Valley PR Blog

PR Job Hunt Secrets: A Valley PR Blog Series for New College Grads

By Dan Wool on April 15th, 2008 In Professional Development

Today, Valley PR Blog begins the first in a four part series designed to give advice to new grads seeking careers in PR. Importantly, we’ll tell you all the things that noone told us when we got started — and a few things we look for as hiring managers.

We’ll look at resumes, cover letters, job search techniques, appearance, etiquette and other special topics particular to our industry.

Hopefully — because we can’t cover everything — we’ll also spark a dialogue between newly minted pros and more experienced VPRB readers on job seeking and job expectations.

As PR pros, we carry a unique burden. When you have a communications-related college major, people expect you to communicate better than others. For English or journalism, everyone expects you to write better than others. For PR, everyone expects that you will promote yourself better than the rest.

So it should come as little surprise that everything you do from your facial expressions to your attire to the quality of your written materials is a communications exercise. And, now that you’re graduating and seeking a PR job, you need an ‘A+’ on this test — and it’s not graded on a curve. Your future is literally on the line. (No pressure).

Meanwhile, you won’t get much help from the outside. Face it, people are self-absorbed — most of us just don’t wear ear buds.

• Your professors are immersed in their own lives and classroom material — not your job hunt — and often, they’re not even connected to the day-to-day practice of PR.

• Your proud parents have long considered you independent and have every confidence you’ll land a nice entry level position (as company president).

• And, the PR pros you’ve met along the way are busy juggling clients and reading our blog.

Now, you’re only a few weeks away from graduation. Its time for your pre-job job to be about you and your next job. Hopefully, this guide will help get you started.

Here’s the line-up this week:

Today: Resumes
Wednesday: Cover Letters
Thursday: The Process
Friday: Appearance(s)

Along the way, if there’s anything you feel we miss or if you have any questions, we encourage you to comment on the posts and discuss them on the Valley PR Blog Facebook group (free Facebook membership required).

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