February 16th, 2010 | 7 Comments
Photo: Fishing for the big one by HikingArtist.com
During my time speaking at the PRSSA Get in the Loop conference hosted by DePaul last week, I had the opportunity to chat with a number of students about their hopes for their future careers. As can be expected, a number of students are looking to land jobs in large established PR or advertising agencies. They seem to see this as their only opportunity to work with big name clients.
Truth be told, the fragmentation of media has left a lot of opportunities for the little guys to win specialized portions of business from some big name clients—and with online communication where it is, it’s not terribly difficult to begin building a global network for yourself.
So don’t discount the little guys during your job hunt. They may offer equally fantastic opportunities to get your career off to a great start working with both large and small clients.
February 11th, 2010 | No Comments
Those of you who are looking for career advice (which I imagine is everyone, given the focus of this blog) may find this event worthwhile:
Though you can’t change the economy, you can change your career—which is why Nicole has partnered with Plan B to bring women of the Chicago area a night of top-level networking not to be missed. Held at the prestigious Hotel Allegro, guests who RSVP will receive a VIP pass to the event which includes:
- -Chatting up women in the area you need to have on speed dial
- -Free cocktails and desserts
- -Complimentary career advice from Nicole Williams
And the details:
- Date: February 17th, 2010
- Location: The Allegro Hotel
171 West Randolph Street
Chicago, IL
- Time: 6-8pm
- RSVP: RSVP (at) nicolewilliams.com
February 4th, 2010 | 1 Comment
I’ll be speaking next Friday, February 12 at Chicago PR: Get in the Loop, presented by PRSSA of DePaul University. If you’re planning to attend, swing by and say hello. I love to meet students and help out where I can—whether that’s lending advice from my own experiences, connecting students to people who may be able to help them in their careers or passing on a resume to some of the agencies in Chicago.
See you there!
January 26th, 2010 | 1 Comment
Here’s something I’ve been meaning to write about for some time, in part because it’s something that I’ve dealt with personally.
I remember having a serious conversation with my friend, Kevin, the summer we both started PR internships in Chicago. We talked about the industry’s turnover rate (about 17.5% in the Midwest at the time—employees are often motivated to make the shift for larger salaries, a better fit in corporate culture or new locations), and we discussed our goals to break that mold and have a solid stay within a single agency.
Alas, while Kevin has maintained a successful career within the same agency that he interned with, I took a different route. I ended up moving to a new agency about a year into my career, and I recently left agency life altogether to start my own business with my fiancé and a good friend.
So who took the best route to career success?
I have no regrets about where I am today—I’m building a successful business with some of my closest friends, and I have had the chance to learn from incredibly brilliant colleagues and mentors who I still call my friends. But after the first move, I vowed to myself that the only thing that would motivate me to leave the agency was if I was going to work for myself. I actually don’t think consistent agency hopping is a good career choice, nor is it good for the companies you leave or the industry as a whole.
While it may lead to a short-term pay raise or change of scene, agency hopping has a number of downfalls:
- Starting over is difficult. It takes time to build relationships and establish trust.
- It’s not fair to colleagues. Agencies invest a lot of time getting employees up to speed on new projects and procedures, along with ongoing industry training. They also invest emotionally to build a successful team dynamic.
- Leaving is emotionally difficult. It’s hard to tell a trusted team that you’re taking off. It can feel a bit like betrayal—going against the trust of the team, no matter how positive the intentions.
- It could hurt in the long run. Agency hopping might be a good change in the short term, but a long resume of short-term jobs doesn’t read as very reliable.
- The little stuff. Don’t forget about all of the little things that make a move difficult, from transferring 401Ks to selecting new health insurance.
Ultimately, I think there are only two reasons that make the change worth it.
- You’re leaving agency life altogether to try something completely new (and hopefully long-term).
- The idea of Monday morning makes you physically ill.
How do you feel about this issue? I’d love to hear your opinions.
January 11th, 2010 | 2 Comments
Untemplater Founders, Jun Loayza and Monica O'Brien :
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Monica O’Brien blogs at Social Pollination, and she recently wrote a book by the same name
. She currently does marketing consulting for small companies.
Jun Loayza is the cofounder and chief marketing officer or Viraology and president of socialmediamarketing.com. You can find him at junloayza.com.
Untemlater started after Jun wrote a blog post called Tell me the truth: Can Gen Y Team Up? The post was a call to action to bring individually successful people together to see what they could do together.
Untemplater is now a company with six founders covering topics around six basic areas:
- Entrepreneurship
- Career
- Travel
- Family
- Mind
- Team
Listen to the interview to hear more about Untemplater, its mission and the people behind it.
January 4th, 2010 | No Comments
New Job, New You - An interview with author Alexandra Levit [13:14m]:
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back in 2008. She’s back again to talk about her latest book, New Job, New You: A Guide to Reinventing Yourself in a Bright New Career
. The book features stories from real people who have reinvented their own careers.
Find out more about Alexandra Levit at alexandralevit.com, and read more about her new book at newjobnewyou.com.
SHOW NOTES
There are seven motivators that may lead you to seek a new career:
- Family
- Independence
- Learning
- Money
- Passion
- Setback
- Talent
A few of the questions that we covered:
- How do I overcome the fear of making a big change?
