Amybeth Hale - Research Goddess

I keep seeing so many similarities between PR practices and recruiting, sourcing, and research practices - could it be because they are both service-oriented? (duh) I read this great article this morning in The Council of PR Firms‘ The Firm Voice - PR Firms Differ on the Best Way to Train Outstanding Account Executives. This article talks with some executives in the PR industry and asks them their thoughts on how to work most effectively with their clients, as well as what they believe are good qualities to possess as a successful PR professional. Most of what is discussed could also directly apply to developing client/recruiter relationships. Here are a couple of snippets:

• “Some of the most important skills an account service person should have include being service-minded, being able to manage expectations, being accountable, being able to communicate frequently, and working with a client in the spirit of partnership…”
• …”we are counselors to our clients and [that] we should be framing a strategy for our clients, not the other way around. We need to be 10 steps ahead of our clients…”
• “…the biggest mistakes also include not being aggressive enough, being afraid to make a suggestion, and taking something for granted…”

I encourage you to read the entire article and learn how many similarities there are in our methods of operation!

Bill Bradley, an editorial assistant at Vanity Fair, asks for ideas on how he can “be more lame and attract more fans” to Vanity Fair’s Facebook page. Because if he doesn’t, his boss says he’s canned. Seriously - check out the article on Ragan. Interesting publicity stunt here, as Bill is using all kinds of on- and off-line methods, including flyers and sandwich boards, to get people to be his friend on Facebook. Whether or not it’s true that he’ll actually lose his job if he doesn’t make his goal of 10,000 friends by August 5th, it’s still and interesting, and slightly cheesy, way to gain more fans for the Facebook page. In Bill’s words, “the surest way to accumulate 10,000 fans is to transform oneself into a class-A stalker…” I’m curious how many researchers and sourcers have been accused in some fashion of being stalkers. hehehe…

So, is this what it’s come to? We’re being forced make friends to preserve our employment? I wonder what’s next, paying people to interview with us? Oh wait, that’s already been done

I loved this article! I personally believe that the degree to which you are affected by a “recession” is directly related to how much you dwell upon it, but I digress….article written by Darryl Salerno, It’s Not the Economy, Stupid, outlines some ways to make sure business continues as usual even when faced with an economic slide. Main points from the article:

• APPROPRIATE CUTBACKS: With 3/4 of all expenses tied up in compensation and rent, scrimping on incidentals like travel, dues & subscriptions, new business, etc. won’t make much of a dent for cutbacks.
• RECRUIT/RETAIN: The only thing agencies have to sell is the time of their staff; hire/fire decisions should be made on the basis of performance, not profits. AND - if an excellent new hire becomes available, you should jump at the chance to bring him or her on board.
• BEWARE OF FREE STUFF: Don’t keep your staff “busy” by providing extra services to your existing clients for free; it’s hard to go back when your clients get used to these freebies.
• RAMP UP NEW BIZ: Never slow down on new business development!

Read the whole article here- the thought processes apply to many business areas well beyond PR, and the author knows a thing or two about business financials and profitability (he’s been CAO/CFO/CEO of some pretty well-known companies!)

Cool resource for those folks who’ve been affected by layoffs in the print news area:
Praying for Papers

Lots of print publications are feeling the pain that online media has been inflicting, and this is a nice thing that the Koehlers are doing. Not only is it a good resource for those of us in recruiting to see what news sources are having layoffs, but it’s a place for encouragement for those affected by the downsizing and struggling to stay afloat.

Have you been affected by news source downsizing, like last month’s wave of layoffs at the NY Times, the Seattle Times, Ziff Davis (eWeek, PC Mag, Baseline, CIO Insight, etc.), and now this month at Reuters? Waggener Edstrom is hiring for positions that you might be interested in! Check them out:

Editor in Chief - Seattle
Web Publisher/Production Coordinator - Portland
Senior Web Publisher/Production Coordinator - Seattle
Digital Media Producer - Seattle

My new ‘friend’ in PR, Staci Stringer, has written a nice post on her blog entitled “Digital Dirt“, in which she talks about the importance of keeping a good image online especially while job-seeking. I’m glad to see that college professors are taking this seriously and empowering their students with proper thought processes while preparing them to enter the work world. Staci describes one professor who used a classroom demonstration to drive a point home:

“…he searches for his students on Facebook before his first class and when he calls role he pulls up interesting photos of his students. He says, ‘If I can find it, your potential future internships and employers can find it, too.’ This sticks with students, because it embarrasses the student.”

Please read Staci’s article here on her blog, If I Knew All The Words. This is a good read for those who are currently job seeking!

I had the absolute pleasure of spending about an hour with Joel Postman, a PR contact referred to me by the wonderful Marie Domingo, while I was in San Francisco. We chatted after the Web 2.0 conference was officially over and I was waiting around for my red-eye flight. While we chatted, we threw around some ideas and discussed how some folks who blog, regardless of the industries in which they write, are just downright mean to both their readers and their colleagues. Joel told me he’d been thinking about writing a post about this very issue, and I just read it here. I think there is so much truth to this and I’m glad he had the gumption to write it out. He calls out those who have “gained their fame through a first-mover advantage and are ultimately, well, jerks who use bullying and other questionable tactics to generate traffic.”

