounter or a regular basis. I will also examine the way each generation consumes content to better help communicators choose the right tools to communicate with said generation.
I will concentrate on the following generations:
- The Silent Generation
- Baby Boomers
- Generation X
- Generation Y
- Generation Z
If you have a suggestion of anyother generation you would like seen included in this series, please leave a comment below or connect with me.
Young PR Pros has a huge announcement to make this week… Kristine Simpson wants to welcome Julia Kent and Molli Megasko to the Young PR Pros family as permenant co-hosts. YEAH!
To debut their new official titles, Kristine, Julia and Molli discuss the expertise or skills young PR pros need to advance their career in PR.
Apart from the obvious skill – writing, Molli says that public speaking and confidence are important skills to advancing a career. Be it in an interview or a business pitch, if you are a good public speaker you will separate yourself from the rest.
Julia says responsiveness is important. She says she has faith in people who respond to emails right away, even if it is to say “got it”. Kristine goes off on a tangent and warns people of inundating others with email and finding other ways to respond. Regardless, all three ladies agree, responsiveness is a must have expertise.
Finally, Kristine ends the show by suggesting adaptability as an important skill to have. Communications and PR professionals work in all different environments, with different people using different tools. It is important to be able to adapt on a dime.
Again, we want to thank Beth, Stephanie J Woods and Julia Fauteux for sharing their comments and advice on episode 4.
Also, check out Molli’s blog post on Saving the Millennial Workforce from Bad Perceptions. The conversation is an interesting one, we suggest you follow it.
We want to hear about what you think PR and communication pros need to advance and succeed in their career. Share your opinions by writing a comment below, send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinesimpson, @kentjulia or @mollimegasko.
Time and time again, I hear business professionals tell me they can’t start a blog, they can’t start Twitter or keep up Facebook because the just don’t have the time to create content. Although it is important to create unique content once in a while, the majority of content found on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other social channels is curated content.
Content curation
(kənˈtent kyo͝oriSHən)
noun
Curation Services defines content curation as:
The process of continually finding,organizing and sharing the best and most relevant content on a specific issue online.
How do you curate content?
PR Daily published an article called A step-by-step guide to curate your company’s news that includes some great tips to get businesses started on populating their social channels with curated content.
Their top suggestions include:
- Identify opportunity: anything related to your business or your business’ industry can be curated. Everything from company news to big news and changes in your business’ industry.
- Select curators: just like when you start up a Twitter account, a blog, a Facebook Page, a YouTube channel, etc, you always need to assign someone the task of ensuring content is up-to-date. While your “blogger” may be creating new content, your “curator” skims the web and finds industry news related to your business.
- Monitor conversation: set up a Google alert, or use more sophisticated tools such as Sysomos or Radian 6, to monitor the web to find relevant content to curate.
- Select the best content: depending on your industry and business, your curator may have to comb through a lot of content. Make sure you are picking content that communicates to your audience your company’s key messages and contributes to your company’s overall goals and objectives.
- Announce and promote: there are many ways you can package the curated news. You can write up a weekly/daily blog post called “industry news”, or set up a newsletter to send to your clients and potential clients with a mix of your unique content and curated content. Retweet or link to curated content through Twitter, or post links to your Facebook Page.
This week Kristine Simpson is joined by two wonderful guest hosts, Julia Kent and Molli Megasko. They start off by discussing a unique internship program at Maverick PR and wishes Heather Leigh, an Algonquin College student, good luck in her endeavors to being the next Maverick PR Girl. The ladies touch on video resumes and how they would work for a young PR professional.
Next, they discuss a Forbes article talking about employers and their use of social media. In two words: be professional. The article states one in five employers is turning away potential employees because of their unprofessionalism on social media.
Then, Kristine catches up with David Gauthier, and eager young student ready to take the PR world by storm through blogging. The ladies talk about good tips to making a blog successful, everything from consistency in posting to editing your blog posts to ensure the utmost quality.
We want to hear about your advice for David and other young professionals looking to blogging to build their career. Share your opinions by writing a comment below, send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros or @kristinesimpson.
