Building Your Brand and Finding That First Job

BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

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BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

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BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

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Gary McCormick, APR, Fellow PRSA Director, Partnership Development, HGTV

Kevin Saghy, Manager, Communications, Chicago Cubs

BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

TRADITIONAL SKILLS/ATTRIBUTES Advice from Dave Fleet •  Writing •  Communications skills •  Attention to detail •  Media relations •  Proactive •  Work ethics •  (I’m adding) Curiosity / Competitive

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BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

NEW SKILLS/ATTRIBUTES •  Blogging / Microblogging •  Social networking tools •  Understand SEO •  Coding •  RSS / RSS Readers •  Blogger relations •  Social media ethics – astroturfing, ghost

blogging, sock puppets,

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BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

WHAT’S THE REAL STORY

Looking for employees, the hiring manager •  Wants to mitigate risk •  Is filling an opening on a team •  Is balancing the time it takes to hire with his/

her real job •  Will never find the “perfect” candidate (think

of that prom dress search…)

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BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

FINDING A JOB, IS A FULL TIME JOB!

•  Who Are You? •  What Have You Done? •  Who Do You Know? •  What Are Your Skills? •  Where Do You Live? •  How Committed Are You? •  What Are Your Dreams? Passions?

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BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

THE CAPTURE STRATEGY

•  Who do I know that knows the company or hiring manager?

•  What do I know about the position? •  What do I know about the company? •  What makes me unique for the position? •  What can I do to improve my chances of being

interviewed? Hired?

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Job Description: Scripps Networks' Corporate Communications team is currently looking for an energetic, detail-oriented public relations intern in our communications department at the company headquarters in Knoxville, Tenn. Corporate communications interns at Scripps Networks receive multi-faceted, hands-on experience in a variety of PR disciplines including consumer and trade media relations, marketing, event marketing, internal communications, public affairs, and presentation services.

Projects and Assignments Planned for Internship: - Research, write and distribute a weekly e-mail newsletter about GAC programming and promotions. - Research, compose and revise bios of Scripps Networks employees involved with the corporate communications speakers bureau. - Research / assist in the planning and/or executive of events on behalf of the event marketing team. - Research and write articles for internal communications including daily, weekly and quarterly newsletters. The intern will work with corporate communications team members to develop ideas and story outlines. - Assist in the development of story ideas and pitches for trade media. - Shoot and edit video for internal and external use. - Research media coverage of a particular topic, company or industry and generate a clip book that would be distributed to senior executives. Successful candidates for this internship are very goal oriented, work well in a team environment, and must have a desire to invest in their experience with us to reach personal and professional goals. In addition, the intern candidate must: - Demonstrate strong writing/editing skills (AP-style proficient) - Major in Public Relations, Marketing, Journalism or related field

BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

YOUR PUBLIC PERSONA •  Facebook – it’s more about what you like •  Microblogs - Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr •  Posts on blogs, comments on articles •  Have you Googled yourself lately? •  What will friends, co-workers say about you? •  Do you have a BRAND?

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BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

WORK EXPERIENCE What is it and how crucial is it? •  Be creative in what you have done •  Don’t be afraid to ask for references and letters of

recommendation •  Don’t limit yourself to jobs for your experience •  Bottom line - You better have it!

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BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

BUILDING A RESUME / PORTFOLIO •  Qualitative and Quantitative examples •  Revise to include keywords from job

description and/or use in website •  Have samples you can leave •  Consider an electronic portfolio linked by QR

Code on your business card (think if you personalized it!)

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BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

COVER LETTERS AND INTERVIEWS

•  Your cover letter should be your best writing sample

•  Never use template cover letter, replacing company and contact names, etc.

•  Practice interviewing – i.e. media training •  Develop an “elevator” speech •  Interview the company as much as they interview

you

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BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

NETWORKING •  Three degrees of separation •  Provides access and opportunity any where in

the world •  Transitions you into new “cultures” •  Eliminates a lot of the competition •  Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” - Leverages

someone else’s 10,000 hours •  Social media isn’t connecting!

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BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

THE JOB SEARCH

•  The Hot Line / Change phone habits

•  The Email Address

•  The Wardrobe

•  The Appropriate Follow Up

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BUILDING YOUR BRAND & FINDING THAT FIRST JOB

RESOURCES

•  Culpwrit column •  Culpwrit advice by Abby Stollar, Univ. of Delaware •  University of Alabama Platform Magazine •  Mashable, PRNewser •  Keith Ferrazzi’s “Never Eat Alone” •  Flipboard, Streamboard •  RSS Feeds

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PRESENTERS’ CONTACT INFORMATION

Gary McCormick gary.d.mccormick@gmail.com

@garymac865

Kevin Saghy ksaghy@cubs.com

@CredibleKev

The slides and audio from this Webinar will be archived on The Plank Center website at: http://plankcenter.ua.edu/resources/webinars

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