- Where do I start?
- What are the major challenges of shifting to a new career?
- How should I structure my goals for the new year?
- What if I fail?
November 23rd, 2009 | 2 Comments
Self-Promotion for Introverts - an Interview with Nancy Ancowitz [10:23m]:
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“In many cases, and especially as you get up the ladder in the work world, you really often can’t tell an introvert from an extrovert—because many introverts who are far along in their careers have developed certain social skills, have developed public speaking skills, and you really can’t tell us apart.”
—Nancy Ancowitz
Nancy Ancowitz is a business communications coach and author of Self-Promotion for Introverts: The Quiet Guide to Getting Ahead
. She spent twelve years on Wall Street as a marketing head for major financial firms. While there, she took a personality assessment, and she was surprised to learn that she’s an introvert.
What is an introvert?
Introverts aren’t loners or antisocial. They simply gain their energy from being alone. Solo activities such as reading, writing, researching and quietly thinking will recharge their energy.
What can an introvert do to better prepare for career success?
- -Rest up and recharge your energy before big meetings
- -Prepare a few opening lines, questions, contributions or topics of conversations
- -If you’re heading into a meeting, get on the agenda before it begins
- -Introverts tend to be better at writing, so email a few ideas in advance or follow up with ideas through email.
- -Lobby your ideas in one-one situations before the big meeting
- -Get speech or public speaking lessons to learn how to use your voice (introverts tend to speak more quietly)
- -Make eye contact, sit up straight and have a firm handshake
- -Practice
Find out more about Nancy Ancowitz at selfpromotionforintroverts.com.
October 28th, 2009 | 3 Comments
A new study by Brill Street, a gen y career site (full disclosure—my fiancé does some work for them) highlights the top 50 companies to work for in Chicago. The study gives an inside look into the companies through short videos on its site, including areas such as compensation and benefits, perks, corporate social responsibility, advancement potential, training opportunities, jobs for Generation Y, and the nature of day-to-day work.
I’m also proud to say that Edelman (my employer) is ranked fifth on the list—check out the video here. There are a number of other creative agencies on the list as well, including Marketing Werks (#9), Digitas (#14), Razorfish (#17) and Leap Frog Online (#42).
View the Gen Y Top 50.
Tags: gen y
October 20th, 2009 | 4 Comments
If you’ve found yourself in a postgrad internship or entry level job, you’ve likely run into a few transitional frustrations here and there. Maybe you feel the tasks that you’ve been given are a bit too granular, or you’re tired of working from project to project instead of being assigned to one of your own. Having been through the obligatory internship phase myself, allow me to offer a some perspective and advice on approaching this experience.
- No matter how great your resume looks, you still have to prove yourself. As the president of the central region of my own company said during the Gal’s Guide Summit a few short weeks ago, ”No one cares where you went to college or what your GPA was—it’s all about what you can do for them.”
- Attention to detail comes first. You have to prove that you can get the details right before moving on to the “bigger picture.”
- Be proactive. Learn to think like the client. Answer questions and solve problems before they have the chance to ask. This will make you a valuable asset to the organization.
- Learn basic design. No matter how great your ideas are, they won’t get you anywhere unless you can express them. Whether you’re communicating through PowerPoint
, a print document or any other format, bad design is distracting.
- Learn how to use your desktop apps. Not just use them, but really use them. You never know when you might need to pull a crazy excel formula or PowerPoint formatting trick.
- Continue to network within the company. Ask to grab coffee with different employees who are higher levels than you to get to know more about what they do and learn about the various career options within the company. The more people you can get to know this way, the more you’ll have cheering for you when it comes time to make hiring or promotional decisions.
- Learn to prioritize. You’ll likely have different projects coming from different people, so each time you get a new project, let them know what you’re working on and ask when the project is due by.
- Make sure you get your review. Set up a review with your manager half-way through your internship. You need to find out where you stand in order to improve on any perceived weaknesses.
Photo: “Shoes to Fill” from my own photo collection
Tags: entry-level, internship
August 26th, 2009 | 7 Comments
(Sorry for my long absense—I’ve had an exciting few weeks)
Barbara Nixon recently asked a number of professionals for some advice for her students.
Should a Public Relations student’s portfolio be digital or in a binder?
I can certainly answer this question with my personal point of view, both as a professional who has looked at portfolios during the hiring process and as someone who landed a number of opportunities based on my own online portfolio.
A few years ago, having an online portfolio as an advertising or PR student was much less common (so much so that I was able to land a scholarship to the Cannes International Advertising Festival’s Roger Hatchuel Academy simply for being the only student to apply with an online portfolio).
These days, the practice is becoming more common, and for students looking to stand out in a competitive job market, I would argue that an online portfolio is quickly becoming a requirement. This is particularly true for those looking for a digital position (and I might add, most PR positions have become at least somewhat digital).
Your Portfolio Might Simply Be Your “Personal Hub”
During the hiring process, you want to make it as easy as possible for hiring managers to get a fast impression of what you’re all about. This might be as simple as creating a “hub” that will lead them to your work, writing and participation in various online networks. It might even be a blog.Â
Creating an online portfolio can be a lot of fun—this is your opportunity to get creative and show off your personality.
Resources:
Tags: portfolio
