Enthusiasm from 9-5 (and 8-6)

 

When we’re young, when it comes to love, we have no reason not to feel hopeful, optimistic, and to see the sippy cup half-full.  It’s before petty arguments and passive aggressive texts.   It’s before we revel in the exquisite melancholy of unrequited love. It’s before all those Disney-infused high expectations are met with a startling reality of dating, being dateless, mixed messages, and the rest of the possible single-life conundrums.  Your high hopes are let down; your wall goes up.

It’s similar to that journey from the lecture hall to the board room.  You bust out of college into your first job with anticipation. Wide-eyed and bushy-tailed, you practically cartwheel into the office in your freshly-pressed suit, promising not be jaded like the overworked journalist who hangs up on you when you’re trying to follow up to see if she wants to come check out your client’s super cute event.

Not that I’ve been hung up on before.

This is before the exhaustion from the grind, before you’re drowning in details, before the reality of the “real world” sets in.  Sometimes, dreaming about being a grown-up is a hell of a lot more fun than being one.

I think that enthusiastic people are more successful.  They get pumped up, they show up, they try harder.  Sometimes, it’s a lot more appetizing to be a Debbie or a Nancy and gather around the water cooler and whine.  It’s harder to take a step back, take a look at the big picture, and take a stab at remembering how much/why you love what you do.

But like I said, enthusiastic people try harder.

How to be a Great Intern Boss

I just finished my third week working in the real world and I’ve already learned so much. My daily tasks are just about what I expected them to be, except for one thing: it didn’t occur to me until now that I would be delegating tasks to interns.  That’s weird for me.  I was in their position less than a month ago – and now I’m telling them what to do?

This post serves several purposes. First, it’s a way for me to hold myself accountable.  Second, there are so many posts out there about how to be a great PR intern, but very few – if any – posts written about how to be a great intern boss.  And you know what?  There should be.  Because in an industry where 99% of the PR interns are unpaid, I’ll say it, we owe it to them.  We owe them a great learning experience.  We owe them respect.  We owe them advice, direction, and an honest glimpse into this industry.  At the same time, an internship is what the intern makes of it.  They can’t learn if they don’t try.  They can’t be respected if they aren’t professional.  They can’t get advice, direction, and insight if they don’t seek it out.

This internship thing is a give and take situation, you see.  I present to you ways you can be a great intern boss, as well as ways you can be a great intern.

1. Give interns specific instructions

Tell them what the project is, what you expect them to accomplish, and when you the project to be done.  Be specific – down to what font the spreadsheet should be in or what folder the intern can find it on the shared drive.  Your interns can’t read your mind. The things that seem obvious to you aren’t obvious to someone who has never worked in an office environment.

*Intern action piece* - Ask for specific instructions.  Ask questions.  Before you run off to complete an assignment, repeat the assignment back to your boss. Your boss can’t read your mind. They are busy, and they took time to explain something to you.  Listen, and if you need something clarified, speak up. Don’t be shy. No one in their right mind would be annoyed with an intern who asked for clarification.  But it might be annoying if they were counting on you for a project and you don’t do it correctly because you didn’t listen/ask necessary questions.

2. Don’t give your intern an assignment you wouldn’t do yourself

It’s called a job.  We all have to do grunt work.  We love us some copying, faxing, presentation-binding, phone-answering and package shipping. Interns should expect that they too will have to share in the company glory of daily grunt work.  However, interns are not your personal assistants.  No, they can’t drive home to let your dog out.  And no, they are not going to hop online to research some car insurance rates.  They are there to earn college credit and build their resumes – not to save you 15% or more on car insurance – even if it only takes 15 minutes.

*Intern action piece* Eat a slice of humble pie.  You will have to do grunt work.  At the same time, if some narcissistic jerk is trying to make you his/her servant, stand up for yourself.  Lean on the college credit crutch.  For example, speak with your intern coordinator and say you need more writing assignments for your portfolio, or else you won’t get credit.  Say your professor told you so.  The time you put into an internship is an investment in yourself.  If it’s shady – get out.  There’s another semester, another internship, another opportunity. Control your destiny.

3. Give feedback

It’s as simple as that. Tell your intern how they did on the assignment.  Some companies hold review sessions at the end of internships.  Why not hold a mid-point review as well?  It may be hard to coordinate that for part-time interns, but to me it seems like a mid-point review would be especially helpful because it gives them time to improve upon the things discussed in a review.

