Tag Archive for small business


Seven tips for applying to a PR internship

By: Leah Dermo

With the digital age evolving, the trend of cold calling and meeting your potential employer face-to-face has moved towards emailing, online career portals and resume websites. More people are applying for the same positions and employers are sifting through hundreds and sometimes thousands of applications. The fight to even gain the opportunity to shake hands with professionals in the industry have become close to impossible, especially with aspiring individuals fresh out of school.  The question remains, how can you be sure to secure an interview? We’ve compiled our top resume tips.  

White space

Less is more. Allowing white space in your resume is less overwhelming and far easier to read. It allows the reader’s eye to be guided throughout the page, which increases the chances of a potential employer to read through the entire page rather than just skimming a few lines.

 

Keep it relevant

Although you are proud of all of the work you have done nobody wants to flip through multiple pages. While it’s definitely important to include relevant volunteer experience, keep in mind this should not exceed the length of your work experience.
As a PR communications professional, getting your point across as clearly and concisely, is the goal. Use short sentences, bullet points and do your best to condense your resume to one page to ensure you keep the attention of your potential employer.

Social media

Most employers will Google search any promising applicants, which is why more people are including their social media handles to make the search a little bit easier. If you chose to include your social media links, be sure your accounts are not private, otherwise, this step is irrelevant.

Formatting

Send as a PDF!

This is a simple, yet critical step that is often overlooked. The proper format to send a resume online. A Microsoft Word or Pages document may not open properly on someone else’s computer or it may open with a completely different layout, design or font. To ensure that your potential employer is viewing your resume properly, send it as a PDF no matter what.

Save as…

Keep in mind whatever you save your document as, this is how it will show up in your email. Employers don’t want to know it’s your fifth draft or that you’re applying to multiple places by calling your resume “ResumeGLO” or “ResumeEatonCentre”. Try to keep it simple and easy for anyone to find, with your name and the position you are applying for (as some organizations may be hiring for multiple positions), like “BillSmithPRInternResume”.

Remember, just like when working in the world of PR, all documents and attachments should be client ready, and your resume and cover letter should be no different.

 

The email

As any professional applying to a job, you are essentially pitching yourself and why you’re a good fit with a company. Make sure the subject line and email is attention grabbing and showcases who you are through your writing style and your overall understanding of the company. Never underestimate your subject line as this is considered your first impression. Is the company you’re applying to playful and fun or corporate and serious? Your subject line, email, resume and cover letter should all be consistent with not only you but also the company.

Photos

While some may feel adding a profile photo to a resume can boost its aesthetic, others will argue otherwise. Ultimately it comes down to your own judgement and what you think is best. If you do chose to include a photo, be sure that it’s professional, in high resolution, and don’t forget to say cheese!

Spell check

Although you’ve probably heard it countless times, we can’t stress this enough! Ensuring your resume and cover letter are error-free can make the difference between getting the job and missing it by a hair. It’s important to remember that although you’re likely great at proofreading, it can be difficult to edit and catch errors in your own work. Our suggestion is ask a friend, family member or colleague to take the time to carefully go through each line of your resume and cover letter for sentence structure, spelling and grammar mistakes. You’ll be surprised what you can miss after you’ve been looking at the same documents for a while.

What are some of your tips and tricks for guaranteeing an interview? We’d love to hear your thoughts 🙂

Good luck!

– TeamGLO

Five ways to improve your LinkedIn profile

By: Leah Dermo

With so many personal and social platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, it’s no surprise that LinkedIn isn’t the most popular social network. However, what if we told you that by simply sprucing up your LinkedIn profile, you could make an incredible first impression on some of the greatest business influencers in the city? What if we told you there were five simple ways to be exposed to hundreds of amazing job opportunities every day?

Here are some key ways to improve your LinkedIn profile:

1)  The photo

Profile pictures have been used since the MSN days, as well as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more. Although some photos may be acceptable across these platforms, we must consider LinkedIn as a professional account. While it isn’t necessary to dig out your grade twelve prom dress for your profile photo, we do suggest choosing a business casual outfit that you might wear to an interview. Once you’ve chosen the right outfit, stand against a plain background, whether it’s a light or brick wall, and don’t forget to say cheese! It’s been proven that smiling with your teeth will make you look more approachable and trustworthy. 

