Your Career and You..."Great Expectations and Real Realities"

I had lunch yesterday with one of my Curry College PR concentration superstars who made a remark as we were chatting about her job search post-graduation that really resonated.

"Maybe I'm expecting too much."

What an interesting observation, and what a comment on the preparation on both sides of the professor/advisor's desk for the "real world."

What are we (the teachers) doing to help these young men and women be realistically prepared to begin their careers? And what are they (the students) doing to prepare themselves to begin their careers?

I've probably said at least once in every previous post that you should have the utmost confidence in your abilities and be willing to stretch for that first opportunity to prove yourself.

But how do you balance "expectation" with "reality"? And, in today's supercharged world, where babies are on Facebook from birth, what is the baseline for a beginner? What are you expected to know and be able to do right out of college?

I suppose the simple answer might be, "That depends on what you want to do."

But that doesn't address the issue. You're not expected...at least I don't expect you...to know exactly what you want to do and where you want to start on your life's voyage.

But you should have an idea of what your key interest areas are and do some research into entry-level and beyond opportunities in those areas. Which means that you have to get out of your dorm room and off campus and start networking...meeting with people who might be able to either share some insights or point you toward someone else who can do that.

On the other hand, I, as your advisor and (dare I hope?) role model, should have a reasonably realistic idea of what makes sense for you and where you might be looking to find that elusive starting point. Which means that I have to get out of my office and off campus and maintain and refresh those networks of people who might be able to either share some insights or point you toward someone else who can do that.

If we both do our jobs, you will arrive at graduation day with (a) a panicky feeling about what you've got facing you and (b) a pretty good idea of how to get started on your search.

More important, because you've done your homework, you'll know what employers are looking for. You'll know what skills and abilities you have that meet those needs. And you'll have the confidence to step out into the light and begin the quest.

"In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind."
Louis Pasteur, "Inaugural Lecture, University of Lille" [December 7, 1854]

Your Career and You..."Yes, You Can...Believe in Yourself!"

I've had conversations in the past couple of days with current as well as past students from both Curry College and Regis College about a new challenge or opportunity that had come their way.

Although the question wasn't asked directly, they wanted reassurance that they were capable of meeting the challenge and succeeding.

Putting on my fatherly "been there, done that" hat, I responded to all, "Of course you can...and...here's what you need to do."

I think the wonderful thing is that these young people are finding themselves faced with decision-requiring situations. It is very cool to be starting out in post-college life and find yourself having to call on those (ugh) "critical thinking" skills that we academics claim to impart to our charges.

It's not "critical thinking"; it's making life choices...now...not tomorrow.

It's having the self-confidence to head off into uncharted waters and try things that weren't in your textbook.

What gets me excited in these conversations is hearing that self-confidence rise to the surface and take charge. And then seeing that young professional come to a conclusion and act on it.

Not everything in life is going to present itself in a neat, orderly manner, patiently waiting for you to make a decision...someday. Most of the time it's going to be "Ok, here's the deal. What do you think? Tell me NOW!"

This is not to suggest that you should immediately sell all your belongings and book passage on a tramp steamer to Vladivostok.

It is to suggest that you should take stock of your talents, your capabilities, and your desires, and be willing to test your limits.

In my career, this attitude has taken me to Vietnam, the Philippines, Hawaii, and back and forth to Massachusetts as well as a bazillion other places. Opportunities came up; I wanted to take a chance and start something new. Sold my furniture, found someone to adopt my goldfish, and got on a plane...to somewhere to start something new.

Something good...sometimes something unexpectedly wonderful... always has come of these actions.

Yes, I often had to start all over again. Yes, I had to learn new customs, new cultures, new languages. But it has all been good. And it happened because I believed in myself.

So be willing to move out of your comfort zone. Be eager to try things you've never done before (note: this does not include leaping off cliffs or alligator wrestling!) but think sound interesting.

And, finally, talk to people you know and who know you. Life decisions are not..or should not be...made in a vacuum. Someone in your sphere of influence is going to be affected by your decision. Make sure he or she is part of the equation.

Once you've done that, act...on your belief in yourself, on others' belief in you. You just might be pleasantly surprised and rewarded.

