Posted by Rachel Wollersheim on Mon, Aug 31, 2009 @ 10:12 AM
As a senior at St. Norbert College, I began my job search at the beginning of spring semester. My story of finding a job at Red Shoes PR is unique because when I first contacted them, they did not have any open positions. In the midst of sending out cover letters and resumes to every position I heard about or saw online that in any way resembled PR, communications or writing, I heard about Red Shoes PR when I saw Lisa Cruz featured on the cover of Women magazine. It immediately stood out to me as different than any other PR agency I had heard about. I began doing research on the company, and while they had no job postings listed on their web site, I went ahead and contacted them to see if they had any internships or entry-level positions open. They didn’t have any positions open at the time, but encouraged me to still send them my resume and writing samples.
A few weeks later, they invited me in to interview for a part-time summer internship. After two interviews, I was offered the position. While a part-time internship wasn’t my ideal post-college situation, I really liked the company culture of Red Shoes PR and knew that they were growing fast, so there was potential to grow with them. By my third week, I was switched to full-time and was ecstatic to be offered an account coordinator position at the end of the summer.
At a time when many of my peers have struggled to find positions in any way resembling what they had hoped for, I feel extremely blessed to have found a position not only in my desired field, but also at a company that truly is the perfect fit for me. Being at a small, start-up company has allowed me to jump right in and quickly gain experience that would have taken me years to gain at a big company. I am happy that I pursued Red Shoes PR, even though at first it didn’t appear they had an open position.
Here are some tips for the job search:
1. Don’t aimlessly apply to every position you hear about. Research companies and find a place that you think you would fit in well with. Customize cover letters, and resumes to a few, specific jobs that interest you, instead of sending out dozens of generic ones.
2. If you find a company that piques your interest contact them, even if there isn’t an open position posted. Not all companies post open positions and if it’s a good fit, they might create something for you.
3. Remember that no one owes you anything. Even if you have already done multiple internships, do not be afraid to do another one. The place that you intern for post-college will know that you are looking for a full-time position. If nothing opens up with them, most likely they will help you connect with a company that does have openings.
Posted by Lisa Cruz on Tue, Aug 25, 2009 @ 04:16 PM
I've heard the question often enough, "My boss doesn't think we need to be using social media for our business." If that is the case, take a look at this video and consider sharing it with him or her. Might change a few minds ...
Social Media Revolution
Posted by Lisa Cruz on Tue, Aug 18, 2009 @ 01:14 PM
Red Shoes PR is excited to have another post from guest blogger tommytrc.
It’s hard to talk about the true power that Twitter has had on my life without talking about giving. Each and every day that I’m on Twitter, I learn something new. Whether it’s a new link, a witty quote or joke, or just some words of advice, my mind is always soaking up information gained from Twitter. Now, mind you, I have been known to be an information junkie. The History, Discovery and Science Channels are my favorite cable channels for gaining new, and sometimes useless, knowledge. So the evolution to gaining knowledge via Twitter is a natural progression of my need for 411. But getting is just part of the story.
On Twitter, giving is as important as receiving. The Golden Rule my mom Sharon used to say is, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” I like to take this rule and twist it slightly. Here’s tommytrc’s version: “Do unto others before they do unto you.” How does this fit into the context of Twitter? Let me explain. One of the most sincere forms of flattery on Twitter is to retweet what someone else has posted. For those who do not understand what retweeting is, here’s the cliff notes edition… Retweeting is sending out on your network what others have sent out on theirs. Every user on Twitter has their very own network of friends. Some friends may overlap, but many do not. If I see an interesting post from someone else, I’ll retweet it so everyone on my network can learn from it also.
Now let me get back to my version of the Golden Rule. I search for interesting tweets and retweet them to start conversations. Retweeting posts from new people or friends I have not chatted with in a while is a perfect way to spread the wealth and keep friendships alive. If someone in my network only has 100 followers and I retweet their post to my network of 15,000 followers, you can see the impact. Just imagine my thrill when Guy Kawasaki retweeted my last Red Shoe PR guest blog posting to his network of over 160,000+ followers. You get the point.
With Twitter, you get what you give and the more you give the more you get. It’s a 360 degree cycle and one that builds and builds. One of my favorite quotes that hammers the point home is from the founder of the famous New York grocery store chain called Wegman’s. In Robert Wegman’s own words: "I have never given away more than I got back."
As powerful as it is to see my own thoughts retweeted, it’s just as important to pass on the insight and information that others have shared with me.
Posted by Lisa Cruz on Wed, Aug 12, 2009 @ 09:02 PM
For the past few months, I set it up so my Twitter stream flowed into my Facebook page. Today, I reset the application so this will no longer take place. Enough is enough.
I thought maybe by consolidating the two that I would save time. But what I found was that I had a useless stream of updates flowing into my Facebook page, many which were simply not applicable to my Facebook friends. Some of my friends on Facebook are on Twitter but for the most part, I have two completely different audiences.
And, just like anything else, if you have two audiences the same messaging and tone aren’t going to resonate with both. For example, #FF means very little to my Facebook friends. Any sort of hashtag for that matter means anything to my Facebook audience. And for gosh sakes, I have confused more people with the tinyurl spattering of symbols, numbers and letters – they think I am spamming them.
My Facebook audience is more leisurely in their engagement and work at a slower speed than the (sometimes) frightening pace of Twitter. Friends also tend to be more sensitive on Facebook versus what takes place on Twitter. If I don’t respond to someone, they move on … quickly. Facebook friends tend to peruse others' home page, check in, and see what’s going on. On Twitter, I barely look at a bio and find myself responding simply based on the content, not necessarily based on the bio.
So ask yourself a few questions as you look for opportunities to integrate communications across platforms. It might not be your best option, even if you could save time.
1) Who are your audiences?
2) Do audience expectations vary?
3) Do they use different social media “speak?”
Moving forward, you can find me on Facebook having one conversation and Twitter where I might be on a totally different topic. Might take a little more time to update both but I look forward to simplifying my social media life.