2) Make a clever bio and summary

Most visitors to your profile will decide if they’re going to continue scrolling after the first or second sentence. As a PR or communications professional, you understand the importance of writing, so use this time to shine. You can still be descriptive and witty, but this is your time to highlight critical details about yourself. Just because you don’t have a lot of experience in your field quite yet does not mean you have no experience at all. Think back to all of your part-time, full-time and volunteer jobs leading up to this point. What might be relevant to what you want to do in the future?

Example 1: Jack Smith, PR pro.

Example 2: Jack Smith, Entry level PR pro with five years of hospitality, event planning and volunteer experience.

Your summary should include what your next steps might be, your interests, skill set, goals and areas of expertise. This is a summary of who you are, so try to make it a reflection of you, one that will stand out in the minds of your readers. 

3) Proofread, proofread, proofread

Proofread, proofread, proofread. This one cannot be stressed enough. Nothing ruins your credibility faster than a simple grammatical error or a spelling mistake, almost all of which could have been avoided simply by reading your paragraphs out loud. If you know you’re not the best at editing take the time to have someone else look it over. You’ll be much better off when you do.

4) Consistency is key

When writing your job descriptions, make sure you’re using a similar layout while using a variety of words. For example, if you want to use bullet points instead of paragraphs, use bullet points under each job title to describe what you did in that role. Although it’s easy to get caught in the same patterns when writing similar sentences, remember to change up your wording. This will keep your readers engaged. 

5) Update regularly

It can be easy to forget job titles or daily tasks once you’re no longer in that role. Update your LinkedIn profile on a regular basis by plugging in this information as you go. Be sure to get credit for your hard work.

It’s no surprise that it can be hard to find a great job your qualified for, and will love, especially if you’re coming straight out of college or university. It’s important to be able to showcase your experiences, abilities and personal brand in the best possible light, so that if an opportunity (or dream job) arises, you’ll be a first choice candidate. 

Share your thoughts with us on Twitter and Instagram. 

@GLO_comm

Tech Apps PR Pros Need To Know About

By: Elizabeth Voss

If anyone understands the importance of time management it’s a Public Relations professional. PR like many other professions are quickly jumping on the tech bandwagon for it’s innovative and time-saving benefits. Today there is virtually an app for every task you can imagine. Whether you are trying to quickly pitch a client to a major news source, plan a meeting, save a media clipping or simply just looking for a new contact the tech world has no shortage of tools for you to use. We’ve compiled a list of our favourite apps for your personal and professional life that work!

Slack

Slack is a business communicator for teams. The app is easy to install on android and Apple products and best yet it’s FREE! Create to-do lists and share them with team members, assign roles and easily call, email or text anyone on the team right from the app. The app also allows teams to integrate and edit documents in Google Drive, Dropbox Twitter and more.

Upitch

Upitch is an app designed to help Public Relations practitioners pitch ideas and stories to media. Easily upload a concise pitch through the desktop or mobile app and wait for the media to swipe right to open a chat between you and the journalist. Users can also browse through other pitches for a little inspiration.

Nuzzel

Every PR pro knows that keeping up to date with current events and trending topics can be a little overwhelming at times. Like Twitter’s “trending” section, Nuzzle allows users to get personalized news recommendations and top news stories shared by friends right to their phone. (This app is also free!)

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a holy grail app for all PR professionals. The app allows you to post informative content about the industry, search for job posting, connect with others in your field and grow your network on a virtual platform. LinkedIn is also great for keeping in touch with classmates and old co-workers without having to filter through the clutter that comes with Facebook.

 

CamScanner

We’ve all been task with sifting through the newspaper in search of a new contact, new product, or to collect a media clipping at least once in our careers, once you find what you were looking what do you do? CamScanner allows you to take a picture of the article or text and save it to your phone as a PDF. This is vital for PR professional as we can’t always be shuffling papers around with us. Once the PDF is saved you can easily send it in an email or text message right from your phone.   

What are your go-to apps? 

Share your thoughts!

@glo_comm

 

 

 

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E: jessica@glocommunications.ca

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