By Rachel Zetwick During college, it can be hard to travel for a job or internship interview because of busy schedules and long distances. Because of this, many students are required to participate in live video interviews instead of traditional in-person interviews. With many public relations job application deadlines fast approaching, here are some tips for your next video interview. Get Used to the Technology A few hours or even days before your interview, practice using the technology you will be using for your video call. Whether the company you are interviewing with uses Skype, Zoom or another program, make sure you know how it works and that your computer’s microphone and video are working properly. This way, you can prevent technical mishaps during your interview. Choose a Neutral Background While your posters and pictures may make your dorm room look cool, they definitely won’t help during a video interview. Stage your camera in front of a neutral background so you do not distract your interviewers.
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By: Rachel Zetwick When you are only 20 or so years old, beginning to build your network can be quite a daunting task. However, it is so important to build your network as you begin searching for internships and jobs during college. Reaching out to mentors, professors and college peers can help you learn about the public relations industry and could potentially help you land a great job. Here are some ideas to begin building your network: Meet With Your Professors One of the most helpful ways to network I have found in my four years at Miami University is to meet with my communications professors regularly. Even if it is only once a semester, talking with a professor can help you discover your long-term career goals and can potentially introduce you to even more contacts that can help you during an internship or job search. Professors want to help you, so it is a great idea to set up a meeting to learn more about their experiences. Set Up Phone Calls This may seem scary at first, but reaching out to contacts with jobs that you are interested in may help you learn how to be successful in the public relations field. While their company may not have any available positions, it can be very helpful to learn about their personal job search and responsibilities in their job. And who knows - they may think of you when a job opening comes up! Talk to Older Students I have gained so many mentors on campus by reaching out to older students at Miami University. This has been so helpful to learn about anything from Career Fair to learning how to use LinkedIn. If you know an older student with a similar major or interests, reach out to them to build your path to success. By: Grace Wells 1. Do your homework Always make sure to do some basic background research. This allows you to be able to demonstrate your knowledge of the company during the interview. 2. Practice Interview Have answers prepared for the basic interview questions expected. Questions such as: How do you handle stress? What is your greatest weakness? Or Are you willing to fail? Should all have prepared answers ahead of time. 3. Dress for Success First impressions are key for successful interviews. You not only have to act the part but you have to look the part. Dress accordingly to the work environment you are interviewing for. But when in doubt, overdressing is always better than underdressing. 4. Get there early That old saying, “Leave on time you’ll get there early, leave early you’ll get there on time”. Well, now is time to put this saying really into practice. Plan your outfit the night before. But, also plan for traffic. Plan ahead but put in enough of a time pad for things to be able to go wrong. 5. Show your knowledge Be able to use concrete specific examples so your interview stands out among the other candidates for the position. 6. Send A Thank You Send a thank you or email to the people you interviewed with to show interest in the position. Send the thank you within 24 hours. By Rachel Zetwick
In the summer of 2016, I was a congressional intern for the Office of Speaker Paul D. Ryan. At the beginning of my internship, I expressed interest in working with the Speaker’s press team as I wanted to put what I was learning in my communication classes to use. Here are three things that I learned while working with Speaker Ryan’s team. 1. Build relationships with members of the media Throughout my internship, I was invited to attend numerous Speaker press conferences. I noticed that his press team and media members had built strong, respectful relationships with each other. This allowed for news to be provided to the public in an efficient and effective manner. 2. Think proactively about social media One of my intern tasks was to research the following base of the Speaker’s Twitter account. I learned about the importance of understanding a governmental official’s following, and how social media is an easy means of communication for congressional members and their constituents. I also learned about the importance of hashtags during a political campaign. 3. Be prepared for media appearances at all times Throughout my internship, the Speaker was required to make unexpected media appearances quite often. Since my internship was during an election year, this was even more true as the Speaker had to be prepared to continue his campaign while also answering unexpected media questions related to the election. By: Tyler Madsen The recent revamp and move of Miami Career Services from Western Campus to Armstrong came with a useful tool not known to many, called “handshake.” Handshake is a database similar to LinkedIn, however, it is more tailored to the internship hunt. The site is fairly easy to use, and is divided into four different tabs:
By: Beth Pfohl
It is common practice in the public relations industry to have one, if not two or more, related internships before starting your first “big kid” job. So at this point, you know you need an internship but probably don’t have a clue about how to get one. Below are some tips I learned through trial (and error) to help you find the perfect internship that will get you where you want to go. 1. Where do you want to work?
