Let's Interview!

On November 13th, nearly 90 students and 45 professionals met at the Hudson Business Lounge to perform a mass mock interview. It was one of the coolest experiences I've had in a PR class. Each student had two mock job interviews, and one mock informational interview. The whole process only took about an hour, but it was an hour jam-packed with suggestions, contact information, and in my case, lots of laughter.

The event opened up with a 15-minute presentation by Jeff Carrigan of Big Shoes Network, a company designed to locate and place people in PR jobs between Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Mr. Carrigan was a hoot; you could tell that he wanted to keep our attention, and he certainly did. He gave us a lot of information very quickly, but the best part was that he encouraged us to add him on LinkedIn. He said that he'd add anyone in the business, because networking is key to advancement. I took advantage of that invitation very quickly.

After the initial presentation, we began our interview process. My very fist interview was fantastic! I got to speak with a fellow motorcycle-lover who works at Milwaukee Harley-Davidson as a specialist in eMarketing for the company. I was so grateful for his laid-back attitude. He put me ease very quickly, and offered very helpful hints on my resume layout. I also appreciated his compliments! He could have been overly critical and dashed my hopes completely, but he looked at the interview from a teaching standpoint and gave me hints on what to do better and reinforced the things that I did well.

My second interview was with a marketing professor from UW-Whitewater. She was so helpful and informative! She paid close attention to the motions I made and the body language I presented. She gave me excellent feedback on what experiences to focus on within an interview, and even wrote me little notes about what I did well and what I could improve on. This included what I had on my resume and my business cards (which, fortunately, she liked). I also was impressed with how available she made herself. She stressed that if I had any questions I could contact her for advice and information.

My third interview was my informational interview. I was surprised to see a former classmate sitting in the interview area, but it was a very happy kind of surprise. My interviewer had been out of school for only a year, but was already employed at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and was head-over-heels for the company. She gave me some amazing advice, not the least of which was to BE PICKY! She reminded me that you don't have to take the first internship or first job offered to you. Beyond that, she also reminded me that if you take a job you don't have to stay with it forever. She mentioned a company she had worked with previously, and while it was ok, it wasn't the perfect job for her. Thankfully she found her job as a development and donor services assistant at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. We also have lunch plans to discuss the non-profit sector further. I'm very excited!

Overall, I found this event to be extremely helpful. I think in the future it could be beneficial to make the interviews a little bit longer. 15 minutes was time enough for the basics, but if I could have had 20 or 25 it would have been even better. I can't wait to use the feedback I got in the future!

Cision, Vocus, and BurrellesLuce

 
Earlier this week our Public Relations Tactics II class was visited by a PR professional named Steve Staedler. He spent time explaining Cision and ways to integrate social media into modern PR. Unfortunately, I was ill on the day that Steve Staedler came to speak, so I missed his presentation. However, I was able to do some research on different companies specializing in software for PR.

The three companies I compared were BurrellesLuce, Cision, and Vocus. The first thing I looked for was a pricing sheet. Vocus presented a very helpful guide. Directly under their "Software" tab you were able to click on pricing, which took you to a pricing break-down. You were also able to compare all plans, and see which one fit your company or needs the best. Cison and BurrellesLuce were a bit differently. To receive a quote from either of those companies you needed to either call or fill out a form requesting information. The pricing wasn't readily available, and when I tried to call the company/they tried to call me we had a hard time catching each other. It would have been very helpful to at least have some kind pricing guide.

All of the websites were easy to navigate, which was helpful. I did notice some differences in wording and labeling on the sites, however. BurrellesLuce under their "Service" tab labeled Media Outreach, Monitoring, and Reporting. Vocus had Advanced PR and Marketing. Cision never specifically specified in their drop-down menu, but more research came up with more information.

All three websites also had options for blogs, resources, and support. The representatives that I spoke to all seemed very knowledgeable and eager to help, which I appreciated. Being mainly in-the-dark about these software companies, being able to speak to someone with obvious understanding made the hunt for information much easier.

I also found the "About Us" sections very helpful. You were able to look at Press Releases, news stories, and ways to contact professionals on all of the websites, though some took more digging to find. Nothing was exceptionally hard to find, but there were some areas that you had to click more than twice to find the links or information.

Overall, I feel like the companies all seemed fairly comparable, though they didn't all specialize in exactly the same things. I wish that all of the companies had a price sheet, but I appreciated that all of the representatives I spoke to were polite and very helpful. I never felt dismissed even though I told them I was simply a student seeking information. Quite honestly, I had expected some resentment, but I never perceived any at least.

In case you'd like to do extra research on your own, you can visit Bulldog Reporter for a more chart-style breakdown of these companies and others within the same realm. Happy learning!

Amy Paul Presents:

One of the hardest parts about nearing graduation is thinking about what you're going to do after school is done. The real world is so much different than college; there's no extra credit, there's not always someone to tell you what to do, and all the rules for for what is expected of you change. Making the transition gracefully is not always easy. However, when Amy Paul spoke about her entrance into the professional world, she made it seem like it was something that anyone could do.

Amy graduated from UW-Whitewater in 2011. Originally a music major, she switched to Public Relations halfway through her time at the school, and worked extra time to make up for what she missed. She joined PRSSA, applied for and received multiple internships, and she began networking almost immediately. As she continued on with the program, she added more and more responsibility, accepting different offices within PRSSA and attending national conferences for PR students. She landed a job almost immediately after graduation, and began her journey within the realm of professional copywriting and PR.

Now, Amy works primarily as Interactive Account Coordinator for Ascedia, while maintaining a website for purchasing photos that she set up for an internship she held during her time at UWW for the Milwaukee Admirals. She talked us through her past internships and work experience, and had excellent tips for making yourself marketable in a field full of knowledgeable people. Some of her tips were:

1. Always dress the part. Professional is always best, but if the office is casual you may be to. But make sure you're never the most laid-back one there.
2. Search out responsibility. If you finish a task, ask for another. If you have time, seek out projects. The harder you work, the more invested you'll be seen as. 
3. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Most people would rather you ask and complete the task correctly the first time than skip the question and have to redo the project because of it.

One thing that I found very impressive about Amy was that she didn't wait for opportunity. She seized it, and if it seemed to be lacking, she created her own. I hope to take that approach myself, no matter where life takes me personally and professionally. 

To learn more about Amy Paul you can visit her Twitter, her LinkedIn or her Webs account. 

The PR Student

         My name is Jessie Pinkstaff! I am a senior at UW-Whitewater, and when I'm not doing things involved with school, I work at Starbucks as a shift manager and enjoy longboarding, reading, rollerblading, and spending time with my friends (of course. What a standard fact). I am enjoying my time within the PR-realm, and the things that I'm learning from the classes I'm taking.
         Public relations has shown itself to be a topic of study intertwined with my major. As you can tell from the title of my blog, I am a psychology major, but I am also a PR minor. I decided on PR as my minor initially because I wanted to learn more about how to relate to people and share messages with them. The farther I get into the class requirements for this minor, however, the more I see that psychology and PR are very closely related. For example, perception is a very important field in psychology. In PR-Tactics II we will be covering perception as well, with a bit of a different focus. However, both versions of perception are linked. Both PR and psych study Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as well, and focus on the needs of people as a way to best reach them.
        I am a psychology major because I want to help and understand people. I plan to continue on to graduate school for community counseling, and eventually specialize in children's counseling as well as OCD and anxiety disorder therapy. I can't wait to look into this class and the materials and relate them to psychology, and to learn more about the finesse behind public relations. It requires a specific touch to be successful in this area, and while it may not be the life-long answer for me, I love learning the inner workings of PR.