Monday, April 26, 2010

oh how i love thee blackberry.

not so long ago (Easter weekend to be exact) i underwent a digital detox. i cut myself from all things digital. i was good. i didn't slip up once. it was refreshing. i felt like a human. one of our friends even brought over the much-hyped (and i must say awesome) iPad, and i touched it to slide a picture, but that was it. i promise.

monday rolled around and i was back on social networking- though not as incessantly as i previously was. fast forward a week later... engaged a little more. three/four weeks later - fully back into the addiction. yes, i've come to the realization that i may addicted to my blackberry and social media. it's dangerous. i can honestly say that i am not as bad as others i know. however, it still is pretty bad when i am having a conversation with my friends and i check my phone all the time. there is no need. i'm not missing out on anything. it is a silly infatuation and i need to quit.

yes it is a part of the culture i am enveloped in, though i'm beginning to feel there should be a place and time for it, and the place and time should not be all the time. does anyone have a blackberry patch i can apply to sooth the cravings?

first step i admit i have a problem. what's the 2nd step of the 12 step program? i guess i should do some research. where's my blackberry so i can google it? :)

how do you all feel about this? do you spend as much time checking on the digital world as i do? i know i'm weird, but am i a freak of nature... wait, maybe you shouldn't answer that.

-kteb <-- that's my twitter handle for those of you don't know (another social media reference)

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

it's not all about you...

i read a lot of blogs. some are public relations-specific, some not. but one that i read almost on a daily basis is PR Squared from Shift Communications. this blog provides a great insight into the public relations world and teaches me a lot about the industry i am in. this specific blog post every single person can relate to and learn from, whether you are currently looking for a job or not. sometimes i think we take things for granted and we are expected things to be handed to us. this just proves that people are not willing to hand things to our generation. we do actually have to do some work... so here it is, i just wanted to provide you with a good read. enjoy.

-kteb

Open Letter to Millennials (PR Industry Edition)
Riffing off of @BillSledzik’s terrific (and ultimately helpful) rant, “Dear Millennials: Your Parents Lied to You,” I wanted to spend a minute talking to these same Millennials as a prospective employer. Here’s an Open Letter to Millennials (PR Industry Edition).

Hi gang –

When Professor Sledzik suggests that the real-world is tougher than you think, he’s spot-on. Everything counts when you are job prospecting in the early days, including your writing style and use of grammar in resumes and cover letters; your clothes; your advance research and relevant questions in the interview; and, your attention to the niceties of follow-up.

Let me be even more specific. When you are hunting for a job, it’s not about you. It’s about me, the employer. I recently chatted with a fellow industry vet who regaled me with stories of twenty-something job candidates whose questions included, “Why don’t you tell me why I’d want this job?” (That’s a terrible approach, in case you’re wondering.)

Your cover letter should be flawless and interesting. Grammatical errors are perfectly acceptable — so long as you don’t mind if we immediately trash your letter. Get a friend, parent or professor to take a look. Does the letter stand out, in a professional way, or is it generic? Don’t try to be extra clever, just be sincere. I expect that you’ve done some research on potential employers and have made MY agency your top choice. So, why is that? And how can you help us?

Your resume should not be overstuffed with extraneous details. I already know you don’t have a ton of experience; I don’t really expect it. Meanwhile, however, before you even send in that cover letter and resume, you should already be fairly visible on Twitter, Facebook and/or your own blog. You’ve got time to surf the Web for fun; so carve out 30 minutes a day to post relevant content that prospective employers will find when they Google your name (which they will, by the way). If I already know OF you, I’ll be glad to get to actually know you; I’ll be excited to see your resume come through.

Your choice of clothes is also important, when you come in for the interview. Once you get the job, you can wear jeans to the office pretty much every day. UNTIL then, wear a professional outfit. We need assurances that you care about your appearance, that we can trust you to wear appropriate attire to a client meeting.

Take out the nose ring for now, too. While it may be a “part of your personality,” in the job search it’s about sublimating the all-important Y-O-U for the sake of the organization. Yes, we do have a couple of employees who sport (subtle) body-art and metal accouterments… but they weren’t worn (or showing) during the interview.