*Intern action piece* Ask for feedback. When you email your boss an assignment, add a line such as – “Let me know if you need any more help with this. How can I improve this for next time?”  It shows that you care about your performance.  If you show you are motivated, people are more likely to invest time in your development.

4. Be nice

Once upon a time there was a PR intern. As a gift for a great first quarter, the company head honcho took the office out to lunch – everyone except the intern, that is.  They left the intern alone at the office with her Lean Cuisine and a research assignment.  Not that I have any idea who this intern is, but she says that the experience was the corporate equivalent to being the only kid in class not to receive a Valentine’s Day card or the only kid on the soccer team not invited to a really cool Chuckie Cheese birthday party.

You’d be surprised.  When you’re 2o, when it’s your first internship, when you’re broke, when you have no idea where your life or career is going – it means a lot to have you boss give you a thank you card on your last day.  Seriously, be nice. I know times are tough, but would it really kill your company’s bottom line that much to throw the unpaid intern a sandwich?  I know you’re busy, but would it really screw with your schedule that much to take five minutes to say hi to the intern on his/her first day?

Remember where you came from.

*Intern action piece* Nothing. Welcome to the world, kid: some people are jerks. Kill them with kindness.  Always be professional.  You don’t have to stay if it’s that bad.  You can get another internship.  You can get the college credit, somehow.  Just because you are an intern doesn’t mean you have to be pushed around.

I hope this list gives insight to both audiences, the interns and the professionals.  The point I want to drive home for the professionals is to just put yourself in the intern’s shoes when you are communicating with them.  The point I want to drive home for the interns is that you need to be proactive.

We all know how important internships are for students, but I will venture to say that they important for companies as well.  Name me one other way a company can give a potential employee a (free) test drive before the company hires that person?  Through internships, companies can hunt for and develop future talent.  Even if they don’t work for you in the future, maybe they will work for your competitor.  If you mentored that intern, then your competitor will get better.  When your competitor gets better, it challenges you to get better.  Mentorship makes our industry better.

I’m Employed!

That’s right!  I have real life, full-time, post graduation, big kid PR job.  I start today as an account coordinator for Kel & Partners, a web 2.0 marketing and public relations agency.  I’m proud that all of the internships, extracurriculars, blogging and networking has finally paid off.  I’m very grateful for this opportunity.

However, the purpose of this post is not to tute my own horn.  Rather, I just want to share some honest advice to all the other 2009 grads out there who are looking for jobs.  I’m no expert, but here are some things that worked for me:

1. I didn’t look for jobs, I looked for companies

I’m not a huge fan of job posting websites. Let’s not beat around the bush: I’m talking about Careerbuilder and Monster.  I think these websites tempt people into applying for hundreds of jobs they either don’t really want or aren’t really qualified for.  I think it gives you a false sense of accomplishment and a heightened sense of frustration when you never hear back from these places.

A friend of mine did a corporate communications internship last summer. She was a rock star intern, so they kept her around for the fall.  When she graduated in December, they created a full-time position for her.  However, before she could officially start the job, they had to list the job on a couple of websites for equal opportunity/ legal/ HR purposes.  So even though the job was created for her, they listed it anyway.  I’m sure they received tons of resumes from hopeful candidates who never had a shot…

It wouldn’t be wise to completely disregard job listing websites. There are absolutely “real” jobs listed from legitimate companies. However, I like to think of them more as job search tour guides rather than The Source of open positions.  Use them as a supplement to good old fashioned networking. Check out what companies are (supposedly) hiring on those job boards.  Check out their websites.  Go through your LinkedIn network – are you connected to anyone who works there?  Can you find out if there are any other opportunities at the company that aren’t listed online?  More importantly, what type of company is it?  What do they do, and how do they do it?  Are they deserving of your awesomeness?  It takes a long time to customize your resume and cover letter for each company you send them to.  Do not waste your time writing, editing, nit-picking and re-writing unless you actually want to work there. Your time is worth more than that.  Quality, not quantity, baby.  Quality, not quantity.

2. Informational interviews!!!!

My original contact with my company was through an informational phone interview back in February.  When you are just approaching a company asking to have a casual, informative conversation, you aren’t putting the potential employer on the spot.  You’re basically just two people, talking shop.  The advice I got from these interviews was extremely influential.  The feedback was incredibly helpful.  I think informational interviews are the new pink.

3. I kept my chin up

Unemployment is the worst. It feels like failure.  It feels inadequate, lazy, hopeless, boring – and most of all, like you are not in control of your destiny. (And I really really really hate that.)

