By: Josh Gordon, PRSA-NCC’s Membership Co-Chair
Joining your local chapter, not just the national one, will help you maximize your PRSA membership for these three reasons.
By: Josh Gordon, PRSA-NCC’s Membership Co-Chair
Joining your local chapter, not just the national one, will help you maximize your PRSA membership for these three reasons.
By Patty Nicastri, Co-chair of PRSA-NCC’s Professional Development Committee
I joined PRSA-NCC around five years ago. For my first two years, I was a very passive member. I would occasionally attend events and keep “PRSA member” as a phrase on my resume, but I found myself wanting more—to be more involved, to get more out of my membership, to learn more about the ever-changing field of PR. I decided the best way to do this was to join the professional development committee. It has significantly helped me with my professional development journey. As a committee co-chair, I want to share with you five reasons why you should join a committee and take your career to the next level.
By Allie Erenbaum, Co-chair of PRSA-NCC’s University Relations Committee
Every young professional knows the value of strong and compassionate mentorship. When I was studying PR and marketing at American University, I made an effort to actively facilitate conversations with my peers, professors, and internship supervisors. From making decisions about what classes to register for to deciding what job applications to pursue, I appreciated being able to gain a wide variety of perspectives to make informed decisions about my career. I knew I didn’t want to lose momentum with building connections after graduation – that’s where PRSA-NCC came in.
By Laura Gross, Principal and Founder of Scott Circle Communications
“What do you do?” From networking events to first dates, that is perhaps the question that begins many conversations here in Washington, D.C. More often than not the underlying question is actually “who do you know?” or “how can you help me?” Unfortunately, people seem to be more interested in leveraging themselves than establishing an authentic human connection. I have seen this over and over again in the infamous informational interview.
With an established career in PR in the same city for over two decades, I have plenty of experience to share which is why I suppose I’ve been frequently called to give advice. I’ve received requests from all sorts of people: recent grads who just moved to D.C. looking for a job, college students debating a career in PR, senior professionals deciding whether to go out on their own as a consultant and job seekers too – especially job seekers.
I know why people contact me and I genuinely want to be helpful (in fact I average one informational meeting each week). So, in the spirit of being helpful, here are some suggestions on how to truly get the most out of an informational interview and make the most of someone’s time.
What’s Your Goal?
The first question I always ask is: What can I help you with? If you asked for the meeting, you should have a good substantive answer. Do you want to learn about my career path? Do you want to know more about how to do PR in DC? Do you want feedback on your resume? Use this informational interview to do exactly that: interview me to gather information.
Be Presentable
If you are looking for career advice or networking for a job, prove that you belong in the workforce. It seems like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised how often people come dressed casually and not prepared. You should arrive on time, if not a few minutes early. And dress professionally too – you don’t know what type of office you are showing up to. The more you can show that you have made an effort to present your best self, the more likely you are to leave the interview having left a good first impression.
Bring a Resume
Yes, you might have sent me an email with your resume when you requested a meeting, but I get hundreds of emails every day. Always bring a copy of your typo-free resume with you to show you are one step ahead. I often take notes on the resume, which then sits on my desk for a while. You will be top of mind if I see a relevant job posting that might come my way.
Come Prepared
With one Google search, you can find out almost anything about anyone. What is my firm all about? What is my background? You already know these answers, so how can I actually be helpful? A better question to ask me is what do I look for in a candidate? What is the interview process like at your firm? Do you mind looking at my resume and giving me feedback?
Write a Thank You Note or Email
I’m not looking for the next best seller – I just want a simple thank you email or handwritten note (bonus points for handwritten!).
Follow-up
Let me know what happened to you. Did you get a job? An internship? Decide not to pursue PR after all? Finding success in Washington and other cities often revolves around who you know. Future jobs and opportunities are all about connections, so it will only benefit you in the long run to keep in touch with someone you met. And maybe, just maybe, one day you’ll be the one paying it forward and I’ll be the one requesting an informational interview with you.
About the Author: Laura Gross (@lgross) is Principal and Founder of Scott Circle Communications (@scottcircle), a full service public relations firm based in Washington, D.C. with a mission to make the world a better place.