But, he says, there is good news in that the very social aspect of blogging will eventually show the true colors of these folks and expose them for the jerks that they are!

I will add a bit of advice to this, and that is to all the folks out there who are relatively unknown bloggers - don’t let the cewebrity jerk bloggers intimidate you, and don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you yourself have to be a jerk in order to become popular. Be true to your writing style and have patience And remember that what goes around eventually comes back around!

Read Joel’s whole post right here!

I just came across this post today, and I thought it was a VERY well-detailed account of how one can survive on $57k as a PR professional in NYC. The blog author, “Madame X“, is a 30-something single woman living in Brooklyn, NY, and she writes about how much money she makes, what she spends it on, how much she saves, how she budgets, etc. She had an anonymous contributor, dubbed ‘Bama Babe’, who happens to be a Senior Account Executive at a financial services PR agency in the city. I found it very interesting to read the detail to which this young PR professional outlines her financial situation.

Bama Babe’s background:

• 26-year-old single female
• Born and raised in southern Alabama
• Graduated from the University of Alabama in 2004 with majors in public relations and economics
• Moved to NYC in July 2004 to work at a financial services PR agency; been employed by that agency ever since

While she is never named, she goes into some great detail on how she watches her expenses and saves for the future, while remembering to reward herself along the way. For example, she packs her breakfast, lunch, and a snack every day rather than to “let my money slip away on $10 sandwiches for lunch and random take-out for dinner and not have anything left for a nice dinner out every once in a while”. She also takes advantage of what NYC has to offer along the lines of free and/or cheap events, such as the free concerts in Central Park the New York Philharmonic puts on in the summertime, or watching movies in Bryant Park. She gives herself a weekly cash allowance to cut down on frivolous expenses, but not forgetting to reward herself she allots part of her annual bonus to a piece of Tiffany jewelry. She says of NYC, “It is absolutely possible to live here and have a full life without making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.”

I think this is a great read for soon-to-be college graduates, or young professionals who are wondering if you can make it in the big city as a new professional in the workplace. I would encourage you to check out the whole article!

A new colleague and local Cincinnatian, Kevin Dugan, pointed me toward this article by Max Kalehoff, discussing some recommendations given by Brian Morrissey, Adweek’s Digital Editor, to PR pitchers on Twitter. I think the advice provided applies to recruiters and researchers who utilize Twitter for business purposes as well. Check out a few of the tips Brian gives here that were actual Twitter messages he sent, and substitute “PR” with “recruiting”:

• Spam Is Spam Is Spam: “Dear PR people: you spam me enough thru email, must you use Facebook too? Why not drop by the apartment? Let yourself in, get comfortable.”
• Aspire To Great Work, Not So-Called Expertise: “everyone wants to be an expert. would be nice if same people had actual examples of cool stuff they’re doing. lots of talk, less action.” [this made me think of some of IBM's new commercials which say "Stop Talking. Start Doing"]
• Engage Your Prospects Selectively And With Respect: “the PR world is just as much spray and pray as the ad world. I’m doused every single day.”  
• Personal Touches Matter: “arrived to my cube to find a note left for me on my chair. can’t say i’ve gotten one of those in some time.”
• Don’t Lie About Your Affiliation: “Bothered by PR agency flacks who say they’re ‘with’ a company. They’re not. They’re with a PR agency hired by the company.”
• Paid Endorsements Are Not Credible: “Breaking: Interactive TV vendor pays for research finding consumers have “increasing appetite for interactive TV.”

For the rest of the list and this informative post, click here.

I checked out this post by Karen Russell, who teaches a Word of Mouth Communications class at the University of Georgia. This list was compiled by her class regarding the “social media tools that ad/PR students should know how to use, as well as the skills and characteristics that they should cultivate, in order to be prepared for 21st-century jobs.” I think it’s great that students are thinking about this stuff before entering the workplace! Even though made for PR students, both of these lists are good things for internet researchers and sourcers to note when thinking about the skills needed and the resources that will be helpful in developing a successful research/sourcing career. Check out the list of social media tools they came up with here; do YOU use all these resources?

Social Media Tools

• Blogging
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Podcasting
• Flickr
• Facebook, MySpace (social networks)
• Wikipedia
• Google docs, chat, groups, etc.
• RSS feeds and aggregators
• Social bookmarking (del.icio.us)
• Search engines including blog searches
• Second Life
• LinkedIn
• VoIP, such as Skype
• Mobile media
• Interactive gaming

I’m so excited - my first quote in a major publication! I interviewed with Erik Sherman a little over a month ago for an article he was writing on how to get a job through networking. The article was just published in AdvertisingAge a couple days ago, titled The New Way To Network For A Job. An interesting article for all social networkers outlining some stories on how people are using social media to find new employment today, as well as how companies are using social media to seek potential candidates. My boss’s boss, Claire Lematta, was also quoted in the article. Check it out!