Archive for Public Relations
Companies want to hire applicants who demonstrate superior social skills and network contacts, especially in business, marketing and sales. Social networks allow people to network effectively within their industry and leverage media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to complement their efforts to find better jobs. The best social media efforts enhance job searches, but applicants still need to follow traditional job-search methods to increase their chances of finding suitable job openings.
The social media allow applicants to study potential employers, connect with current and former employees, and learn about company brands. People can find out the details about organizations that companies prefer to keep hidden. Former employees often see things quite differently than corporate media outlets describe. Job seekers can find out whether they really fit the company’s profile before committing to time-consuming application processes or jobs that hold little promise for the future.
Strategy for leveraging the social media includes approaching all social media posting and interacting in a professional way, staying focused on the goals job seekers want to achieve. People seeking to make career changes should first polish their resumes and change their social media profiles to match that information. This technique does not involve exaggeration or lying, but simply exercising discretion to include only those interests that companies would perceive as benefits. For example, if a company has a conservative reputation, then job seekers should avoid listing personal information that suggests liberal leanings.
Networking with other professionals within an industry helps develop contacts for employment and personal references, and job seekers can strengthen their reputations as experts in their given fields. Most dynamic organizations use social media for marketing and research, so people who take part in the networks with strong media presences show potential employers that candidates care about their images and have essential media savvy they could use in their jobs if hired.
Remember that serious recruiters also use the social media to investigate potential employees, so job seekers should avoid posting information that could prove embarrassing or compromising. Bullhorn Reach recruiting techniques offer software that helps employers find and recruit talent, and careful companies can monitor their employees’ social activity, personal brand choices, and other online activity. Strong social media presences in certain industries could lead to companies recruiting job seekers, so applicants should always keep their social activity within the bounds of good taste.
Social media research allows applicants to create focused, relevant resumes and cover letters that highlight the qualifications particular companies are seeking. Savvy job seekers cannot afford to ignore the important influence social media have on modern business.
This is a guest post from Sam Peters, a blogger who enjoys writing about career development.
Over on the Paradigm Staffing blog, I interviewed two tech PR agencies about their strategies for employee retention. From Employee Stock Purchase options and cherry picked office spaces where everyone has parking, to non-negotiable, must-have reviews and cash paid Trivia days, two leading technology PR agencies talk about their ideas on how to keep talent. Read it here: How PR Agencies Retain Employees in a Competitive Job Market
You dream of landing the perfect job at a public relations agency, working with the most interesting clients in the industry and getting them all sorts of public recognition. I’m always amazed at how some PR pros are brilliant at their jobs, but when it comes to selling themselves in a job interview, they crumble. Where did that confident, over-achieving, media rockstar go? Apply some media relations 101 rules on your job search will help pitch yourself as the perfect fit for your next job.
- Do Your Homework. It gets tiring sending cover letter after cover letter. You’ll be tempted to just use a template and be done with it. But spending just a little time digging into the company you want to work for will pay off. For starters, it’s impressive because you have already set yourself apart from 90% of the applications the company receives. Unfortunately, most people try to shortcut the job search. Making a tiny mention in your cover letter that shows you’ve read through the company’s website, blog, or recent news can show the hiring manager that you put thought into your letter, and that you really are interested in working for this company.
- Know Who You’re Pitching. Sometimes those “Dear Hiring Manager” generic openings are unavoidable, but if you do a little research (see #1), you may be able to get the name of the person who’s interviewing for the role you want. Look on the company’s site, and call if you need to in order to get this information.
- Customize Your Pitch. Both your cover letter and your resume should be tweaked slightly for each PR job you apply for. One might look for industry-specific experience, while another may want someone with a wider depth of experience. Play to what they’re looking for, and highlight your skills to match. If you are agency-side, a quick blurb about each client you represent helps set the tone and show how you are the security software PR expert they are looking for. Don’t make the reader think too much to connect the dots.
- Hesitate Before Sending an Attachment. Not everyone wants attachments. Read through the job description carefully to see whether it mentions how the hiring manager would prefer to receive resumes. If you have an online link to your resume, include it in the cover letter.