By: Kelsey O’Planick, News Generation
The 49th Annual Thoth Awards Gala, PRSA-NCC’s premiere annual event, was a wonderful evening of networking, recognizing the strongest PR campaigns, and celebrating the Egyptian culture.
The News Generation and American Psychological Association teams winning the Thoth Award in the Media Relations: Radio Campaign category.
Thoth, which is pronounced “tot,” is the ancient Egyptian god of communication. The Gala was held on Thursday, October 12, at the National Press Club. Some of the big winners include Hager Sharp, which won Best of Show, as well as Padilla, Coster Communications, Environics Communications, McCabe Message Partners, The Reis Group and Crosby Marketing Communications, just to name a few. A list of all of the winning entries can be found here.
The Gala kicked off with a traditional Egyptian dance from Mr. Mohamed Ali from Seven Egyptian Dance Troupe, included multiple videos of King Thoth (aka Danny Selnick) learning about PR in D.C., honored impressive campaigns, provided a wonderful meal, and inducted two Hall of Fame inductees, Carman Marsans and John Seng.
Guests also enjoyed a raffle, where they could enter to win items such as Apple Watches, Washington Redskins tickets, and an overnight stay in Alexandria, VA. Proceeds from the raffle benefitted the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates, PRSA-NCC’s pro bono client.
Do you still have photos or stories to share about your experience at the Gala? Use the hashtag #Thoth2017.
By Susan Matthews Apgood, News Generation
Susan Apgood (middle) at the 2015 Thoth Awards
No matter your industry, the benefits of knowing how to form meaningful relationships with other professionals are exponential. And while maintaining relationships may be as simple as sending an email once in a while, forming those relationships is a whole other story. All meaningful business relationships have one key factor in common: mutual benefits. Being able to give is just as important as getting, and one cannot happen without the other. Each of these seven ways to form relationships rely heavily on mutual assistance:
The key to making it in the business world is to know how to interact with other professionals, and form mutually beneficial relationships with them. Having these meaningful professional relationships will allow you to advance your careers and find opportunities that may not have been presented to you otherwise. But always keep in mind, you will only get out of your relationships what you put in.
Stay tuned…
Susan Apgood, APR; Robert Krueger; Sultana Ali, APR; Suzanne Ross, APR, Chair APR Committee; Samantha Villegas, APR.
Recently a colleague and APR panelist with the National Capital Chapter of PRSA Pat Van Nelson wrote an article on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/open-letter-boomers-thanksgiving-pat-van-nelson?trk=hp-feed-article-title-publish) sharing her experiences during a job search. She urged professionals to remain diligent in building and maintaining a professional network throughout their careers.
Pat and others like her tell us a professional network is not only a key component of a career crisis management plan, but a resource to gain insights into an industry, referrals for a project and guidance about a specific career path or challenge. The plan isn’t formed on the day you learned your employer was downsizing, the day your partner pursued a job in a different state or the day you achieved your APR. It’s a plan that requires strategic thought, curiosity, risk, accountability and sustained commitment to the changes you want to make throughout your career and life.
As Stephen Dupont, APR, said in his blog, “We are all in the relationships business…sharing what we know, and witnessing the journeys of others is the first step in building a lifetime of fruitful relationships.”
One step you can take in building a relationship network is to serve on an APR panel presentation review. You don’t have to join the APR committee, simply volunteer your skills and expertise for a specific activity. At our National Capital Chapter, APRs volunteer to teach one of six Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities in Jump-start introductory courses. In addition, they lead facilitated study events that “drill-down” into key KSA content, and participate in meet-ups such as the new member lunch Dec. 1, to share experiences and career insights.
Often, APRs are connectors helping those who seek career guidance to meet specialists for information interviews. Additional opportunities to begin or join a conversation include sharing your thoughts through publications such as PRsay, and platforms such as the chapter blog https://theprsanccblog.com or the LinkedIn APR Group and Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/PRaccred, @PRSA_NCC, #PRSAchat, #ItTakesAPRo.
As you contemplate New Year’s resolutions for 2017, add “relationship network” to the top of your career plan goal. At the National Capital Chapter, we’re here to help you get started.
Written and compiled by Suzanne Ross