It’s no easy thing, landing a role you enjoy with an agreeable firm, least of all with the current lack of available positions being advertised. As the cliche goes, standing out from the crowd is the only sure fire way to get yourself an interview, let alone hired, but now more than ever this is becoming difficult to achieve.
To quote another statement from someone or other: “everything that can be done is being done, or has been done.??? Of course that’s spurious at best, but there’s a degree of truth to the statement, albeit served with too much pessimism. Because, in a world of widespread access to advanced technology and instant communication, creating something genuinely unique is far from easy. Just think of the last time you stumbled on a website that lived up to its promise of difference.
It’s not impossible, mind, as Smoking Gun’s recent Account Executive recruit Anne-Marie Bailey proved this year when she blogged (not blagged) her way into a job here at our fine Quay Street office. An MA student studying Public Relations at the University of Sunderland, we were blown away by her approach to one particular assignment, specifically the creation and maintenance of a blog.
Raising the Profile was born, wherein another age old mantra was followed as Anne-Marie wrote about what she knew- in this instance getting to grips with the PR world as a further education student. Better yet, she then added to this by following the second of our key blogging rules, ensuring that the information posted was informative, well written, and useful for visitors.
Interviews with experienced PR practitioners, who offered advice on finding work, news stories and opinion pieces all helped build a respectable following of likeminded young hopefuls. As did Twitter conversations with experts, and the subsequent analysis, again with the focus being on a specific target audience, namely aspiring academics in the discipline.
Of course, the CIPR’s recommendation helped too, and moreover points to the quality of Anne-Marie’s work; the reason for our decision to enlist her skills. To those looking for a foot in the door of this often appealing, unarguably demanding sector the message is simple, then. Be prepared to work hard, not to mention think professionally for a shot at a desk, and be willing to go that extra mile in order to impress. After all, public relations is an industry that relies on its practitioners’ ability to catch the eye, and leave an unforgettable first impression.