Personally, I’ve ignored a lot of news since January, when economic things really started to go to hell. Whenever the news reporters started talking about lay-offs or stock markets or bailouts, I turned the channel and watched something happy and frivilous.  (My top recommendations include What Not to Wear, the Bachelor/Bachelorette, Flight of the Conchords and Bridezillas.)

Although being informed is important, I think having a positive attitude during the job search is much much more important.  Ignorance is bliss.  Dwelling on the thousands of workers who got laid off at a company a million states away from you in an industry that has nothing to do with you won’t motivate you to hunt for a job.  It’ll give you an excuse to mope around in your jammies and feel sorry for yourself that you graduated at such a difficult time.  That kind of information will intimidate you from trying.  You need to surround yourself with positive information.  Spite the recession like he’s your ex and keep trying.  You have to keep trying.  You owe it to yourself to keep trying.

Seriously, turn the channel, and look at every action you take toward getting a job as an accomplishment.

I hope that somewhere there is someone who will be a little inspired by this.  I’m very excited to start my professional career, and I will continue to blog about public relations and social media at this website.  In addition, I have a strong interest in career development so I may ponder that topic from time to time. (If you want to learn about career advice from someone who really knows what she’s talking about – read Heather Huhman’s column on Examiner.com.)

Last but not least, I just wanted to give a shout out to my parents, my brother, my best friends, and my adorable boyfriend – all who supported me through this journey.  Job or no job, cash-money or broke, you people love me for me and I cherish our relationships.

~*I graduated!*~ (I graduated?) …Omg. I graduated…

Heather and Janet! (That's @hbourgeois to you.)

Yep, I did it!  My life has been very fun/hectic the past four years and I’m so excited to take that next step.  For a quick recap, the past four years include:

-Three colleges

-Three majors

-Six different roommates

-Three different apartments

-Five internships

-Eight jobs

-”A lot” of coffee, energy drinks, and gum

-Zero regrets

Graduating feels like I just jumped off a cliff into this infinite layer of the stratosphere known as adulthood.  In college, your life changes a lot each semester (I like that) but at the same time you know what to expect.  For me, each semester I had a new set of classes, a new internship, maybe a new apartment or another fresh thing to get used to.  But after a while, you get used to getting used to things and you welcome change with open arms.  You know those changes are just a matter of getting used to the professor, finding the classroom, getting to know your boss, etc. But now, I’m getting a whole new life and I pretty much have no idea what to expect.

In the end, I think that my whirlwind college life of extracurriculars, internships, restaurant jobs, studying, and all-too occasional partying felt safe.  It kept me in this little cycle of academic mayhem–churning churning churning–and now I’ve just been spit out into the unknown.  Don’t get me wrong: I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer.  I’m just a wee bit frightened.  But never fear–I’m equal parts “freaked out” and “totally pumped” about the unknown.

In two weeks I’m moving to Boston and I don’t start my internship until June 29.  I will spend the next month nesting an adorable two-bedroom apartment in Coolidge Corner, splitting the rent (an amount that lots of Upstate New Yorkers pay for mortgages) with my lovely best friend and her wonderful engi-nerd boyfriend.  Between getting lost on the T and playing Rockband with the roomies I will be busting my butt at some restaurant somewhere in Boston hopefully–as all servers dream–making bank.

It will be a full month of the unknown.  I’m nobody’s intern.  I’m not a student.  I’m not director or president or editor of any student-run club or paper or thing.  I’m just me, and it’s going to be the first time since…well, like eighth grade that I have the time to embrace that.

I want to enjoy a couple of simple things that have nothing to do with my resume.  I want to run along the Charles River, window shop in the Back Bay, and discover which place has my favorite New England Clam Chowder.  For a short while, I want to focus on two or three things instead of seven.  I want to regain my creative energy so when it comes time to put on the PR hat I can really kick some butt.

I can already feel it beginning.  The fear hasn’t disappeared, but the enthusiasm is building.  I don’t know every second of what the future holds, but I’m ready to start that journey.

Graduation Love Letters

Susan:

You’re a new friend, but I just wanted to say that I am really proud of you for graduating MCC.  You will get to New York.  I believe in you and am amazed by your tenacity.  I want to write a book about your life story one day because you are seriously that interesting/courageous.  Oh! Oh. Oh. Oh. And we WILL get out of the freaking restaurant.  We’re almost there.

