culpwrit

 
Q.  What are PR agencies looking for in the writing tests they give to applicants?  How are the tests scored, and by whom?  Do agencies want to confirm that you have basic writing skills and have the potential to improve, or are they looking for perfection?  There isn’t much information about this, so any insight […]

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     Matt Soriano    
2010 has brought a new sense of optimism in the business and public relations worlds.  Companies are hiring more aggressively, albeit with increased “skill set” selectivity.  According to a Q4 Quick Survey, half of the Council of Public Relations Firms’ members anticipate and increase of hiring activity in 2010.
The LAGRANT Foundation and […]

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You read the online job posting, send your resume and later learn that the job was filled with an internal candidate.  Sound familiar?  More than half of open jobs are being filled with internal employees, according to a new study by CareerXroads, a New Jersey-based staffing-strategy consultancy. 
Fortunately, the study is bullish on 2010 hiring, with 48% […]

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    Sarah Van Nevel 
Throughout my time as a PR major at the University of Minnesota, I can assure you that I always had my eye on the prize—and I’m not talking about a diploma. As I began my final semesters as a full-time student, I began to think more and more about what came […]

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As a parent who had the ability to help support sons in unpaid summer internships, I know the value of of such experiences, although I don’t like the concept.  Unpaid internships favor those who can afford to work for free, while eliminating talented individuals who need to earn money for college expenses and life. 
I feel most organizations, […]

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Anxious college juniors and seniors are launching searches for summer internships earlier than the traditional spring-break starting date.  This is good use of time only if you’re responding to specific job postings.  Otherwise, most agencies don’t seriously look at internship resumes until early April or later. 
Don’t panic if you’re not aggressively pursuing internship opportunities at this time.  […]

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After being critical of the bold, four-color resume of a senior I met during a visit to the University of Kansas, I recently received a toned down resume from him–but it still looked like an Oscar-nominated movie ad in the New York Post.  The resume was cluttered with too many type faces and sizes, and featured a 2″ x 3″ photo. 
My advice:  […]

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Over the weekend, I heard from two friends–one who has decided to start his own PR consulting business, and another who wants to abandon his 3-year-old freelance practice and return to a full-time agency job. 
I wish the call order had been turned around since I perhaps was overly encouraging to the first caller.  Meanwhile, the freelancer […]

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Sales positions dominate classified ad sections in many newspapers and online sites, yet many  PR job seekers pass over them in search of more career-specific opportunities. 
During my tenure at Eli Lilly, management employees were required to go through sales training and apply those skills for six months as pharmaceutical representatives calling on doctors and pharmacists.  I went […]

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   Edward M. Bury, APR   
In September my position as Senior Director of Public Relations for a real estate association was eliminated due to budget constraints. This has been a challenging time for me and many others in public relations and other industries.  But it’s also a time to think, grow and reinvent myself for the […]

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