"He who doubts from what he sees
Will ne'er believe, do what you please.
If the sun and moon should doubt
They'd immediately go out."
(William Blake, Auguries of Innocence)

Your Career and You..."Spring Cleaning for the Present...and Future"

I spent this weekend reviewing resumes from a couple of friends and checking out some LinkedIn updates for others. Once again, the great epiphany fell from the sky and I realized that it was time for me to haul out my own resume and make sure it was current.

No, I'm not planning on going anywhere. I am incredibly happy at Curry College working with some amazingly experienced and supportive colleagues. But somewhere in my cyber-pile of stuff, I like to know that my professional life and accomplishments are documented...just in case.

Why? Because you never know when you might have a need for the information. And the years sneak up on you...along with the kudos for a job well done, volunteer activities that you're involved in...promotions.

I recently threw my name into the pile for a volunteer opportunity with the Public Relations Society of America. As part of the application process, I had to pretty much regurgitate the past 40 years of my professional life, including some recent honors and awards and some other volunteer activities.

I had let my resume lie fallow for about six months, and it was out of date, which meant my having to reconstruct the past roughly one year. Had to do some rapid scrambling to pull together all the current pieces.

The beauty of doing this "spring cleaning" exercise now...when you don't need it...is that you can approach the task from an objective point of view..."How does the format look?"..."Are the paragraphs and bullets lined up?"..."Where are the typos?"

When you're actively applying for a job, you have a tendency to look at your resume subjectively..."Do I address the needs of the future employer?"..."Do I have all the places I've worked and/or all my internships?"

You miss the other stuff...like typos, as I mentioned in an earlier post...that can come back to haunt you.

To be clear, you need to look at your resume both ways, but job search life is a lot less stressful when you've kept your stuff pretty much up to date.

Also, your perspective changes over time. Things that you thought sounded cool or important six months ago may not seem the same today. A resume is a living, breathing organism, and it grows and changes daily.

Finally, as I also have said a gazillion times, let someone else take a look at your stuff...preferably someone with more experience than you. If you're working, a trusted colleague or friend. If you're in college... undergraduate or graduate...let your advisor or your professor take a look. He or she most likely has been through this exercise enough to be able to offer some constructive guidance.

And, if you're in college...go see your Career Services folks...that's what they're there for!!

Bottom line...do your "spring cleaning" now, and you'll be prepared when the time is right for action.

"He who knows the enemy and himself
Will never in a hundred battles be at risk;
He who does not know the enemy but knows himself
Will sometimes win and sometimes lose;
He who knows neither the enemy nor himself
Will be at risk in every battle."
Sun-Tzu, The Art of Warfare, Chapter 13, "Planning the Attack"

Your Career and You... "Graduated, Got a Job...What Next?!?"

I've had a few email exchanges recently with former students about where they are in their young careers. As is perfectly normal,  particularly for folks who are reaching the four-to-five year mark after graduation, they're wondering, "What next?"

Some of them are working in the field for which they prepared in college. Others are working in areas they hadn't considered but, in spite of the ongoing economic situation (a recurring theme in my posts, I know, but a reality for these folks), they have "a job."

Two examples...two situations.

My friend Alicia told me a couple of years ago in our Public Relations class at Curry College that (a) she wanted to start her own business and (b) she wanted to specialize in event planning. As she reminded me this morning when we were chatting, I told her she was nuts.

I didn't think, fresh out of college with a degree in Communication and a Public Relations concentration, that this would be the right time to strike out on her own.

Long story short...she didn't listen to her wise professor (as some of the smarter of my student-friends are likely to do!)...and she is now two years into building a vibrant business, Aliste Events, with some very satisfied clients to boot!! She's marketing her services with the skill of a seasoned professional, drawing on the variety of courses that she took at Curry and recognizing the value gained from each.

On the other side, Annette contacted me a couple of days ago to ask about graduate schools.

She found a job right shortly after graduation, as an administrative assistant in a major hospital in Boston. She has been there for three or four years, recently got an upgrade in her responsibilities, and believes she can do more.

She sees a Master's degree in some area of Communication as her way of making herself more attractive to potential employers.

The difference in the two?

Alicia knew early on what she wanted to do. She focused her energies and enthusiasm on achieving that goal, and is charting a path for her future.

Annette wasn't sure...as many of us have been at some point in our lives...but she knew she had to have something until she figured it out.

The similarity between the two?

Both are asking (or wondering), "What next?"

"What's the next stage in the development of my business?"

"What's the next stage in the development of my career?"