Heather:

I still remember our “first date.”  We went to a Mary Kay meeting. You came to pick me up and you were wearing a black pencil skirt, a long necklace with a big, chunky charm and a pair of black sling-back high heels.  We got into your Rav 4 (with the freaking Yankees crap all over it.)  You slide on some big black sunglasses, I took one look up at the Juicy Couture air freshener and then one look down at my Old Navy flip-flops and thought: Damn, this Heather girl has style.

I think it is only fitting that you are pursuing a job that will be a constant creative outlet, a daily canvas for the expression of your remarkable style.  It is very exciting to see your passion and talent for interior design and I’m filled with pride knowing you are following your heart and going for that dream.  You have balls.  You aren’t taking the practical or safe or traditional route—you’re doing what you love and I admire that.

We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs re: jobs, boys, colleges (okay, just me haha), money (not enough of it), roommates (too many of them) etc.  I’m really happy that we’ve preserved our friendship.  I’m going to miss our girly stuff!  All the Starbucks, nail painting, magazine flipping (shhh I would never buy a wedding magazine) and marathon sessions of The Hills, Sex and the City, and Hugh Grant movies.  I’m really really really really going to miss you.

But for the record: Even though you hate the Red Sox, seafood and colonial architecture—you are always more than welcome to come visit in Boston.  Because after all “seasons change, and so do cities. People come into your life and people go. But it’s comforting to know the ones you love are always in your heart. And if you’re very lucky, a plane ride away.”

I love you.  Congratulations!

Heather (Buttercup):

You are unprecedented. You are: loyal, kind, genuine, funny, talented, bright, adorable, fabulously domestic, and probably the best listener I’ve ever met.  You “get” me.  You give me honest feedback and guide me.  You have supported me through the rough stuff—the  misdirection, workaholism, hopeless romanticism, and stress—as well as girl-talked, walked, cooked, crafted, and smiled with me through some of the best times of college. Thank you.  Most of all, I have to say that my cheeks literally hurt every time we hang out from laughing so much.  We are just a hilarious little bunch.

I’m so happy that you got into Emerson.  I’m happy that you will have the opportunity to continue to learn and expand on the skillset you already developed during undergrad.  I hope that this brings you intellectual fulfillment as well as that allusive publishing job.  Here’s the plan: I’ll write that manuscript, you’ll publish it, we’ll be millionaires and decorate our houses in Pottery Barn.  We’ll be like Oprah and Gail.  Only…white?

Let’s talk about the unbelievable experience that was The Gleaner.  I remember making this desperate phone call to you in June right after sophomore year and being all, “I can’t do this on my own!  Be my Co-Editor!!!”  Behold, one of my many freak-outs that you would solve.  In its own way of not working out, it worked out.  We learned.  We grew.  We became best friends.  We won.

Sleepy interns haha

The way I see my life is this: Three months right now at this moment I could be on a porch somewhere in Boston, grilling tofu dogs and cracking open a bottle of Smirnoff Ice with my Heather.  Five years from now at this moment I could be in a lovely J. Crew bridesmaid dress, with the deliciously smelling white peonies in my hand.  Ten years from now at this moment I could be strolling along some beach in Maine with you and a little cavalier king charles spaniel, telling you how cute your first born is—but still stubbornly insisting that you should’ve named her Janet.

I cannot wait for Boston and I’m so excited to start this incredible chapter of our lives.  I can’t believe this is really happening!  You are one of my favorite people I’ve ever met and every day I’m grateful for your friendship.

Congratulations!

Amanda:

Remember when you were always there to explain chemistry class to me junior year? Remember when we got lost on our way to the SAT and ended up at the freaking Basilica?  Remember The Voice?  ACN?  Your big fluffy green cupcake dress at prom?

Remember how we used to talk about going to job interviews in Victoria’s Secret suits? Remember taking that really long romantical walk on the beach in Kiawah and talking about how we were gonna dress our babies in Gap and take them to the beach when we grow up?

Remember (or don’t remember) Cancun?

Class of '09: America's Future. Joke's on us.

You mean the world to me.  We’ve been through tons of ups and downs, and I’m so happy we’ve remained friends throughout college, ever since our days kicking it in School House Rock during middle school.  You’re the closest thing I’ve had to a sister and I love you.  I think it’s charming that you can call me from college and ask me what you should wear for a date and we talk about all the stuff in your closet and I actually know what shirts and what shoes you are talking about because let’s face it, I’ve probably borrowed them at one point.