By: Chloe Tykal For years, your Twitter account has had the same funny, but slightly inappropriate handle. Your profile picture is you in a bikini. Or maybe you’re tagged in some photos after consuming a few too many beers (complete with red solo cup in hand). As the finish line approaches and you realize you have to become a “real adult,” your social media image becomes more important than ever. Your new company isn’t going to care about your following/follower ratio, or how many times a week you post. Before you’re even hired, they’re going to have looked you up and at least done a quick scan of your accounts. It’s time to accept reality and do some online spring cleaning. The first thing to do is make sure that the “outside” of your profile looks good. Set your profile photo to one where you look like someone that people would like to hire. That doesn’t mean it has to be your LinkedIn headshot, just make it one where you look like the type of person it would be nice to work with. Make sure your handle identifies you with your name. As boring as it sounds, it’s time to switch your handle to some combination of your first and last names. It looks professional and is easily identifiable. Digging a little deeper, it’s now time to get to work cleaning up the content on your pages. Delete questionable posts, unlike all of those Facebook pages that you liked in middle school, and untag yourself from those terrible photos. Try to keep your personality on your page. If you’re a comedian at heart, don’t delete all of your funny posts. If you love music, don’t take down the links to playlists and videos that you’ve shared. Instead of making your online presence completely disappear, curate and grow it to something worth remembering. Try to coordinate all branches of your social media. Have them all work together as a single unit. If you write a blog post for your Tumblr, share a related photo on your Instagram, Tweet the link to it, or even tell your Snapchat friends to check it out in your story. Social media is one of the biggest tools PR professionals have. If you can’t manage your own, how can your boss expect you to manage a company’s? By: Rosie Leuby With many great triumphs in life, there will also be moments of failure. There are many different major public relations mistakes that have happened over the years that can teach future public relations practitioners what to be careful of. Here are just a few major mistakes found in public relations practices that one can learn from: 1. McDonald’s on TwitterAs a public relations move, McDonald’s promoted the use of a hashtag, #McDStories, on Twitter. Almost immediately after posting about their promotion, the hashtag was overwhelmed with negative comments about McDonald’s. They pulled the hashtag after only two hours and criticized Twitter users for their “snarky” comments. The lesson to learn here is that one cannot control the conversations on social media, and especially not act all that surprised when people say something that is not nice. 2. Coca-Cola‘s Carton Change One of there products, Tropicana, was getting a new, cleaner-looking design on their cartons, instead of their signature orange with a straw image. It caused the customers to be upset and confused them when they were trying to purchase their favorite orange juice. The uproar caused Coca-Cola to quickly reverse their decision after the fan outcry. The lesson here is to stay true to the brand packaging. 3. Apple’s Steve Job’s Comment When a post to the world, like a comment from Steve Jobs about the iPod being the “funnest” ever, has grammar issues, that message is no longer getting through to consumers as the word choice has distracted them. The lesson to learn here is how no one is immune to grammar mistakes and one should make sure that grammar rules are used correctly. To learn more about public relations mistakes and lessons to learn from it, check out this link: http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2012/05/05/11-major-public-relations-mistakes-and-how-to-learn-from-them/ By: Erin Antonelli On Tuesday, March 8 at 7 pm in McGuffey 322, public relations professionals will share their experiences and advice with students. All of the speakers are members of the Cincinnati Chapter of PRSA and have a variety of different experiences and career paths. Brianne Kistler Brianne is a recent Miami University graduate and former MU PRSSA President. Currently, she works as an Assistant Account Executive at Wordsworth Communications in Cincinnati. J.D. Bruewer J.D. works as a Communication specialist at Hamilton County Job and Family Services. He helps to tell the story of his employer with a digital focus. Jay Brock Jay does the External Communications at First Group, a transportation company. Within this role, he works with a large geographical area that includes North America, Canada and Puerto Rico. Darcy Schwass Darcy is also a recent Miami University graduate and PRSSA executive board member. She works for Vehr Communications in Cincinnati as a senior account executive. By: Joel Primack Al Golin started Golin 58 years ago, when he cold-called Ray Kroc, who was starting