Resume Critique with Dr. Diane Krider

April 10, 2008 at 2:28 pm (PR, PRSSA, college, conference, public relations, resume) (, , , , )

CMU PRSSA’s 6th Annual Spring Conference
The Road to Reinvention

Resume Critique with Dr. Diane Krider

Here are ten resume tips I learned at Dr. Krider’s session:

1. Remember who you’re writing for.
2. Keep it succinct – this is not a tell-all piece.
3. Don’t put anything on your resume that is illegal to ask (race, religion, sex, political party, age, or marital status, disabilities, veteran status, etc.). But, you can mention it if you think it will giev you an advantage. For example, you might want to mention that you are devout Catholic if applying for a job within a Catholic church.
4. Pay attention to what the job ad says. The ad says exactly what they are looking for.
5. Create a resume for each job.
6. Present all materials well. First, they will see the envelope, then the cover letter, then your resume, and last your writing samples. If you have a terrible cover letter (or one with spilled coffee on it), they might never make it to your resume.
7. Have someone in your field look at your resume before sending it out.
8. Don’t put your hobbies in your resume.
9. Balance dark space with white space
10. One page or less for entry-level jobs.

What do you think is important to remember when creating a resume?

If you are a professional, what is one mistake you see often, or what is your biggest resume pet peeve?

Permalink 1 Comment

“PR: Case and Point” with Rebecca Howe and Emily Kuczynski

April 10, 2008 at 2:14 pm (PR, PRSSA, agency, conference, public relations) (, , , , , )

CMU PRSSA’s 6th Annual Spring Conference
The Road to Reinvention

“PR: Case and Point” with Rebecca Howe and Emily Kuczynski

Rebecca Howe and Emily Kuczynski are associates from Lambert, Edwards & Associates. Both hold a bachelor’s degree in integrative public relations from Central Michigan University.

Lambert, Edwards & Associates is among the top 100 firms in the US. Howe and Kuczinski presented a very interesting session. They presented an issue and students discussed what they would have done. Howe and Kuczinski then described what they did in the situation.

One case was Biggby Coffee (formerly Beaners Coffee). When the company needed a new name, they also needed to do some re-branding. LE&A had to communicate to both internal and external audiences, such as the owners/operators, customers, and the media.

LE&A offers paid internships. One suggestion made by Howe and Kuczinski was to focus on things that make you stand out in your cover letter.

Permalink Leave a Comment

“The Next Big Thing: Social Media and Public Relations” with Adam Denison

April 10, 2008 at 2:01 pm (PR, PRSSA, conference, new media, public relations, social media) (, , , , , , , )

I know that the conference was a few weeks ago, but I have been too busy to finishing blogging about each session I attended. Finally, I have a little spare time and energy to tell you more.

CMU PRSSA’s 6th Annual Spring Conference
The Road to Reinvention

Keynote: “The Next Big Thing: Social Media and Public Relations” with Adam Denison

The following is from the conference program:

“Adam Denison is currently a member of General Motors’ Social Media Communication team at the company’s global headquarters in Detroit. Denison shares responsibility for generating posts and coordinating responses to comments on GM’s Fastlane Blog and FYI Blog. Using social networking sites ike Facebook, Flickr, MyRide and CarSpace, Denison has established a firm GM presence and generated two-way dialogue between GM and the public on these sites. He also created and hosted the On Star On Your Side podcast series in 2007. He and his team work on inviting and hosting various social events. He recently initiated GM’s first foray into the world of microblogging with the creation of the “gmblogs” Twitter profile.”

Denison said the GM is involved in social media to change perceptions, to go back to the relationship building aspect of PR, to get straight to the consumer, and to have a two-way dialogue. Denison noted that social media is measured mostly by qualitative data.

He also noted that GM has PR internships. They usually hire about 6 people, but it is very competitive. in order to apply, you must have at least a 3.0 GPA and have at least one previous internship.

Update: Check out Adam’s blog called For Budding Public Relations Professionals. I’ve been following it since I started blogging here, but I didn’t realize that is was his blog until he replied. I strongly suggest checking it out.

Permalink 1 Comment