One Tip to Scoring Your First Job

As this semester comes to an end, I have a lot to look forward to in the weeks to come. This semester has taken a lot of hard work and dedication to get to where I am today. One of the most rewarding semesters has led me to know more about my future career in public relations as well as graduation.

            As I step into the next phase of my life, I already know the difficulty of finding a job in any career field. Thanks to PR daily, I now know how to better my chances of getting into my career field of choice. One of the many things my professors have told me to do while looking and applying for jobs is to network in order to get my foot in the door, and that is one of the few tips PR Daily has stated in this article.

            Networking is one of the most important things a public relations professional should have under their belt before entering their career. It is also important to network in order to find a job. While networking can be a challenge for some, it is important to be confident while meeting new people. Showing that you have confidence in who you are makes others feel they can be confident in referring you to a position at their place of work.

            It’s not all about the people you meet; it’s also about how you maintain those relationships over time. No matter if you’re in a job now or searching for one, keeping the relationships you have made can be beneficial in the future. I like to think about the importance of networking and relationships with others for jobs, as being just as important it is to network and maintain a relationship with a reporter in our careers as public relations consultants. If you happen to quit your job, but you’ve maintained a relationship with a reporter, that relationship may transfer over to the next job you get.

            Applying to jobs now is much more of a networking game than it used to be. No one should rely on sending a resume and a cover letter in over the Internet hoping to gain an interview. According to my nonprofit’s professor, companies receive one hundred to a thousand resumes for just one job opening. It’s important to stand out from the crowd with an impeccable cover letter and resume, but it’s more beneficial if you have a connection within the company because it is more likely you will receive an interview.

            As I have been thinking about putting my resume and cover letter out there, I should remind myself that I am not alone in this process. Many of us have large support systems that may be able to help us network with someone who can steer us in the correct direction in finding our first job. So take time to meet up with a professor who may have information on people who are looking for students to fill a new position at their company. Professors are a great start in networking. Act as if the professor is your reporter that you want to take with you into your next career move, they may be able to help you out more than you know.    

Becoming More Ethical Over Time J:4470

Prior to my ethics class this semester, I was unaware how my morals and values could transfer into my career in public relations. Throughout the class, it became clearer to me about how to act ethically in a sticky situation and how to apply my morals and values to my career.

In a world where many see the media as unethical, this class has taught me how to make better decisions to change how the public views our work. On the first day of class, my professor asked us to question what value we believed was most important to us. I found that there is no right answer to this question and that all values are important in making ethical decisions in our careers as advertisers and public relations consultants. I also found that when everyone has a different moral code, it can sometimes be hard to come to a decision on what is right or wrong in a difficult situation.

Throughout the class, we learned how to apply classical ethical theories to sticky situations that corporations faced throughout the years. We closely analyzed how each decision that a corporation made was either ethical or not. By applying these ethical theories to these cases, I began to learn how to apply ethical theories to my future career as a public relations consultant. Not only did it teach me how to apply ethical theories in the work place, but it also taught me how to work cohesively within a group. Working within a group made it tough to agree on what ethical theories applied where sometimes, but it was fun trying to come to an agreement that everyone was okay with.

Not only did this class teach us how to become more ethical in our decisions, we were also pushed to become better writers. Every lesson on the correct usage of  “they’re”, “their”, and “there” will stick with me as I grow to become a better writer in my career. Not only will this lesson stick with me forever, but so will all of my professors little tricks for using apostrophes correctly. I will never forget the day my group received a zero for using an apostrophe incorrectly. In order to make up for it, she actually made us write a professional apology, as we might have to do if we make a major mistake with a client in the future. It was a great learning experience for my group and me.

As I entered this class four months ago, I was fearful of my professor. I had heard so many rumors that she was a tough grader and hard to please. I always found myself trying harder to get her approval, and for that I am also thankful because she pushed me to become a more thorough writer over time. I also thought that ethics would be boring, but she made it interesting by applying things we were actually interested in. Her ongoing joke throughout the semester was, “I can only keep this class interested if we’re talking about food or sex.” It’s funny to think college kids can only focus in a class when these two things are applied, but it’s true. I believe it’s important to apply humor to subjects that would otherwise be dry and boring. By making the class fun and interesting, this semester flew by. I truly had a great time in our ethics class and will always try to apply the things I’ve learned to my future career and my life. 

How to Reach One Million J:4460

Recently, the Humane Society of America’s Facebook page reached 1,000,000 “likes”. According to an article on the PR Daily’s website, the Humane Society hit 1,000,000 “likes” in November, four years after the launch of the Facebook page. There is a lot that can be learned from such a successful story.

            It’s important for every organization and company to have a social media presence, but it’s even more important how they use their online presence to their advantage. Utilizing every aspect of a social media site is also important. I will use Facebook and Twitter for my examples of using social media sites correctly for organizations and companies.