- Proofread! Nothing looks sloppier than grammatical errors in your resume or cover letter. Everyone in the world must know this rule by now. Yet I’d say at least half of the applications I receive have some glaring issue. Go over each carefully, and ask a friend to do so as well, to ensure its perfection. Then, just like with a PR pitch, follow up. Give it a few days once you’ve submitted your application, and then check in to see when the hiring manager expects to make a decision.
This is a guest post by Alison Kenney.
- Ask any reporter for tips on pitching them and 9 times out of 10 they’ll say, “read my writing.” Here’s how that can help:
- If they repeatedly cover the same topic you can offer a resource in that area.
- Look at your pitch target’s headlines to get a sense of their preferred tone, format and style of writing.
- Understand what they’ve already covered and don’t re-pitch old stories.
- Reporters don’t like to be pitched stories that have already been written…if you bring up a past story, do it to offer a completely different angle or side.
- Check the AP Planner (@AP_Planner on Twitter) calendar for ideas that are timely – anniversaries of major events, etc.
- Link to, or reference, a story that has lots of stats.
- Think seasonal – what are the major trends and how can you tie your pitch to them?
- How does your story relate to major world events – e.g. the Olympics, presidential elections.
- Talk to your sales team – how do they pitch the product?
- Visualize your pitch as it would appear – with a headline, hook, quotes from different sources, etc.
- Think like a freelance writer and pitch story ideas to your editor that you can then plan to write yourself.
- Turn your story idea into a “top 10 tips” piece.
- Read different, “competing” media outlets – how are they covering a topic differently?
- Pitch a “resource” rather than a story – offer your client as an expert/authority and spell out the areas of expertise.
- Better yet, offer multiple resources for a story.
- Better still, offer a customer or someone “in the field” for perspective.
- Take a look at the competition – what articles have they been in? Don’t copy, but use them for inspiration.
- When you look at how the media covers your industry, what story aren’t they covering?
- Pitch your spokespeople as profile subjects.
- What do your clients, customers and prospects care about? Frame your story around that.
- Google your story idea.
- Read good writing.
- Can your story be pitched as a video interview?
- Can your spokespeople speculate about the outcome of an upcoming event?
- Do you have a sample product the media can preview?
- Anticipate requests for artwork like high resolution photos.
- If you’re pitching a trend, how do you prove it’s a trend? i.e. do you have multiple witnesses/spokespeople/examples?
- Consider the other side(s) to your pitch (since the editor will), what’s missing, what else will they ask about?
- Include helpful hyperlinks in your pitch to sites like the company’s homepage, the spokesperson’s bio, books they’ve written, authoritative industry sites, etc.
- Suggest meeting for coffee.
- Get to know your spokespeople – what are their hobbies, life histories, interests, unique accomplishments?
- Do you have video examples of your spokespeople in action to share with a new broadcast pitch target?
- Do you have a story about something that didn’t work or a problem that you faced that you can share?
- Brainstorm.
- For inspiration, consume media that is completely different from your targets (e.g. morning talk shows if you regularly pitch high tech trade media)
- Ask the writer how they prefer to receive pitches and what they’re currently working on
- Read letters to the editor and comments on blog posts for new approaches and to consider the “other side of the story”
- Before you pitch, read the writer’s blog, Twitter stream, LinkedIn profile, Facebook page (if it’s public)
- Note the outlet’s production cycle and deadlines so you understand the best times to make contact.
- Localize a national story.
- Nationalize a local story.
- Summarize your story idea and say it out loud; if a stranger was listening would they find it interesting?
- Explain to your kids what you do and what story you’re trying to tell and then ask them to explain it back to you.
- Remember “if it bleeds, it leads” – how does your story angle play into readers’ deepest concerns?
- A pitch is different from other marketing communications – it’s your opportunity to tailor it and deviate from the approved company messaging statements.
- Think about what would make your spokesperson a desirable resource to THIS writer you’re pitching; is it because of what the spokesperson does? Is it because of their past achievements? Or their current goal/job? Their past or current affiliations? Does their gender or other socio-cultural status make them appealing?