Young PR Pros: Episode #4
This week on Young PR Pros, Kristine Simpson and her guest host Julia Kent in Ottawa discuss the best advice they have ever received.
Julia’s father, Paul Kent told her to meet new people and build a professional network. Kristine’s mentor Stephen Heckbert told her to just relax and everything will be fine.
Molli Megasko chimes in from New York and sends in her advice given to her by her mother, be an actor.
All great advice for young professionals who may be looking at graduation this month and are nervous to see what is on the other side.
We want to hear about the best advice you have ever received. What has made you successful? Share your opinions. Write a comment below, send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros or @kristinesimpson.
PR Word of the Week #31: Pinterest
With over 10.4 million users on Pinterest, I guess it is about time I start blogging about it.
(pin-t(ə)rist)
noun
The Pinterest website defines the social networking tool as:
Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.
Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.
In other words:
Using a virtual “board”, individuals can collect images and videos of things they like on the web and organize them according to topic.
Pinterest the tool for visual learners
When I first got engaged, of course I was excited, but then the thought of planning a wedding came crashing on my shoulders. I had never been part of a wedding party, I am the oldest cousin and the first among my friends to get married. Luckily, Pinterest showed up and I have been able to gather images of crafts, venues, decorations, food, dresses, and more to help me visualize my wedding.
Like many others out there, I am a visual learner. It is much easier for me to piece together 100 images than to read 100 blog posts on tips to planning a wedding.
However, Pinterest is not just for the wedding planner. Businesses across the world are using Pinterest to connect with their audience on a new level, a visual level.
- Samuel Gordon Jewelers used Pinterest to run a contest where their customers could win one of their products by “pinning” their favourite jewelry. Because Pinterest also allows you to share your pins via Facebook and Twitter, the contest went viral.
- Wedding Republic has over 20 boards for wedding planners. Boards include: Wedding registry ideas, DYI tips, wedding cakes and food, wedding accessories, flowers, infographics, etc. Each board is laid out with a simple theme and all the pins follow that theme.
The majority of businesses on Pinterest have something visual to sell, be it clothes, jewelry, food, etc. But, we are seeing more and more businesses use Pinterest in unique ways to connect with their audience.
- Just like Boston University’s College of Communication who created a Pinterest account where they showcase work from their photojournalism students, advertising students, TV and film students and more. They even created a board called COMLife, where they showcase residence life through videos and images.
Who else is talking about Pinterest
Here are a few articles that may help you understand the value of Pinterest:
Young PR Pros: episode #3
Kristine Simpson is joined yet again by her two fabulous guest hosts, Julia Kent in Ottawa and Molli Megasko in New York.
This week Kristine catches up with Iris Dias, a communications consultant at Reputations in Vancouver, gives her tips on using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter in a search for a job in public relations.
Surprisingly, we find a conflict in how we all use Facebook to market ourselves. Kristine, Julia and Iris consider Facebook a private network and do not use it as a job searching tool. Meanwhile, Molli feels a culture shock and explains how Facebook is a very popular and open tool used by PR and communications professionals in the United States to search for jobs and employees.
The big question this week is how do you use Facebook? Is it closed and private or open and used to market your personal brand? Share your opinions. Write a comment below, send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros or @kristinesimpson.
Young PR Pros: Episode #2
Kristine Simpson is joined by guest host Julia Kent from Ottawa and Molli Megasko from New York to talk about the dos and don’ts in applying for a job in public relations and communications.
Kristine thinks it is important to ensure your online brand and space is always presented in a professional manner, because in the PR and communications industry we are the faces of our companies. Julia thinks you need some sort of online presence in addition to the experience on your resume. Social media is an integral part of PR and communications that, young or old, you need to be engaging online. And Molli thinks it is important to research the person and the company you are applying too and use every opportunity you get to showcase creativity that will make you stand out among all the applicants.
In short, do your research, be professional and be creative.
What do you think? Share with us your dos and don’ts in applying for a PR and communications job. You can leave us a comment below or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com. You can also catch us on Twitter at @youngprpros and @kristinesimpson.