            There are many ways to keep followers and friends engaged using Twitter and Facebook. According to the Humane Society’s success story about reaching 1,000,000 “likes”, they constantly kept their followers in the know. The Humane Society would comment back to users’ comments on their page or they would post information or inspirational stories to their Facebook page to keep their followers interested.

            In a world where people have the choice to “friend” or “defriend” you, it is important to keep them interested in what you have to say on your Facebook and Twitter pages. One example of a poor use of Facebook is when three people walked onto a balcony in an apartment complex in Denton and it fell to the ground. Many people tried using the complex’s Facebook page to gather information about what had happened. Instead of using the opportunity to respond to their concerned “friends”, they deleted their Facebook page. This caused uproar of concern from the residents of the apartment complex who had questions that were never answered. The apartment complex had the right to pull down the page, but they should have considered rebuilding their reputation with their followers before pulling the site down.

Here are a few tips for organizations/companies to keep in mind to keep their Facebook users and Twitter followers engaged.

1. If a user asks/comments on the organization’s Facebook page, comment back even if it is just to say “Thank you.” Users’ appreciate businesses more if they make their Facebook pages personal.
2. Place photos/videos on the Facebook page. Studies have shown that video’s engage users 6 times more than a text status.
3. I have learned recently there are three appeals to use when trying to persuade a person to do something, whether it be “liking” a Facebook page or asking a person to donate money. The three appeals are: Ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is using credibility to persuade a user to do something. Pathos is using an emotional appeal to persuade someone to do something. Logos is the use of logic to persuade someone to do something. In order to engage users, use these three appeals to gain their attention on an organization’s/company’s Facebook or Twitter page.

It is always important to continuously engage users to gain their “likes” or “follows”. They are more likely to use the products an organization or company has if they feel the company is more personal. Every organization has the opportunity to be as successful as The Humane Society of America if they follow these tips while using social media sites. 

Privacy and Libel in Social Media j:4470

Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn can offer great coverage for organizations and companies worldwide. They not only offer exposure for these outlets, they also offer great publicity and capabilities for the little man like you and me.

            Unfortunately, in this day and age where everything can be found on the Internet, social media sites need to be careful about how they use personal information to gain a profit. I recently watched a show from MSNBC called “The Facebook Obsession”. It discussed everything from how people can meet their long-lost family members to how advertisers use Facebook to gather information to better reach their target audiences.

            Five years ago, I had no idea Facebook would be able to do the things it can today. I also had no qualms about inputting my personal information onto a website where I believed all of my information could be set to private. Years ago, Facebook was a closed site and only people using the website could find you. You could also hide yourself from other users if you wished. Now, Facebook has collaborated with advertisers to allow them to find their target audiences more easily. 

            Since the start of the site in 2004, Facebook has been caught a number of times breaching the privacy of their users. The most recent was in October of 2010 when they released statements acknowledging that they had breached their users privacy. For a website that has such a large amount of users’ personal information, they should know better. According to an article written by The Wall Street Journal, Facebook’s ability to give advertisers its users’ information was a breach of the users’ privacy. Internet tracking companies were even finding people who had placed their privacy settings on high.

            According to the show, “The Facebook Obsession”, advertisers can type in information for an ideal consumer and Facebook will show them who would most likely purchase the advertiser’s product. Once the advertiser has selected the ideal target market, the advertisement they choose will go directly to the targeted consumer’s Facebook page. Of course users have the right to choose whether or not they click on the ad, but the fact advertisers have this capability is wrong.

            Not only is privacy an issue with social media sites, libel is a problem as well. According to my ethics class, libel is defamation of an individual. “A defamatory statement is one that holds a person up to public hatred, ridicule, or scorn” and is usually written. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are vulnerable to allowing people to defame others because these sites have status and comment capabilities. In an article from the New York Times, a small town in Missouri resorted to using a website to discuss people’s personal business. Apparently, the website was clamored with negative posts from an anonymous source about the citizens of the small town. Although the posts were meant to cause harm to those they were intended for, not all defamatory statements are written to cause harm. Sometimes cruel things can be said about a person, but the writer may not intend to harm the person’s reputation. Unfortunately, even if one doesn’t mean to cause harm to another, the repercussions can be damaging.

            One teacher lost her job for using Facebook to complain about how much she disliked working for the school district she was apart of. According to the episode, “The Facebook Obsession”, she had no idea how the school found out about her complaints. In a world where everyone thinks what they have to say is important or funny, Facebook can be a terrible place to write personal opinions. I always remember my mom telling me, “words will come back to get you in the end,” and now I truly believe her. Nothing is safe on the Internet and we should always be aware of that when we update our status or comment on a friend’s wall.