- If you’re struggling with the right angle, try writing your pitch in more than one way. Focus on a different angle for each new pitch.
- Read HARO or other pitch query services to get a sense of what topics are trending.
- Think like a reporter and ask yourself where they get their story ideas – scanning news wires, industry blogs, anticipating upcoming IPOs, new product launches, etc.?
Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.
This is a guest post by Alison Kenney.
I started thinking about this blog post quite awhile ago, well before Anne Marie Slaughter’s article on Why Women Can’t Have it All appeared in The Atlantic. I think Slaughter’s argument is fascinating (and seemingly never-ending), but I’d like to focus on something she, and many other people recently, have pointed out: that there are fewer women than men at the top rungs of corporate management.
This is fairly obvious in PR – you can literally see the inequity if you were to page through a recent issue of PR Week that features photos of the CEOs of the nation’s top PR firms. But what is striking is that, unlike other industries with a large number of male CEOs, PR is a predominately female profession: seventy percent of all PR professionals are female.
I don’t have an answer, or really even a speculation about why there are so few female CEOs in an industry that is dominated by female talent.
In addition to Slaughter, several champions of women’s rights have commented on the lack of women leaders:
In his Harvard Business Review blog post on Why Boards Need More Women, Yilmaz Arguden wrote: “While most CEOs recognize the importance of appointing directors of different ages and with different kinds of educational backgrounds and functional expertise, they tend to underestimate the benefits of gender diversity…When Fortune-500 companies were ranked by the number of women directors on their boards, those in the highest quartile in 2009 reported a 42% greater return on sales and a 53% higher return on equity than the rest…Experts believe that companies with women directors deal more effectively with risk. Not only do they better address the concerns of customers, employees, shareholders, and the local community, but also, they tend to focus on long-term priorities. Women directors are likely to be more in tune with women’s needs than men, which helps develop successful products and services. After all, women drive 70% of purchase decisions by consumers in the European Union and 80% of them in the United States.”
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO has said, “Women are not making it to the top. A hundred and ninety heads of state; nine are women. Of all the people in parliament in the world, thirteen per cent are women. In the corporate sector, women at the top – C-level jobs, board seats – tops out at fifteen, sixteen per cent.”
Betsy Myers, a former senior official in the Clinton Administration and authority on leadership, says, “Women are no longer an interest group. Women are 52 percent of the population, a majority in the workforce. Companies that have more women in top positions, and more women on boards, are more profitable…Despite advances for women in the workplace, many of the statistics are discouraging. Only 3.6 percent of Fortune 500 companies are led by female CEOs, and women hold only about 14 percent of senior management positions within those companies. Despite the fact that more women than men are earning college degrees, and that women continue to make the bulk of buying decisions, corporate America has been slow to reflect that in its leadership ranks.”
Myers, and others, are forging some innovative practices for helping women achieve leadership positions:
Bentley president Gloria Larson launched the Center for Women and Business a year ago and has brought Myers on as its CEO. A recent Boston Globe article reported that the Center aims to advance women at all stages, from business-school students to upper management.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton founded the Women in Public Service Institute at her alma mater as Wellesley College. The institute is part of the Women in Public Service Project, founded by Clinton, the U.S. State Department, and the sister schools Wellesley, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke and Smith, with the goal of putting more women into political leadership positions around the world. Clinton says the numbers show a global politics in which the voices of women often go unheard. Women occupy less than 20% of seats in parliaments and legislatures around the world, she said. The goal of the institute is to bring that number up to 50% by 2050.
With these lofty examples in mind, I wonder what we can do in PR to encourage women to lead? Do you know of any leadership programs that encourage women in our industry?
Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.