McDonald’s. McDonald’s remains a client of Golin, one of their largest, building their reputation around being innovative and introducing new corporate and consumer communication strategies. Golin, headquartered in Chicago, is an international communication firm that provides their clients the most relevant insights and creative ideas to engage their audience across the most mediums. They have 50 offices across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, with more than 25 partners. The global reach of Golin strengthens their commitment to clients. Golin, in February 2016, bought The Brooklyn Brothers, a creative firm with offices in New York, London and Brazil, adding additional elements and resources to clients, including a Hollywood writing room. The Brooklyn Brothers and Golin share the mission of being the agency of relevance and creativity. Golin drives relevance through their insights and measurement tools, while The Brooklyn Brothers bring their storytelling capabilities to the table. This creates a strong firm that can drive engagement with stories and measure those results for their clients. Explorers, creators, connectors and catalysts are the communities within Golin, because they got rid of a hierarchical model for the agency, creating the g4 model. Members from each community collaborate on projects for clients, building a creative, relevant communication plan to reach the audience. This model has produced specialists from generalists. Golin is committed to their employees and clients, showing with the a slogan of “Go All In.” It can be applied to anything and everything, because Golin wants their employees to “Go All In” inside and outside of the office, creating more meaningful lives. By: Joel Primack In the 21st Century, every young adult, especially college students, has been told how vital it is to know people in order to land internships and jobs. The Public Relations Student Society of America chapter at Miami University is everything anyone who wants to become a public relations practitioner could ever want: 1. Networking Opportunities: John Isaf of Weber Shandwick, Michael Perry of Vehr Communications and CEO Fred Cook of Golin, an award-winning public relations firm. These three speakers have come to our chapter within the last year, educating members about different skills and areas of public relations. These speakers are connections that can help advance a career in public relations. 2. Opportunities to Build a Portfolio: In the Miami University chapter of PRSSA, we have committees, which are great ways to become involved with the chapter. Each committee allows one to build a professional portfolio, if you put in the time. You will be able to show these to employers, giving them an idea of how valuable you are to them as a member of their team. 3. Homework Help: The executive board members have study tables open to anyone in the chapter. This is a great opportunity to get help from an upperclassman. The insights they share with members who go are priceless. 4. Friends: I have met so many great friends through PRSSA at Miami University. It’s another way to meet peers in classes, which start the foundation for a professional connection. The networking opportunities, opportunities to build a portfolio, homework help and friends are a few reasons why PRSSA at Miami University is a necessary society for every hopeful public relations practitioner. We are each other’s connections for the future. By: Sarah Emery 1) He’s worn many hats in his career. Before starting at Vehr Communications in 2010, Perry was a sports reporter, book author, magazine editor and even an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati. 2) He’s a world traveler. According to his LinkedIn account, Perry has visited over 20 countries on five continents. 3) He specializes in media relations, strategic planning, publishing and social media. Perry has spent years studying how to appeal to targeted demographics and has managed many projects and teams. He served as director of marketing and promotions for the 2012 World Choir Games in Cincinnati. In addition, he greatly values writing and storytelling when it comes to content generation. 4) He has a passion for sports. Along with being sports editor at Enquirer Media, Perry has written two books about the Cincinnati Bearcats’ basketball program. He has also covered many Cincinnati area teams, from the Cincinnati Reds to 121 high school programs. 5) He values teamwork. According to his bio on Vehr Communications’ website, “nothing delivers more satisfaction than teamwork and collaboration.” He serves on many boards at the University of Cincinnati and many former team members cite his compassion, understanding, professionalism, and integrity as some of his greatest qualities. **Michael Perry will be speaking about his experiences in Armstrong 3056A on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m.*** By: Jack Bernard With the arrival of spring many things are changing, including your PR strategy. Crystal Richard, the PR director for Onboardly, has come up with five spring-cleaning tips for your public relations strategy. 1. Try a new style.