This is the question you should be asking yourself regularly...not every day...that's a little obsessive! But...even if you're deliriously happy with what you're doing right now, don't allow yourself to get too comfy-cozy with your situation.

Ask yourself...and ask others who know you..."What next?"

"The return from your work must be the satisfaction which that work brings you and the world's need of that work. With this, life is heaven, or as near heaven as you can get. Without this--with work which you despise, which bores you, and which the world does not need--this life is hell." William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, "To His Newborn Great-Grandson; address on his ninetieth birthday" [1958]

Your Career and You..."Check the Facts; THEN Communicate!"

This week's USDA fiasco has proven once again the crucial need for accuracy in communication. It's one thing to spell the name of your board chairman wrong; it's another to publicly fire someone without checking the facts first.

What does this have to do with your own career as a public relations professional? Not to sound too snarky, but if you have to ask this question, maybe PR isn't the field for you!

Ask Dan Rather. A miscommunication...failure to thoroughly check facts before making a public announcement...led to his highly publicized resignation from CBS Evening News.

Both the Rather incident and now the Shirley Sherrod debacle demonstrate the rising power of the "other" media, including the legions of bloggers weighing in on any- and everything under the sun.

In the "good old days" (as those of us who have been around for awhile like to think of them), you had a pretty good idea who covered your territory, and you had a sense of his or her take on issues.

You also knew that, if this individual was doing a story about your organization, he or she was going to try to contact you for comment. (Yes, I know there were some unsavory types who were going to tell the story their way; but at least you knew who they were and where their stories were going to appear!)

Today, as I constantly tell my Communication major students at Curry College, where I oversee the Public Relations Concentration and teach most of the PR-specific courses, things are different.

While we still have (and please, Lord, may they live long and prosper) mainstream media, most of whom are schooled in the ethics and practices of good journalism, there are growing legions of others who are not.

Things are changing, and it is on your shoulders to keep up with the times:
* The speed with which information can be transmitted has increased exponentially.
* The platforms through which information can be communicated increase daily.
* The audiences that potentially can be exposed to this information have expanded immeasurably.
* The ability to communicate ideas and opinions has no bounds.

The damage that can occur to your organization remains the same. Loss of reputation. Loss of revenue. Loss of...fill in the blank.

Back to you and PR. Part of your job is to make sure that your boss has the facts before he or she makes a decision and acts on it publicly... note the public part!

"But how do I keep track of the hundreds of bloggers and others who might have an interest in my organization?"

It's not easy, but there are any number of media monitoring services that you can use to monitor traffic and alert you to comments about your organization.

And, when you do become aware of potentially negative or inaccurate information being communicated about your organization, check it out. See what actually has been said. Then determine what kind of response is needed...if any at all.

Next step...get face time with the person who is most qualified to respond and make sure he or she has the full story and not the "sound bites."

You may not win the battle all the time but, as I have said in so many previous posts, at least you will have done your job as a qualified public relations counsel.

As Ivy Ledbetter Lee, arguably one of the "Fathers" of modern public relations, said in his Declaration of Principles (1906): "In brief, our plan is frankly, and openly, on behalf of business concerns and public institutions, to supply the press and public of the United States prompt and accurate information concerning subjects which it is of value and interest to the public to know about."

It's as simple...and as complicated...as that.

Your Career and You..."Keeping It in Perspective"

Today marks the end of a three-week "what the hell else can happen?" streak for my household.

Starting for my wife with a bout of shingles...proceeding to her drastically reduced sodium level that led to a sojourn in a hospital emergency room...and wrapping up with my own root canal today...I am tempted to think, as New Yorker editor Harold Ross reputedly did (according to Brendan Gill in his wonderful book "Here at the New Yorker"), that this was all because of "something I did to God."

There have been times like that in my own career progression, when things began to spin out of control and I felt like the world was coming to an end. I was tempted to think that, somehow, it was all my fault and this was the penance I had to pay.

Sent out 500 resumes and only got 3 responses? Been there; done that.

Went through three rounds of interviews and talked with close to a dozen team players, but nada? Yep, got that one checked off, too.

Finally I realized, as I have today as the Novocain wears off and I pop Advils like Cheerios, that it wasn't about me and it certainly wasn't my fault.

The 50o-resume episode? Early 90s, when the economy was in a shambles and everyone was hunkering down for the long run. Ditto the interview routine.