Timeless.

The last four years have been nuts.  Between the two of us, I estimate that we’ve had:

-Five colleges (Mostly my contribution)

-Six majors

-Twenty different roommates

-900 bottles of vino (Mostly your contribution, Miss Italy)

-23,309,293 conversations relating our lives to Sex and the City

So this is my little graduation note.  I wanted to publicly proclaim how much I love you and let you know how proud I am of you.  Keep following your passion for philosophy.  You think too much – it’s meant for you! Your life has more meaning because you take the time to find the meaning.

Keep thinking. Think hard about what you have accomplished, what you have studied, and how you can use that in your career.  I believe you have a direction with your knowledge that you and I haven’t even identified yet.  But a direction is there, I promise.  Keep thinking.  Live your way into the answers.  The answer is in you.  Find it.

I believe in you.

Congratulations!

PS: Get your sweet self back to Boston.

The Facebook Follies

I’ve been wanting to write about Facebook and the job search for a while now, but I wanted to take an angle that wasn’t completely about my personal experience and wasn’t just rehashing the issues other people have so eloquently written about.  Here’s a quick recap of what other bloggers and reporters have said:

• Hiring managers look at your Facebook
• Use privacy settings
• For heaven’s sake, keep your clothes on.

This is all great stuff, and I wanted to jump a little further into the topic and ask the numero uno question at stake.

• Should hiring managers look at your Facebook and make decisions based off of that?

The article “Employers: Get Outta my Facebook” in Business Week takes that first point to task and dissects the pros and cons of the topic.  Is it an invasion of privacy when companies look at Facebook?  The one side says that Facebook isn’t private.  Even if you say that what you do in your personal life is your personal business, it becomes public business when you post on Facebook.  Therefore, it’s fair game for HR. The opposing viewpoint suggests that Facebook profiles aren’t resumes, and that what people do in their personal time is irrelevant for most jobs.

I think the struggle for college kids is that when a lot of us started Facebook it was something just for students.  We posted whatever we wanted and didn’t imagine there would be future implications with the job process.  The grown-ups weren’t on there yet.  For some, it was like a digital bookmark for college debauchery.

Now your dad has Facebook.  Your professors have Facebook.  Your prospective employer has Facebook.  A transition needs to take place.

De-tag all you want, but know that somewhere out there in the infinite “social utility” abyss are those pictures from that night.

The topic of privacy and Facebook is an interesting one.  If your profile is public, then what you post there is well, public.  I would argue that if your profile is public and you list your company on your profile, then the personal stuff you post there is relevant to your job.  Say you have a bunch of pictures tagged of you at a strip club – then have it listed that you are an Account Executive at (insert your favorite PR agency here) on the work section of your profile.  In that case, you are representing the company in a public environment.  If you are looking for a job, a hiring manager may be valid in wondering: If this is how she represents her current employer, how will she represent us?

So put your profile to private, list your company, and keep whatever information you want on there because it’s your private space for you and your friends to connect.  The current limit for Facebook friends is 5,000.  Sure, it’s just between you and your friends – but you and your 5,000 friends?  At which point is your personal network large enough to be considered public?

With so much talk about the negative implications of Facebook, I feel us getting paranoid.  I see people listing only their first and middle names on their profiles so that possible employers can’t search for them.  I see people creating separate accounts for their personal and professional lives.  People leave all the information blank on their profiles because they don’t want to express an opinion that might not line up with the viewpoint of a prospective employer.  We’re having an identity crisis.  Who is the professional, public me?  Who is the personal, private me?  Who is my Facebook, and should that be public or private?

We forget that Facebook is there for us to connect with friends new and old.  We can’t connect with each other if we don’t share anything about ourselves. You should be proud of who you’ve become and share that with your Facebook friends.  You probably have cool hobbies, great friends, a nice family, a cool job, ect.  Share it!  Social media didn’t get to be this huge because everybody put the proverbial whitewash on all their accounts.  It’s because people talked about stuff and posted photos of stuff and poked each other that these websites grew and grew and grew.  I say let’s be smart about what we share and we can all have fun with Facebook again and stop worrying about what someone we haven’t even met yet is going to think of us or how the new layout looks like Twitter.

There is a difference between sharing and over-sharing.  Sharing is a picture of you sitting at a bar with a drink in your hand. Over-sharing is a picture of you blacked-out and slumped over a toilet.