Got the job interview scheduled? Great! Now do some research. Read the agency’s blog (or all of them, if there is more than one). Read several weeks’ worth of posts. Take a look at the client list. Take a look at the newsroom. Read the bios of the principals and other top execs. Read up on the competition, too. Then, COME WITH QUESTIONS. If you don’t have a handful of thought-provoking questions, it’s a fail, dude.

And if you’ve been in a round-robin of interviews, and exhausted all your questions along the way, I still suggest you never tell your last interviewer, “All my questions have been answered by your colleagues — thanks, though!” Instead, either a) re-ask those same questions, to make the interviewer feel important, or better yet, b) ask follow-up questions based on previous answers. This shows that you can think in-the-moment. That’s a big plus.

OK, now, you GOT THE JOB! Congrats! Give me 2 more minutes to suggest what you do with it…

The Millennial Generation is already known for being self-involved and in-a-rush. Luckily, many of you have the talent and drive to impress curmudgeonly Gen-X and Boomer employers, and we soon learn to look past those smarmy qualities. But the fact remains that those perceptions will be hard to shake. It will only get worse if you engage in a lot of job-hopping to find the perfect fit.

My advice then — and you may see it as biased — is to stay put for a while. I am talking 3 – 5 years, at least. There is no such thing as a perfect fit. You must create the perfect fit. This is your apprenticeship period. It is supposed to suck. There are supposed to be crummy days when you feel under-appreciated. Such days will occur no matter who signs your paycheck.

But there are rewards for loyalty, I promise. When I look around the table of my senior staff meetings at SHIFT, for example, most of the people at the meeting have been with the Agency for 5 – 10 years. Some of them started out as interns, and now they run million-dollar teams. All of ‘em are under 40 (i.e., it doesn’t take forever). I am sure there were MANY days in the course of their careers at SHIFT when they felt underpaid or under-appreciated. But sooner or later, those situations were rectified; adjustments were made; it is a process — one that required loyalty to something bigger than their bank account.

Meanwhile, I can’t tell you how many resumes I receive from “former vice presidents” of large PR agencies who are pretty clearly not VP material. They were overpaid and over-promoted — prizes often awarded to folks who skip from agency to agency in search of a new title or extra $$$. And when the economic downturn made that fact tough to hide, they find themselves scrapping for Account Manager positions.

Summing up? Cultivate your personal brand. Do your research. Commit to quality. Align yourself to the agency’s cause for the long-term. Remember that it’s not all about you. Then go kick some ass.

Thanks for listening,

Your Future Employer (who is HIRING, by the way)

Thursday, April 15, 2010

hell night at east coast grill - a c&k in the city video review.

whoever said this was a good idea was a liar. i personally can say that i have never experienced that much pain from food before in my life. we like spicy food, but this was brutal. the experience was worth it and we really enjoyed the restaurant. enjoy the video and we hope we were able to explain the excruciating pain that was endured.

we're ready to head back and see what east coast grill has to offer on non-hell night.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

5 miles to a croissant and beer... everyone needs goals right?

i have to set goals. on sunday i am running a 5-miler on a 'fairly flat' course... the fairly adjective scares me. in running, it's either flat or not. so we'll see how that turns out. however, sam adams brewery is a sponsor and as a sponsor they deliver beer. beer, you say? well, it's been said that a beer after running is just as hydrating as water. if there are studies that have been done, i'm believing it.

the beer isn't the only thing motivating me, my roommate who is also running with me is a huge fan of a place called canto 6. anytime there is mention of something going on in JP, she plans her day around going to canto 6. i am looking forward to going to this acclaimed bakery and i hoping it holds up to its reputation. however, i think we are going before the race. i think ill have to save my croissant until after the race or else i don't think i'll be able to run.

the real motivation really comes in to play because i am going to vegas in a few weeks and i am really trying to be in tip top shape. not for any real reason other than to feel good about myself. setting little goals and running these kinds of races definitely helps me achieve the 'feel good' feeling. i ran 5 miles today on the treadmill (which i hate) and it wasn't too bad. my time could have been a little better, but at least i did it.

for me it's all about setting the little goals, achieving them, then setting bigger ones. challenging myself never gets old and it's the best feeling to accomplish something you set your mind to.

*this blog was a way for me to put it in writing that i will run on sunday. i will run on sunday. i will run on sunday. i won't back out. i won't back out. i will run on sunday.

hasta pasta
-kteb