People power boils down to one thing: potential. Just ask Stan Duncan, Senior Executive Vice President of U.S. Human Resources and Global Head of Management for Westfield. In the 20-plus years that Stan Duncan has worked with human resources divisions in several multinational companies that offer small business credit cards. He’s learned a thing or two about what makes a good job candidate. He’s learned which specific resources are vital to those who are ultimately hired and, more importantly, which questions to ask those candidates. Duncan says that it’s all about the candidate opening up to tell you what they want, what they have done, what will make them successful, and most importantly: “Why they do what they do. ”
According to Duncan, having a prospective employee reveal what they see as their own abilities and competence is a surefire way to not only get a raw understanding of their pros and cons, but also to get an understanding of their ability to adapt and their potential to last in the long term. “We aren’t looking for super-humans; in my two decades as an HR executive, I’ve yet to meet one. We want people who are talented, but most importantly, willing to grow and change as the company grows and changes, too. I believe people who know a lot about themselves do the best selling themselves in an interview. Basically, make sure you’re introducing yourself, presenting the real you in the interview.”
Duncan is certainly not shy about his two decades’ of experience as an interviewer. That was proven when he was asked what he’s learned when it comes to hiring the right people: “Doing this for 20 years certainly helps you see the big picture; it’s all about potential.” Duncan has been around long enough to see what works for the long-term–such as 0 interest balance transfer cards- and what only succeeds in the short term, and his reflections have resulted in him founding an HR model that prizes a prospective worker’s long-term potential over short-term spunk.
“Working in human resources for companies that focus on everything from career apparel, managed services, aerospace glass manufacturing to chemical agent creation has allowed me to see what always stays the same despite the change in labor practices, techniques, and strategies. Human resources are universal in that HR personnel are always seeking out that potential for a long-term employee presence once they’re hired. That’s because longevity in employment means a stronger, more developed team, which increases the likelihood that each member reaches their potential due to the longstanding support of one another.”
Without a guiding vision, the potential of individual talent to serve something greater is often wasted. Asking the right questions and paying close attention as human resources workers is the only way to uncover that potential and make sure the talent stays around long enough to make an impact. Let Stan Duncan’s success show you what can be accomplished in 20 years if you put your mind to it.
This is a guest post from Sam Peters, a blogger who enjoys writing about career development.
This is a post by PR Columnist by Alison Kenney.
Lately I’ve noticed more and more reporters skipping the interview and “writing” their articles based on email interviews.
For a case in point, take this recent HARO query:
“Emails only, please, no phone calls. And please don’t email to arrange a separate interview, I’m just looking to hear some comments from all y’all. Thanks guys.”
While there have always been reporters willing to run with the verbiage PR pros give them – such as lifting a quote from a press release when covering breaking news – now, however, the practice is being used more often and not just for breaking news stories, but more frequently in feature articles.
A couple of well-regarded blogs have commented on this practice recently, although mostly from the perspective of the media.
American Journalism Review wrote about the practice from the journalists’ and editors’ point of view (which is well worth a read). The post expresses concern that email interviews “promote lazy reporting and the use of unreliable sources…”
PR Daily recently asked, “Is the phone interview dead?” and lamented the lack of color an email interview has in comparison with a phone interview, as well as the lack of natural “back and forth that comes from a conversation. Plus, there’s no personal relationship building, however slight, when everything is done in written form.”
In response to the PR Daily post, Clay Ziegler did his own experiment and called a dozen working journalists to quiz them about their interview method preferences. He concluded that the phone interview lives and why that’s a good thing.
Like most changes wrought by new technology (and social media, in particular), old practices may not go away, but new practices – including using IM, Twitter, Facebook and email to get information and quotes for a story – are becoming more and more accepted.
What can PR pros expect as email interviews become accepted practice?
Get with the program – if you need media coverage to communicate your, or your client’s, story, get used to the new way of doing things and accept that some reporters prefer to work this way.
Be prepared – don’t stop at the point of pitching a story; think it through; have your point of view fully vetted and your quote ready.
Enjoy having more control – the good news about email interviews is that there is less chance of being misquoted or of having a reporter pick up on the one throwaway line in an otherwise stellar phone interview.
Use email interviews to bridge distances – if a client is traveling in another time zone and phone interviews aren’t convenient, email interviews can save the day.
Realize that no one speaks like PR quotes in real life – if you email in a corporate-approved quote, and the reporter fails to use good segues or connectors, the result will be a string of presser quotes that fail to add real perspective.