The answer to the numero uno question at stake: Regardless of whether hiring managers should look at your Facebook – they do. It’s better to disagree with it if you do and keep your profile private and your postings within reason than to stubbornly hold on to the albums of your drunken escapades and lose out on a job because of it.  Be pro-active about maintaining your profile.  I’m no Facebook expert, just a job-seeker who feels like she found the right blend of personality/”wouldn’t panic if a future employer saw this” in my own profile.  Here’s my take:

• Use friends lists. Facebook lets you customize which friends get to see which content with friends lists.  Check under the Friends tab.
• Post your own pictures.  If you are always relying on your friends to tag you in things, you are playing defense because you have to de-tag yourself  from anything you don’t want on your profile – like fat pictures.
• Be who you are, just be smart about presenting it.
• Take the driver’s seat with your online reputation.

It was a long one!  I hope this sparks some conversation.  The comments are yours.  As always, feel free to disagree (or agree) and thank you for reading.

Millenials and Recessions

My new buddy Alexa Scordato inspired me to write this post. In response to some articles that question if Gen Y can take the heat of the recession, I, along with other Millenial cheerleaders, are happy to testify that we can do it.

Four years ago around this time, I was filing all the official college paperwork to enter my freshman year at Kent State as a newspaper journalism major. A few years later, the potential for job opportunities in public relations (and, I just like it better) steered me away from journalism (and to the alleged “dark side.”) Turns out, the joke is on me as the recession is this season’s latest trend. Newspaper journalism is in a free fall, but there aren’t so many PR jobs either.

Class of 2009: Are we going to throw off our graduation caps, put on some McDonald’s headsets and just wish and dream our way to jobs in our fields?

Not me. I’m taking that McCafe to go and hopefully heading to another internship. Personally, I’m surfing the tumultuous waters of the recession on a wave of arguably delusional optimism. If I get a paid internship I’m taking it. I’ll do whatever: I’ll water plants, make coffee, bartend on the weekends. I don’t care – just give me the chance to show you my talent so that when a need for an account coordinator comes up I’m the first one that comes to mind.

The nice thing about recessions and graduating is that it really puts things in perspective.

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

I would work in PR in Boston. I’m going very much out of my way to achieve that goal. (And I will.) Infamously analytical, legendary for second-guessing, the recession has helped clarify what I now know for certain. Without a shadow of a doubt in my mind, I know this is what I want. I’m fighting for it.

I could bide my time in grad school. I could go back to college and get a degree in one of those recession-proof industries.

Remember when you were a little kid and you were sick and your mom tried to spoon-feed you some really nasty-tasting purple cough medicine and you just sorta scrunched up your face all ugly and such and screamed, “I DON’T WANNA!!”

Well…I don’t wanna.

So to all those who wonder if millenials are up to the challenge, I believe this post echos a (hypothetical) resounding “Hell yea” shouted from intern desks, dorm rooms, libraries, frat parties, dive bars, coffee houses, and filthy, low-rent, off-campus studio apartments nationwide. Sue us for wearing flip flops and having parents (and step-parents) who always told us how special we are. I swear on every participation award I ever got that Gen Y is full of tenacity. Yea. Some of us are incompetent, lazy bums. But I’ll bet you know a couple of incompetent, lazy Baby Boomers and a couple of incompetent, lazy Gen X-ers. Inaction and unreliability aren’t generational things.

You shouldn’t feel resentful or accusatory toward younger generations who have always had technology and scientific advancement to help them. With all of the advancement of the future, the children of Gen Y will have it even easier than us. Who knows? Maybe they’ll have a cure for cancer, or a flying car—or something daringly outrageous, like a stable economy.

Our kids, like every generation before them, will also face challenges. But I know my generation will set an example that inspires them to face adversity with faith and pro-activity. To Gen X and the Baby Boomers I say to trust that you have coached, taught, mentored, and raised us well. (You have!) And if by chance we reach a situation you didn’t prepare us for? Well, you told us we were special, that we could do anything. You gave us the freedom to think for ourselves. We can fill in the blanks.

We look up to you, but don’t look down on us. Believe in us.

Until next time,

Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips blog. If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands blog. Just dance blog.

JNA

Do college grades matter?

“To all the C-students, I say, you too can be president of the United States.” – George W. Bush

It’s Friday night in Rochester. Blizzard winds whip past my window. I sit with my laptop laboring away on my senior seminar paper(s) – yes, we have to write two each week. As I contemplate the relevance of the two-step flow and the diffusion of innovations theories in the measurement of social media PR, my thoughts wander:

1. Why am I home on a Friday? Wow, I’m cool.
2. I’d rather just research this to learn about my industry – not to write this stupid paper according to stupid rules so I can get a stupid good grade so I can have a stupid good GPA.
3. I want a job.
4. Do employers care about my stupid good GPA?
5. Do college grades matter?

