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Public relations newbies, do not let your summers waste away! The end of August will slowly but surely creep up on you and you don’t want to have nothing to show for it when it does. Use this extra time to prepare and put yourself ahead of others. Being a newbie myself, these are the few things that really helped me get started.

Do Your Research

You don’t have to plan everything out, but researching about the PR field is a good start. Get to know the different sectors and get a heads up on what to expect. Pay attention to the day-to-day responsibilities, potential outlook and opportunities, earnings, and the educational path you need to take to get there.

PR Radar

It’s always important to stay on top of the news and what is going on in the PR field. Put the companies you want to work for on your radar and take note of their latest moves and projects. This will be useful for when you want to apply for a position in their company. You can read their press releases, join their LinkedIn company profile, or subscribe to their Twitter feed.

Perfect Your Cover Letter and Resume

Your cover letter and resume are written first impressions. Use your cover letter to pull potential employers in by providing a brief summary of your experience and what assets you can bring to the table. Stay away from using cliché words and phrases. Keep your letter light and interesting to read. Your resume should complement your letter. This is where you provide a more detailed description of previous education, work experience and responsibilities.

Remember to proofread everything before sending your applications out. Ask others to read it over; they might notice small errors that you may have overlooked.

Do an Internship

PR is all about the internships. Although your academic background is an important factor, previous related work experience is invaluable. Use the internship to start building professional relationships and to learn as much as you can. Soak up everything that happens around you and never be afraid to ask questions or share ideas. The more you put into the position, the more you will get out of it.

An internship is also the perfect opportunity to make personal decisions about what you do and do not want to do in the future. As an intern, you will get to do a little bit of everything so take note on the areas that best suits your skills and interests.

Use your connections and reach out to professionals

Use your connections. A big part of PR is the people you know so it is never too early to start building your network. If there is a PR professional that you have the smallest mutual connection with, don’t be afraid of reach out to them and see if they’re up for setting up an informational meeting or interview. The best way is to reach them through email or twitter.

Since social media has grown to have a large presence in public relations, venture out onto their company’s Facebook or Twitter pages. Leaving smart comments and retweets will show your interest in their company. The point is, get noticed!

With that said, do not pester the person you are trying to reach out to. If they don’t get back to you, it is probably because they are too busy at the moment or they are not interested. Don’t spam them with emails or Facebook likes. When they want to or have the time to respond, they will.

Go On Interviews

Even if you already have in internship secured, go to the interview. Use it to gain the extra experience or see it as practice for future interviews. It also gives you a chance to talk to someone who is currently in the field, so any information or advice you get from them will be useful. Ask questions and keep their feedback in mind.

If you have the time and ability, it never hurts to juggle two internships at once either. And you never know, you might land an internship for fall from one of these interviews!

Start building up your portfolio

A portfolio can help you alongside the cover letter and resume in a job application or interview. Start collecting pieces of your work that best reflect your strengths. If you’re better in writing, put together the short stories that you have written in your free time or the press release assignments from school. If your strengths lie in the visual side, build a portfolio of your animations and artworks. This gives employers a chance to see what you are capable of and what to expect from you as a potential intern.

Expand your LinkedIn profile

Before calling you in for an interview, employers will probably look for your LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have one already, make one. LinkedIn is a useful online tool that can be used to showcase your work experience and develop a processional online presence. It makes for faster networking and also easier for employers to contact you.

Click here for tips on how to brand yourself on LinkedIn!

Don’t Throw Away Business Cards
If a PR professional gives you their business card, keep it. You might need a favour or someone’s contact info one day.

Written by EDPR intern, Vivian Kwong

What advice do you have for people venturing into the Social Media world?

Here are 5 tips to ensure that you are well on their way to being trained for media interaction.

SET GOALS

Work with your PR agency or firm to set goals around your messaging for each appearance. Be sure that you’re considering your objective, strategy, tactics and audience for each spot – as the messaging may need to be altered to cater to the specific outlet.

BODY LANGUAGE

A tense person can have a huge impact on the credibility of the organization or the message that is being conveyed. Remember that practice makes perfect, and it’s worthwhile to have a PR pro grill you before you head in to the interview.

STAY FOCUSED

If the interview goes off track, it’s important to be able to bridge the conversation and move it back to the talking points you may have. Work towards having some conversational tools to use should you need to redirect the interviewer.

NOTHING IS OFF THE RECORD

What you say and do may be used against you in a court of media. Be sure that everything you discuss is something you’d be comfortable seeing on TV or in the news.

SUMMARIZE

When the interview comes to a close, be sure to have a handle on how to summarize everything you’ve touched on and re-enforce any talking points or plugs you might need to make.

Media interviews are should never be done ‘on the fly’. You’ll feel much more comfortable, and look like a pro if you enter these situations fully prepared. If you’d like more info, or to obtain media training, EDPR offers a range of preparatory sessions to make sure you walk out a winner at every engagement. Feel free to shoot us an email with any questions you might have.