I've been in touch with recent graduates, both bachelor's degree at Curry College where I oversee the Public Relations concentration and teach most of the PR-specific courses, and master's degree at Regis College where I'm adjunct faculty teaching Conflict Resolution and Negotiation and Health Communication Management.

Some of them have landed great starting jobs, or have either moved up in their current workplace or moved on to a more challenging and rewarding position elsewhere.

Others are still looking...some for more than a year. The ones who have been looking the longest haven't been goofing off. They've been pounding the pavement while holding down temporary or part-time jobs...or internships...to keep the creative juices flowing and (to some extent) the money coming.

I assure them, as I have said in numerous previous posts, that things will get better, but it's going to take time. I also remind them that I'm tracking their progress because I believe in them and their capabilities.

I tell them that they have to keep things in perspective. It's still a crappy economy, and companies are going to move slowly and cautiously in their hiring...and they're not going to hire unless the short-term prospects of a positive revenue stream are good.

More than anything, I assure these talented men and women that they are not the only ones mired in this predicament. Some very senior professionals are in the same canoe. We've all been there at least once...some of us more than once!...and we survived and thrived.

Secrets? There are none.

Suggestions? Don't crawl into your shell and hide waiting for better days.

Stay out. Stay active. Talk to friends, colleagues, neighbors, whoever crosses your path. Communicate like you've never communicated before.

Better times are ahead, and opportunities will arise. If you believe in yourself, and you believe that you have the skills and talents that are going to be of value to the right employer...it will happen.

"We have only to believe. And the more threatening and irreducible reality appears, the more firmly and desperately must we believe. Then, little by little, we shall see the universal horror unbend, and then smile upon us, and then take us in its more than human arms." Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, "The Divine Milieu" [1957]

Your Career and You..."Patience and Perseverance"

I saw a status update on Facebook last night from my friend Bobby that reminded me once again of the value of positive thinking.

Bobby's one of my Curry College superstar grads who, like a lot of us, took a couple of tries to find his passion as an up-and-coming public relations professional. He did all the right things...two valuable internships, active involvement in the Curry College Public Relations Student Association (he actually was the driving force and founder of CCPRSA), soaking up anything and everything he could about public relations.

His first permanent job after graduation was a great learning experience. Not only did he zero in on what he liked about public relations; he also got a strong sense of what, for him, wasn't the perfect environment to be in. Nothing wrong with it; it just wasn't him. We've all been there. I know I have!

Bobby then took a risk with a start-up company immediately after this and, to his and my surprise and delight, he found his passion. He was able to wrap his arms around the company's vision, and he was allowed to stretch himself to what he thought were his limits only to find that, lo and behold, he was capable of even more!

Unfortunately, when the vagaries of the economy took a toll on the company and it was forced to close its doors (temporarily, we all hope), Bobby found himself a victim of the aftermath.

And here's where the word "perseverance" comes into play. Bobby never missed a beat in his own professional growth. He looked at this turn of events as (a) something he had absolutely no part in causing...a good thing to learn as some of us know all too well!...and (b) a chance to stretch himself again and explore other industries where he might have similar opportunities to build on his ever-increasing kitbag of skills and abilities as a public relations professional.

It took a few months, but it appears that he has succeeded. Not only does his new job afford him the opportunity to use his rapidly-developing public relations and promotional skills, but it also gives him a chance to fine-tune his sales ability...a valuable and often-overlooked differentiator in our profession. Like it or not, and there are some who don't, public relations is about selling.

Bobby's adventure is a great lesson for us all, whether we be newly-minted entry-level public relations practitioners or seasoned-and-scarred veterans of the profession.

You can't allow yourself to settle into a funk muttering incoherently about the "unfairness of the 'system.'" You have to keep at it, exploring every nook and cranny of the market in which you want to work, and being willing to stretch yourself beyond what you think are your limits as a professional.

Not only do you become much more knowledgeable about that market; you grow exponentially as a professional capable of taking on ever-increasing challenges.

Bobby has reinforced my confidence in the next generation of public relations professionals. They are totally capable of rising to and mastering the challenges that "tomorrow" will bring. They will make themselves...and those of us who have had the honor of playing a small part in their professional evolution...proud.

I am proud...of Bobby...and of all the young men and women who I have gotten to know in my years both at Curry College where I oversee continuing development of and teach many of the undergraduate public relations concentration courses and at Regis College where I teach graduate communications courses.

"The necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude and perseverance." - Samuel Adams, Speech (1771)