Obviously, if you want to go to grad school, your college grades matter. So knock yourself out and study. What if you don’t see yourself in grad school? My immediate goal is to get hired.

Typical resume advice about GPA’s suggests that if it’s above a 3.0, write it down because it’s a selling point. (So to be on the safe side, I keep mine on my resume because it’s decent. And yes, good grades helped me transfer with ease and kept the parents happy. In some ways the grades were worth it.)

However, let’s assume for a second that everyone applying at least mediocore effort in his/her communications degree can pull off a 3.0. That’s even allowing some wiggle room for a C or two, depending on how many credits you take. What I’m wondering about is that gap between the 3.0 and 4.0 student. As any dean’s lister will tell you, it takes a hell of a lot more effort to crank out a bunch of A’s than to settle for C’s. (And yes, sometimes you bust your butt and still end up with a C. I digress.) If you’re interning, if you’re building the portfolio, if you’re networking, if you’re involved with extracurriculars, if you’re already over-achieving– is it really worth the lack of sleep to put in the extra effort for that GPA? Or should I just be partying?

Say Student A and Student B both apply for the same, allusive, entry-level PR job. Both have multiple internships, both are PRSSA Chapter Presidents, both have killer portfolios. Both can barely fit four years of experience on a one-page resume. Student A has a 3.0 and Student B has a 4.0. Who gets the job?

Well let’s say this job is at a super edgy, unconventional type of agency that is “too cool for neckties.” The Students are being interviewed by an HR director with a trampstamp and a senior account executive who listens to A Perfect Circle. Student A is kind of up-tight. You know those kids who try to look and act older than they are? Yeah. He’s wearing this hideous tweed sportcoat that doesn’t match the navy blue oxford shirt underneath. He’s distant, doesn’t really smile, and has one of those “dead-fish” handshakes.

In contrast, Student B learns the name of the receptionist and says hi to the lady watering the plants on her way into the interview. Student B is respectful, but chill. She genuinely laughs when the SAE makes a joke about Facebook poking, wheras Student A does this awkward courtesy chuckle and then goes into some random, arrogant schpeal about how he single-handedly organized a 50-student Facebook protest on the day the news feeds were released.

Student B gets hired – not because of the GPA, but because she is quite simply a better fit for the company culture. My point: I’ve heard it argued that in a close-call situation like this, the kid with the better GPA would “win.” It’s the supposed tie-breaker. I’m starting to think otherwise. Looking back on internships I’ve gotten and the ones I haven’t, I think my GPA had nothing to do with it. When it came down to the interview, the successful interviews seemed like a conversation between friends or a really great first date. (And as for the unsuccessful…those seemed like interrogations from the CIA.) People have asked me about extracurriculars, experience, why I chose PR, why I’m interested in their company. Perhaps it will be the same when I interview for jobs. No one has asked about my GPA. I’m starting to wonder if maybe, they never will.

So I’m writing this paper for me, and the grades will fall where they may. And next Friday, I’m going out. Because as Tom Petty once said: “The work never ends, but college does.”

Feel free to disagree (or agree) with me. The comments are yours.

Until next time,

Think of spring. Dream of summer. Stay classy, Twitterverse.

-JNA

Job Hopping and College Jumping: Advice from the Transfer Queen

Not to turn this entire blog into a big Penelope Trunk love-fest (I mentioned her in my last post—dazzle me senseless and maybe I’ll write about you next week) but the lovely Ms. Trunk’s advice about job hopping has inspired a post that I’ve wanted to write for a while now.

I interpret the job hopping concept to mean that you leave when the learning curve flattens, when you’re no longer challenging yourself, when you’ve reached the proverbial dead-end. (No, you don’t get a new job ever month because you had a bad day or got in a fight with your boss – don’t be ridiculous) I’d like to extend this concept to justifying the act of transferring colleges, something that I’ve done twice.

I begin by sharing an obnoxious photo spread of me with my most prized possession, my rejection letter from the SI Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University.

This little slip of paper typifies the moment, the turning point, the blessing in disguise that spearheaded my journey to three colleges in four years. I cherish this journey. Because I took the opportunity to question where I was and what I was doing, I discovered where I want to be and what I want to do.