Keep an eye on which outlets use email interviews judiciously and properly – sloppy use of email interviews, in which its clear the writer used email for speed and convenience above all else, can devalue the quality of the media outlet’s content, thereby decreasing the value of your placement.
What do you think? Have you experienced many email interviews lately?
Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.
This is a post by PR columnist, Alison Kenney.
Twice in the past few weeks I’ve heard other PR professionals talk about the need to learn HTML.
Sarah Skerik wrote this piece on 5 Emerging PR Trends & the New Emerging PR Skill Set for 2012 (& Beyond) for the PR Newswire blog and noted that, “Personally, I swear that one of these days I’m going to learn HTML and CSS.”
Another commenter in the same discussion, Steve Leer, a communications consultant/senior writer at Purdue University Department of Agricultural Communication, detailed the varied requirements demanded of public relations professionals by employers today: “Today’s professional communicator needs to know how to shoot and edit photos and video, be proficient in social media, create graphics, possess at least a basic understanding of Web design and know how to work with outside vendors for printed materials,”
In a recent #soloPR Twitter chat about learning more about SEO, @KristK tweeted, “A2: Know enough HTML to read code, spot problems — and when to hire a pro to help.” (There were lots of other good tips on remembering to incorporate key words, tags, incorporate link building, eliminate jargon; the full transcript available here.)
Heck, even New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is talking about learning to code.
So is HTML really important for PR professionals to know?
Here are some considerations:
HTML is essential for building web sites – HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is a coding language to develop web pages and is still considered essential for knowing how to build a web site. As a PR professional, do you need to know how to build a web site? Well, perhaps you don’t need to know how to write the code for an entire site, but I’ve sure heard lots of colleagues complain about their inability to fix problems on a site or blog, or get them to “look right.”
Knowing HTML will help you navigate SEO efforts– knowing HTML can help you write tags that will make your content more likely to be found and highlighted by search engines. This post explains meta tags and how to use HTML to do them properly. However, if you use one of the major blog publishing tools it’s likely that you can do this simply by typing your tags into the designated spots. For instance, when I post blogs in WordPress, I use the “All in One SEO Pack.”
HTML skills will help you add value to PR efforts –so many PR activities involve web-based media now that it seems silly to split hairs about where the PR role ends. In fact, in some situations there may not be anyone but the PR professional to do the work. For instance, how many times have you worked on the following types of projects?
- Linking an image to a web site
- Creating a unique landing page for a Facebook profile
- Drafting and editing e-newsletters
- Writing blog posts
- Tailoring a press release to be web-friendly
- Embedding multimedia items into pitches, emails and other written content
- Reworking a web page with new messaging
What do you think? Is it time for PR professionals to learn some code?
Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.
This is a post by PR columnist, Alison Kenney.
Working in PR can be stressful. [Case in point: once again, PR made the ‘most stressful jobs’ list.] As PR professionals, we are providing a service to our clients or managers, and like other service providers, our work must cater to these clients. PR work is also opportunistic – meaning we have to stay on our toes, since opportunities can arise at any time. The folks at MediaBistro’s PRNewser have five more reasons why PR is so darn stressful.
Sometimes the work we do is for a great cause – or our work gives us great satisfaction. However, most PR professionals (like other working professionals) seek “balance” between their work in public relations and other parts of their lives. How do we balance this stressful work with other demands and interests in our lives? Here are several approaches:
Forget the word “balance” – Really, it’s unrealistic to literally balance your time and spend an equal number of hours at work and at personal activities. Instead, experts at WorkLifeBalance.com advocate focusing on achievement and enjoyment. Their definition of Work-Life balance is “meaningful daily achievement and enjoyment in each of the four life quadrants: work, family, friends and self.” Is this attainable? In an online interview, author Aliza Sherman said, “Stop using the word ‘balance.’ My co-author Danielle Smith and I like to say that ‘balance is a mythical bar that we hold over our own heads, and just when we think we’re getting close, someone moves that bar.’” Sherman prefers the word ‘juggle’ and says, “As moms with businesses, we juggle. We can’t be at 100% as a mom or as a business owner at the same time. We have to give ourselves a break, forgive ourselves for not being ‘perfect.’ It isn’t about balance, it isn’t about perfection, it is about doing our best and having the conversations at home to create the system that works for us.”
