My Standwords

This is how I did it.

wordsmess — Fri, 21 May 2010 02:31:07 +0000

So for the last week, I’ve been working as an intern in the Corporate/Public Affairs division at Edelman. I love it, but it’s been a journey to get here: seven job interviews, two tests and and countless late–very late–nights.

I’ve decided this will be my last blog post. One of the reasons is I don’t think I have much to blog about. I’d like to one day have a blog like this, but for now writing regularly on a blog is just not a priority for me. So before I sign off, I’m going to go through the steps I took to get my internship.

1. Know what you’re getting in to. The great thing about PR is the people who work in the industry talk. A lot. So if you want to know what it’s like to work in PR, ask and someone will tell you. Plus it helps to show you’re passionate if you can talk about the industry.

2. Show your face. I went to the open houses and scheduled informational interviews. Went to networking events and volunteered while I was in school. Get to know people in the industry. Find out about local events, there are a lot of them! In PR, everybody knows each other so it just makes sense.

3. Hand deliver or mail your resume. I did not do this every time, but I just happened to get an internship at the place where I dropped my resume off in person. Coincidence? Maybe. But if the HR department gets 100 resumes emailed to them every week, a hard copy stands out.

4. Show up early & on time for the interview.

5. Send a thank you card. This is big. I don’t think professionals just starting out do this for some reason. Some say a thank you note shows you’re really interested in the job. Did it get me hired? I don’t know, but it definitely didn’t hurt!

6. Follow up, follow up and then follow up. If you don’t hear anything, call and email. My professor David Turnbull taught me this: be persistent. Make them tell you they’re not interested.

7. Be available. Keep the cell phone charged and on so you can answer calls when they come in.

8. Stay positive. This one’s hard. If you decide to be sad and upset that you didn’t get “the job”, how are you going to go out there and actively look for another one? If you really want to work at a particular company and they’ve turned you down, keep in touch with the people at the company. It’s hard to keep the contacts you make if you think negatively.

Of course, you could do a lot less and still get an internship. But as we all know the industry is competitive, so anything you can do to stand out (in a good way) the better. So… I guess that’s pretty much it. If you’ve found an internship, congratulations. And if you haven’t, I hope I might have helped a little. Keep your head up & stay fly!

Play me out, Montel.

Learning objective: Free cupcakes.

wordsmess — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 02:49:33 +0000

So I haven’t blogged in, like, forever. Here’s the update:

- Left my job to go back to school

- Finished school

Lesson learned? Go for what you want the first time! After graduating from university two years ago, I decided I wanted to study PR. I got into a corporate communications program but decided I would start working instead, thinking I could network my way in to the industry.

After a year of working the graveyard shift at CNW Group, I found myself back at school again.

So I’m networking, keeping my eyes, ears and all other applicable body parts to the ground, hunting for my first PR/Communications job. Yesterday I met my girlfriend Marie for linner at School in Liberty Village to (gossip) talk working in PR, getting that first job and Yelp.

Lentil soup & biscuit, yum!

Peppered Cheese Burger. I'm gonna eat this.

I had the Lentil soup of the day (tastes better than it sounds) & biscuit to start, followed by the Peppered Cheese Burger. Everything came to about $23 including tip and a healthy sized Latte.

I got my own lesson in PR when the hot chef came over and gave us two free cupcakes! I guess he heard us talking about public relations and Yelp reviews and decided to do his own promo. I’ll be sure to talk loudly about public relations and Yelp at restaurants from now on. Free food tastes THE BEST.

Thanks for the pics, Marie!

Thank you for not gifting.

wordsmess — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:05:09 +0000

I don’t think most people even notice when a friend or family member didn’t give them a Christmas or birthday gift. Most people just want their friends and family around.

I don’t want any Christmas gifts this year, to be honest. It seems everyone is asking everyone else for money, and I find it personally insulting if someone else feels like they have to go in to further debt just to buy me a gift.

It just doesn’t make any sense: if you have your hand out asking a bank, or your family for money, don’t turn around and worry about what your friends and family want for Christmas, or getting someone “the perfect gift”.

It’s like Ms. Suze Orman says: “People first, then money, then things.” I think that means you take care of yourself and your money first, then worry about the stuff.

My [Hair] Piece.

wordsmess — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:26:55 +0000

It’s the new hot thing; the documentary Good Hair by Chris Rock.

Although I commend Mr. Rock on covering this (I’ve always wanted to fly around the world to find out where weaves come from), I have to say, he’s a little late. I wrote an article about this issue a couple years ago for Sway magazine.

But good on you, Chris! It’s time we let the natural truth out!

Frustrated students take the economy in to their own hands

wordsmess — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:50:27 +0000

And start their own PR/Advertising agency.

This is giving me some major ideas.

New Agency: Birth of Lindsey Asp.

Strategic Plan for Landing a Job

wordsmess — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:48:05 +0000

I’ve been learning about strategic planning and was wondering about where else it could be applied… Well, someone else was obviously thinking the same thing and beat me to it!

Strategic planning for finding a job–love it.

MyRaganTV – Broadcasting news and ideas for communicators worldwide

wordsmess — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:52:49 +0000

For my fellow PR Learner’s…

MyRaganTV – Broadcasting news and ideas for communicators worldwide

Shared via AddThis

Seriously. Seriously?

wordsmess — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:56:03 +0000

I’m spending a week in New Jersey and I noticed this while watching 16 and Pregnant. If you watch closely you can see the interviewee die a little bit on the inside.

But I have to object to the video being titled ‘PR’. This video epitomizes the worst about what people think public relations is.

Are you hungry?

wordsmess — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:06:29 +0000

In September I’ll be working with Meal Exchange as a Campus Coordinator at Seneca. We’ll be working to help hunger disappear across Canada.

Check the vid.

A failure to communicate.

wordsmess — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:31:56 +0000

It’s inevitable. When you’re moving from one place to the next, whether it be from school to job, or from one job to the next (or to no job), people will promise to ‘keep in touch’. In the past, I always agreed with a whole lot of hesitation. It doesn’t matter who–it could be a new friend from college or university, or a manager who could be a good reference, I promise to keep in touch knowing I probably won’t.

This past week it seems I’ve been reaching out to almost everybody. Old friends from school, past workplaces, even interviewers I really got along with. But it seems I haven’t gotten any responses. I realized I had the wrong number for one friend I meant to keep in touch with, but what about everybody else? It makes me wonder: Am I having a ‘failure to communicate’? When we say we’re going to keep in touch with someone, does that promise have an expiration date? After a couple weeks/months/years, does your promise to ‘keep in touch’ no longer apply?

As someone who has struggled with depression for years, I knew myself enough to know that I would never keep in touch no matter how many times I said it. It was the nature of the beast. Most of the time I didn’t want to talk to anyone, so why would I keep in touch? Of course I’ve never been honest about it. After hearing ‘keep in touch’, no one responds: “I would, but I’m depressed and I don’t have the energy for that.” I worry: Now that I’ve realized I do want to keep in touch, have my promises gone bad? Maybe it would be better to be honest and say “I suffer from depression sometimes and I go in to hiding, so I probably won’t keep in touch, but I’ll call you when I feel better!”