2. Clear the clutter and get back to your “why.”
3. Evaluate how you are using your time.
4. Rethink your press releases.
5. Add new tools to your daily routine.
How can you change up your PR strategy this spring? http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/18364.aspx By: Allie Dillie According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up 47 percent of the nations workforce but 60 percent of the public relations workforce. Women make up 63 percent of public relations “specialists” and 59 percent of all public relations managers. Sarahjane Sacchetti, who works on marketing for secret stated, “It’s all women out there.” What is it that draws women towards jobs in the public relations field? Is this trend a by-product of societal norms given to women? Or are women the best fit for jobs of this nature? The “women-in-PR trend” started happening for a variety of reasons, and it’s not all bad, so that might be why it never stopped. One idea that has fueled this pattern is that, the average girl is brought up to believe that it’s good for women to be collaborative and personable. Once these women get to college, many truly find their strengths and passions to be in the fields of reading and writing. Then, once these women graduate, they tend to gravitate towards careers involving these same fields. With the public relations job field growing by 12 percent a year this gravitation women have to PR can be seen as a good thing. With more and more women joining the workforce, this job growth can open many new doors for women and how they are perceived in the work place. The nature of the PR job field allows those who are dedicated and hardworking to rise to the top in a way some professions don’t. “I think PR offers women the opportunity to hold high-level, corporate positions, so the career-oriented find empowerment in a PR position,” said Jessica Chesney a digital marketing coordinator at Command Partners. If there is anything women can take away from this it is that public relations is a rapidly growing job field that offers women opportunities to grow and expand professionally. Hopefully, as more women hold high-level jobs in PR, society will wipe away the stigma that only men can hold executive positions in the corporate world. Gender Breakdown of PR and Journalism Job Categories By: Christina Peterson The so-called Carnival “Cruise from Hell” may have devastating effects for Carnival as an organization. A fire caused the cruise ship to lose power and drift uncontrolled through the Gulf of Mexico. Sewage and water seeped through into the cabins, and there was hardly enough food to go around. People were getting upset not only about their safety but also about the large amounts of money they wasted on this vacation. The coast guard investigated the fire said that the fire was not large it just happened in the perfect place to take out power for the entire ship. CEO, Gerry Cahill apologized on behalf of the company. He completely took responsibility for the issue at hand. He stated that the cruise line prides them selves on providing excellent service and experiences to their customers, although this time this was not the case. The company offered to repay each customer $500, a free flight home and a full refund for the trip. This was the right thing to do because the waste of money was a large downfall from the crisis. It is important that the company reminds their consumers that Carnival is known for luxurious vacations and this was an abnormal experience. If these actions are taken to compensate for the miserable experience aboard the ship, then parts of Carnival’s reputation may be salvage for handling the situation accordingly. http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/15/travel/cruise-ship-fire/ By: Rachael Booth As years go by, trends and fads change. Whether it’s the transition from the Razor to the iPhone, or the typewriter to the computer; technology improves, and interests change. Even when it seems technology has reached its paramount of capabilities, something new is created and surprises us with features we never dreamed to be possible. The economy is fueled by these popular and new industries. Today we live in an Internet based society where Apple dominates this generation of smartphones and computers. However, many have argued that Apple is finished and doomed. Analysts suggest that Apple is all out of ideas and society is transitioning away from their brilliant inventions. Although this is a feasible accusation, Apple has been accused of this before and has responded with record-breaking sales of new inventions. For example, Analysts claimed Apple would be finished… • Before the iPod came out in 2001. • Before the iPhone came out in 2007. • And right before the iPad came out in 2010. As you can see, Apple has bounced back and proved critics wrong. So what’s the future of Apple and how will they maintain their relationship with the public? It will be important for Apple to study the public’s attitudes and desires about future products and therefore keep their place as one of the most recognizable companies. Although Apple’s next commodity has not been revealed, it is speculated that in three years, 485 million of these new devices will be sold a year. As our society continues to improve technologically, it will be interesting to see what the 2015 launch will be. Brooks, M., (2015). The billion-dollar ace hidden up apple’s sleeves. The Motley Fool. by Rachael Booth Sick! Yolo! Salty! Felicia! Ratchet! If you are a teenager, or have surrounded yourself with teenagers within the past year, you have probably heard a few of these words or even more. Slang has been a very popular teenager dynamic in our culture and many adults want to see it gone. One adult has made an attempt to limit this poor word choice in the workplace and has received a lot of publicity for it. This adult is a Chick-Fil-A manager who is tired of listening to teenager’s slang and has decided to create a list of words that are prohibited from saying while at work. The manager is specifically bothered by the word “bae” and has threatened to take away free employee meals! However, there are some words that the manager allows and some that must be used in the appropriate context if teenagers want to say them. For example, “chill” may be used to describe the lemonade Chick-Fil-A serves but not in other situations. As this incident of the Chick-Fil-A manager continues to trend throughout the media, much attention will be drawn towards Chick-Fil-A. Whether people view this affair as negative publicity, positive publicity, or just flat out funny, the fast food chain is receiving exposure without direct payment, and this is a great example of PR. Lumm, K. (2014). Chick-Fil-A manager bans teenage slang. AOL. Retrieved from http:// www.aol.com/article/2014/11/11/chick-fil-a-manager-bans-teenage-slang