Leveraging Yourself Above The Resume

Network Bash is a free event that will allow students the opportunity to acquire skills in the art of selling themselves. This event will have a wide range of industry professionals all brought together under one roof to help teach students the necessary networking skills.

Students who attend will learn the art of pitching themselves, next they will  practice what they’ve learned, and afterwards receive feedback on their performance.  Also practicing in this one-on-one environment, students will gain the self-confidence needed to go out and successfully pitch themselves to either potential employers or clients.

This even will be held November 4^th at the Hendrixs Student Center in the ball room. There will only be enough room for 250 students, so students interested in attend need to RSVP as soon as possible.  More information can be located at http://clemson.networkbash.com. And remember, “Opportunity only knocks once.”

Guest Post by Clemson advanced business writing class

How PRSSA, Blogging, and Initiative Worked for Me

Hello readers, Tiffany Sellers guest blogging here. I am a Clemson junior and treasurer of Clemson PRSSA. This semester, I’m an intern at Jeff Dezen Public Relations in downtown Greenville, and Dr. V asked me to share how I got here:

The first ever Clemson PRSSA meeting featured a panel of guest speakers, including Robin Blackwood of JDPR. I didn’t get a chance to meet her at the meeting, but I emailed her a month or two later, telling her that I had enjoyed hearnig what she’d had to say and to ask if there were any internship ops at her place of employment. She gave me the details, told me she liked my initiative, and asked me to send my resume and writing samples.

Being that I was in my first PR class at the time, I was kind of worried about the writing samples part–namely because I didn’t think I had any. But then I decided to send her the link to the blog Dr. V required us to write throughout the semester. When I showed up for the interview, Robin had printed out all my blog posts and wanted to discuss a few of them with me!

Anyway, I ended up getting the job and have come to find out that the social media skills I’ve been learning are still pretty new around here, and I have an area of expertise that can actually contribute to the firm.

All this to say: Don’t underestimate the connections you make through PRSSA, the value of going out and finding experience, or the trend towards new media in the field of public relations. The things you’re learning at PRSSA really do make a difference.

Signing off–

Tiffany

Three words every PR pro should avoid

[cross-posted from Dr. V's teaching blog]

Via hriefs on twitter, this article on Three words every PR pro should avoid in their news releases.

Must-read for students interested in PR!

More networking advice: Holiday parties

Several Clemson PRSSA students will hopefully attend the networking event hosted by South Carolina PRSSA in Greenville. Event details are here (scroll all the way down to Upstate December Meeting), note that there’s a $15 fee and that you need to RSVP.

I’m also keeping track of students who want to go, so we can carpool. Please RSVP here also if you’d like to carpool.

This might be a good time for some advice about how to network at these professional “parties:”

• know that it’s OK and expected to be nervous
• prepare a brief introduction of yourself. As you approach people, shake their hand, and introduce yourself: “Hi, I’m Mary Poppins, communication student at Clemson. I’m really interested in sports public relations!”
• ask lots of questions. Ask for advice, ask people what they do, what they like/dislike about their jobs, etc. Prepare some questions in advance so you don’t run out of things to ask. People like you more if you listen to them than if you keep talking.
• make business cards for yourself. It’s awkward to carry resumes to a party, but if you don’t have business cards, how will you keep in touch with that person?
• wear comfortable, office-appropriate clothes. Avoid showing cleavage, very short skirts, very high heels, striking makeup. Even though it’s called a party, wear what you would wear a work, maybe a tiny bit more festive. People come to these events after work, and you don’t want to be the only one wearing sequins!
• keep your right hand open and dry. Hold your food & drink in the left hand.
• take it easy on the drinks. If you ask me, stick to non-alcoholic drinks, so you maintain complete control of yourself.

After the party, follow up with the people you connected. Send them an email, connect with them on LinkedIn of if appropriate, on Facebook or twitter. Find a way to keep in touch.

Please be assured that I (Dr. V) will do my best to take care of you and introduce you to people, so you don’t feel abandoned, left out or awkward!

Using Twitter for job searches

This is a story about how David found a job using twitter, a microblogging & social networking site. Just another example of the opportunities out there.

Does this spark and interest in Twitter? Check out these site that can help get you started:

Advice on how to Twitter

Here are some tips to learn how to use twitter appropriately and effectively

How to find people to follow on Twitter

You can follow Clemson PRSSA on twitter: @clemsonprssa

Dr. V is also on twitter: @prprof_mv

Are you on twitter? If so, put your twitter user name in the comments, so we can find each other!

Courses for students interested in PR

[cross-posted from Dr. V's teaching blog, PRinciples]

As we head into advising and registration for Spring 2009, I promised my Clemson students I would put together a list of courses useful for those interested in public relations.

This list will evolve as I discover courses,

so please feel free to suggest additional ones in the comments section.

As far as COMM courses go, the 3 PR courses are:

• COMM 355 Principles of Public Relations – covers basic principles & theories
• COMM 356 Stakeholder Communication – covers techniques for communicating with various stakeholder groups
• COMM 456 Strategic Communication for Social Change – covers strategic campaigns

Many other courses in COMM are relevant and useful to PR, but since your academic advisors can help you with those, I won’t list them here, except to urge you to learn your research methods! Surveys, statistics, focus groups, interviews, case studies, ethnographic observation and rhetorical criticism (so you know how to critique outputs of PR) are VERY useful. In our department, the methods courses are COMM 310, 311, and 306.

I’ll group other useful courses by topic:

WRITING COURSES:
journalism writing, feature writing, business writing, technical writing, editing:

The following ENGL courses look interesting: ENGL 231, 265, 304, 314, 316, 332, 333, 334, 335

RELATED AREAS:
marketing, advertising, graphic design & graphic communication courses

MKTG 301, 302, 423, 426, 427, 429, 434, 443

AP EC 351

MANAGEMENT & BUSINESS:
courses to help you understand how business works, how managers think.

MGT 201, 400, 411*, 415, 423

INTERNATIONAL/GLOBAL
any courses that help you understand globalization, international and intercultural issues in business, culture and/or society

CULTURE, SOCIETY, ART
any courses that help you understand the collective mindsets (cultures) of one ore more societies, as influenced by art, history, media, popular culture, etc. These can be courses in Art History, History, Women’s Studies, Communication Studies, etc.

PSYCHOLOGY
any courses that help you understand attitude change, decision making, and social pressure (social psychology)

PSYCH 201, 320, 330*, 333, 352, 355, 368, 369, 370, 454, 459, 462, 482

SOCIOLOGY
SOC 201, 350, 351

[update Oct. 29] If you’re going to take LS (Leisure Skills) classes, consider golf. Why? Because if you want to be in the “boys’ club,” hang out with top executives and increase your opportunities to network with them… you should be able to play golf with them! No, this is not a joke…

Advice for young PRos

Via Dr. Karen Russell’s Teaching PR blog, here are three blog posts full of excellent career advice for recent graduates and young PR pros (PRos):

• Advice for graduating college students – everything from how to dress to how to manage your online image
• Can you handle the truth? 10 career tips no one tells you – employers’ (negative) perceptions about Gen. NEXT and how to work around them
• 7 personal branding tips for college graduates – how to manage your personal brand, aka image
• Phone pitch tips for young PR pros – very useful advice about pitching to journalists on the phone

A Day in the Life of a Public Relations Specialist

See this very interesting article about working in PR:

A Day In The Life Of A Public Relations Specialist

Great advice on networking

See this blog post for great advice on networking and relating with people one-on-one.