Recruiters are constantly finding new ways to connect with job seekers, and some of the methods in which companies conduct interviews have changed. Phone interviews are quickly becoming a norm for a lot of top firms, and it’s increasingly important for people to conduct themselves appropriately in this format. Today’s post is written by guest blogger Paula Jae  of 360training.com. Paula is a 23 year old blogger and a social media enthusiast who is happily living a reality outside of her comfort zone.

When job hunting, the two least certain aspects are the job interview and the phone interview. You have to ace these aspects (or nearly so) to convince your interviewer that you’re the man (or woman) for the job—whether the job is for a pharmacy technician, pr exec, life insurance agent, or a medical transcriptionist.

So how do you prepare for the interview? Here are some essentials, according to career-advice.monster.com:

• Approach the phone interview as if it were the face-to-face interview itself.
• Ready your resume and cover letter and have them on hand for the phone interview.
• Prepare bulleted notes.
• Make sure your phone is working properly and its audio quality is excellent.
• Freshen up and dress appropriately (it’s for the psychology of the moment—the interviewer won’t see you, of course).
• Stand up (people literally think better on their feet).

As you would for the face-to-face interview, research all the important things to know about the company, memorize the key deliverables given in the job description, and rehearse your responses based on those deliverables.

Bear in mind that the phone interview is the face-to-face interview, minus the video. In many ways it’s a dress rehearsal, so you have to dress for the part. By primping yourself up, you’re putting yourself in the correct frame of mind and even more important, endowing yourself with the psychological stature of the best person for the job.

1. How did you get started as a ‘mommy blogger’? I actually started my blog over a couple years ago after my mom suggested I try it.  She already had a “dog blog” and since she knows I’m passionate about writing, thought it would be a great fit.  Writing has always been a creative outlet for me, and the chance to share my thoughts with other people from all over was intriguing and motivating!  I was home with my two young kids and had the itch to start writing again, so what better way than to base my blog on what’s most familiar to me; my family.

2. How did you build an audience, and how long did it take?  My blog was casual and slow in the beginning, as the first year was just odd postings here and there since my kids were so small and demanded so much of my attention and time.  I actually only had a few followers during that time! Once I started posting regularly and joining blog hops, I saw a steady increase in my audience and it was encouraging to see my blog growing and attracting different people from all around the world.  Being active in the blogging community is key in gaining traffic and building an audience.

3. You do a lot of reviews and recommendations on your site – was this always the objective?  Not at all actually.  When I first started my blog, my daughter had just been diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy and it was a way for me to express my thoughts and feelings about that, and connect with other parents going through similar experiences.  As my kids got a little more independent and I could focus on my blog more, I started posting my thoughts on favourite products I use in my own home.  I’ve always loved sharing with friends and family products that I love and have made a positive impact in my everyday living.  If you find something good, why not share it, right?  I noticed other bloggers were working with companies on reviews and once I started reading more into it and learning about it, felt it would be perfect for my blog.  I wanted to share family friendly products to my readers and present them with my honest opinion on them.  I want my blog to be a place people can trust and feel confident in knowing that the reviews presented are 100% my own honest opinion of my experiences with the products.

4. Do you work with companies/brands to expose their products? What happens if you don’t like something?  The one thing I love, is introducing readers to companies/brands that they haven’t heard of before, have heard of but haven’t tried or have wanted to try but needed to know an opinion first.  I’ve worked with so many companies who have AMAZING products that I would have never known about otherwise and am now in love with that deserve the exposure.  So many people will read a review and comment similar to, “Wow, I’d never heard of this (company and/or product) before but am now intrigued and want one or want to learn more!”.  It’s a great feeling working with companies who are doing something wonderful and deserve the recognition.  Fortunately, I have not come across a product for review that I’ve had a completely negative experience with (knock on wood), but if that were to happen, I would simply let the company know my thoughts first before posting a review and leave that up to them whether they’d still like it posted or not.  I would never post a negative review without alerting the company first.  I prefer to keep an uplifting atmosphere on my blog and introducing positive products that will compliment any lifestyle and family.

5. What do you enjoy most about being a mommy blogger?  I love the connections and friendships I’ve made with people, like other fabulous bloggers, as well as relationships I’ve built with some wonderful companies.  I am so fortunate that I’m able to be home with my kids, while pursuing my passion of writing and staying socially connected.  Social media is such a great platform for being involved with others and keeping up with our world as it evolves and my blog allows me the freedom to be with my family while doing something enjoyable for myself as well.  The possibilities with blogging are endless and there’s so much to explore!

6. What advice do you have for aspiring mommy bloggers? Be unique by being yourself.  Write about what comes easy to you and what’s most familiar in your life.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help either.  Bloggers are extremely generous in offering advice to others and I’ve learned a lot from my fellow blogger friends.  Also, be involved!  If you’re involved in social media and supporting other blogs, you’ll find your blog will benefit as well.  Establishing those relationships with others is important to keeping your blog active and gaining support.

Remember to check out Brandi’s blog: Yee Wittle Things, and follow her on Twitter!