by Ellie Broaddus Within the past year, the coffee chain Starbucks has generated plenty of positive publicity through their positive and innovative Public Relations ideas, such as their Starbucks College Achievement Plan, in which they’re offering thousands of part- and full-time U.S. partners to finish their bachelor’s degree with a full tuition reimbursement. Recently, Kristie Williams, a Starbucks employee, has created a petition in order to grant Starbucks baristas permission to sport their tattoos and piercings while working. With more than 25,000 signatures from Starbucks employees all across the country, the dress code change has been approved, and Starbucks employees will soon have permission to sport visible tattoos and piercings while on the job—as long as they are deemed appropriate. It’s important for companies to pay attention to Public Relations trends as well as increase employee retention. In my opinion, Starbucks made the right choice in supporting the petition, as well as over 25,000 employees nationwide. Attitudes towards more relaxed dress codes for employees in major chain companies have become a lot more common during the past few years, including major companies like Peet’s Coffee & Tea and Petsmart. However, will more companies join the bandwagon in this growing trend? by Ariel Wiley Some people were born great and some people achieve greatness through hard work and dedication. To be, not a good, but great leader in your community and extracurriculars takes these top ten qualities and skills according to Forbes. ·Honesty – Always be honest with yourself and your team because the best way to accomplish or overcome and obstacle is by talking about it. ·Ability to Delegate – Find what your team members enjoy working on and this will not only make your team more efficient, but the quality of work will be better. ·Communication – Communicate to be on the same page with your workers and they will learn to trust and even depend on your decisions. ·Sense of humor – Short laughing breaks or allowing your workers to take long weekends will keep the office, and you, happy! ·Confidence – Confidence is key, if you believe in yourself, so will your team members. ·Commitment – Work hard, and others will follow and respect you. ·Positive Attitude – To keep quality of work up and the energy, it takes positive vibes, give your workers positive vibes! ·Creativity – Don’t always play it safe by thinking inside the box, your co-workers will appreciate doing something different ever once in a while by thinking of new ways to solve problems. ·Intuition – Listen, watch and communicate to figure out what is right for the team and what isn’t. ·Ability to Inspire – Enthusiasm is a very powerful thing, work hard and respect your team members and they will want to do the same. Of course, there are many other skills and traits that great leaders possess. These are just a few to think about when going into job interviews and preparing for the work place. by Ellie Broaddus October is PRSA/PRSSA Relationship Month, yay! To me, my membership in PRSSA means building professional and personal relationships with other collegiate members in my PRSSA chapter here at Miami, in addition to PRSA members. After I graduate from college, I hope to transition my membership in PRSSA to PRSA in order to best develop a career in the Public Relations industry. Due to my membership in PRSSA, not only have I received amazing relationship-building and networking opportunities, but I’ve also gained access to numerous PRSSA benefits, such as my myPRSA account, which is filled with award-winning Public Relations case studies, daily briefings of top Public Relations news, and leadership tools! Our chapter’s Sponsor Chapter is the East Central Chapter, and I am so excited to continue meeting with more of these members and learning about their experiences working in Public Relations. Our chapter’s calendar is filled with guest speakers who visit our campus and inform us about the firms they work with, as well as provide us with networking opportunities, career mentoring, tips for working within the Public Relations field, information about internship opportunities, and so much more. “If we’re about building ‘mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics,’ we acknowledge such relationships must be founded upon mutual trust.” – George L. Johnson, APR, Fellow PRSA by Alexis Godshall As a member of Public Relations Student Society of America, I have learned first hand how helpful the Public Relations Society of America’s website is to students. The website guides users through the process of becoming a member of the society as well as allows you to learn about different chapters, and the benefits of membership. It also updates individuals on latest jobs in the market, recent news and upcoming events in the field. Public Relations Society of America allows posts the days of the upcoming webinars. Personally, my favorite aspect of the website is the job and career section. The site allows you to search for jobs, internships, post resumes, ask experts any questions, and it provides information about salaries. One incredible benefit for college and universities, PR agencies, nonprofits, government and state agencies, and health care organizations is the 25 percent discount they receive to post a job on the website. In regards to the job field, this website also provides links and dates to upcoming learning opportunities. The events teach professional development and training. One of the newest sessions includes teaching professionals in the field about the social media era and how to be more effective in terms of usage of social media. If you are interested in more information or just eager to visit the site, please search: www.prsa.org in your web browser. by Kaylie Kueppers Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) now has a new strategy for 2014-2016. They have adapted the past mission and vision to help the profession continue forward and allow the association to be the best for it’s members. The new vision of PRSA is to be more focused on allowing public relations to lead the way of achieving goals. This means that PR will no longer just be another aspect of a company but now come before marketing and advertising. The new mission will allow all members of PRSA to achieve their goals without discrimination and by having the correct resources available. This means that PRSA will continually be changing to be the best association for public relations professionals. PRSA is also going to be focused on growing the association because the field of public relations is growing rapidly. This will allow for a more diverse field as well as more input from members. This is a video created by PRSA explaining the exciting plans for the future. |
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