Just Do It – Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg made headlines (again) when she revealed that she leaves the office at 5:30 pm every day. We know PR is stressful (see above) and it can be tough to carve out personal time when the phone is ringing, but it’s also easier to do if you set a routine and make your schedule a habit.
Listen to your inner Buddha – Lori Deschene who blogs at Tiny Buddha offers these 6 tips for creating work/life balance so that we allow ourselves “sufficient time to create [our dreams] – while also allowing space for relaxation, spontaneity, connection, and the simple act of being.”
Take care of yourself – Exercise can help eliminate the negative effects of stress. It’s also a great way to clear your head for better decision-making. Although it can be tough to get started and/or to make time for regular exercise, investing in your health is truly the most important reason.
Learn from others – Is there someone you know who epitomizes work/life balance and seems to “have it all”? If so, take that person out for a coffee and ask them how they do it. Find a work/life balance mentor and build your own support network in the process.
Set boundaries – We’re really talking about time here, and how we spend our daily 24 hours. In order to reap the most achievement and enjoyment from those hours, we have to learn to say no to some things so that we can focus on and prioritize other activities.
Evaluate your work life balance – Measurement is a favorite topic in PR. Like some PR campaign objectives, our work/life balance goals can be tough to measure. Start by charting your accomplishments; don’t just look at what’s left on your to-do list – be sure to note the successes.
Any other tips for balance PR work with the rest of life?
Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.
This is a post by PR columnist, Alison Kenney.
Advances in communication technologies, increases in virtual offices and the prevalence of flexible (round-the-clock?) schedules make it possible to balance the work with personal demands in life.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot since listening to Sheryl Sandberg’s TED talk about why we have too few women leaders and also since I’ve been approached by more than a couple of younger female PR professionals who want to know how they can prepare for work life when they start a family. (Having just crossed a milestone birthday and with a child in double-digits I guess I’m now a Buddha of sorts when it comes to work-life balance. Yikes.)
Sheryl Sandberg’s argument is compelling, made more so by her delivery and her backstory. (She went from being Larry Summers’ research assistant at the World Bank to being his Chief of Staff at the U.S. Treasury, became vice president at Google and is now COO at Facebook.) In her version of Women’s Lib, our daughters will have a chance not only to succeed but to be admired for having done so. To get to that day, she urges women to “take a seat at the table, make their partner a real partner and to not leave before you leave.”
Her argument is being heard in other industries too. In a NY Times editorial Dr. Karen Sibert argued that women who “want to be doctors should be doctors [and not get enter the profession looking for work-life balance].” Conversely, a colleague, Dr. Suzanne Koven, argues in response that maternity leaves and part-time hours aren’t just women’s issues and believes that Sibert’s “just say yes” approach risks discouraging women from pursuing careers in medicine.
Public Relations is similar to the medical profession in some ways. Our work is service-driven and we often work in response to the needs of our clients, which can include internal corporate clients. PR opportunities and crises can arise at any time. For these reasons, PR work can involve long hours and lots of stress. (Of course, our actions don’t typically result in life or death consequences.) Scaling back on clients or type of projects can make for a friendlier work-life balance, but could harm future career opportunities.
Since roughly 70 percent of PR professionals are women, many of us will or have had to deal with the mommy question. Many moms go on to have very successful careers in PR. Some heed Sandberg’s and Sibert’s advice and go “all in.” Others shape their work around their personal needs and schedules.
The answer, of course, is that there’s no one way to do things. Honestly, there’s no single definition for success either. Personally there are days when I think the answer is to just keep trying.
In that vein, here are a few of my picks for career advice for anyone who is trying to balance a PR career with their role as a parent:
What do you think? Is PR a good profession for working parents? What’s your advice for making it work?
Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.
This blog is to share my recruiting experiences and discuss thoughts on the job market, PR industry and technology.
Alison Kenney is an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience.