My biography explains my travels so I will try not to bore you with repetitive details. Basically, instead of going to Syracuse (couldn’t imagine paying all that money if I didn’t get into the program I wanted to be in) I went to my “safety school,” Kent State, and majored in newspaper journalism. I had great friends, but I found myself disenchanted with journalism and completely miserable. Anxious for a change, I landed at Nazareth as a political science major with my focus set on law school. After a semester, I realized I hated that and sort of went back by changing my major to communications and rhetoric. However, the theoretically-based, literature-heavy program wasn’t right for me, either. I knew I wanted to do something in that field – possibly broadcast journalism or public relations – but didn’t feel I wasn’t getting the experiences I needed to get a job in either area. Consequently, I transferred down the street to the rival school, St. John Fisher. Ever since, I’ve been inundated with and wholeheartedly loving the comm program here.

Haha college merch

Realizing you don’t like something (a major, a career) is just as valulable as realizing you love it. Changing your mind doesn’t make you flake. Most kids encure over $20,000 in student-loan debt trying to get an education. It’s an investment in yourself, in your future. Sure, college is a great time. But what is the ROI? I take the consumer approach to my education, and have constantly questioned what I am getting in return for the money I (along with my unconditionally loving parents, who probably thought I was crazy but supported me anyway) pay and the hard work/passion I put into it.

Are you learning, or are you just biding your time until adulthood? Are you getting what you want out of your education, or are you just comfortable? Are you challenging yourself? If not, I say, transfer.

Good reasons to transfer:

• If you’re not just being a pessimistic, Debbie-downing slacker and your school doesn’t line up with your aspirations – transfer.

• If you’re not being challenged, enlightened and fulfilled by your classes – transfer.

• If you chose a major you love, you know what you want to get out of your education (grad school, a job, etc.) but the program you are in isn’t leading you down that path – transfer.

• If they don’t have the major you want – transfer.

• If you aren’t completely applying yourself, if you’re just going through the motions because you feel that no matter what you do it’s all just a big fat waste of time and money – transfer

• If you have done the homework and know exactly what classes you need to take in order to graduate when you want and you have really thought about this – go ahead and transfer.

Terrible reasons to transfer

• “My boyfriend/girlfriend goes to that school! I think I’ll transfer.” (Most of those things don’t last forever…)

• “My friends go to that school! I think I’ll transfer.” (Are you paying to party? )

• “I don’t like my friends at this school. I don’t fit in. I think I’ll transfer.” (Hang out with different people.)

• “My grades are bad. I think I’ll transfer.” (Work harder.)

• “I give up. Screw this place, I’m transferring.” (Have you exausted all of your options? Are you moving forward, or running away? Do you need another school, or do you actually need a semester off to get your life together?)

Other thoughts:

• Put up with it – a little bit. I’m a slow boil. I don’t just give up and I try to make the best of a situation. But six months later when I’m finally ready to quit – I’m done and I don’t look back. You can, however, hold out for too long. Don’t wait until you are desperate before you make the decision to positively change your life.

• Do your homework. Know what you are getting into. It’s possible that not all of your credits will transfer. Is what the new school offers great enough that you are willing to study – and pay for – another semester, or year? Be pro-active and stay organized.

• A diploma isn’t a magic wand. Just because you get a degree at a different school does not mean you (POOF!) magically land a job . At least in my industry, you need internships. Can you internship your way to your goal, or do you still need a different program to satisfy your educational/career interests?

• You transfer for a lot of reasons – concentrate and act on the right ones. Nazareth works out great for a lot of people and I’m happy for them. But for me, going there was a huge mistake – a colossal screw-up. A FAIL so epic, it was almost a win. I went there for the wrong reasons. My high school friends that went to Naz were so happy. I think I just wanted to be happy, too, so I chose that school over Fisher the first transfer-around. Conversely, going to Fisher was the best decision ever. I went there purely for the educational and extracurricular opportunities. The comm program focuses more on practical application instead of Aristotelean rhetoric and baby, that’s my style. Because I came to Fisher for those reasons, I’ve focused on those things and positioned myself well to reach my goals. Not that you can’t make friends, but if you transfer to a school with your career and education at the forefront of your reasoning, that is what you will put your energy into, and you will make the best use of your investment.

There’s my very unconventional college advice. I hope that made sense!

Until next time,

Question. Reconcile. Remember: Not all who wander are lost.

JNA

BOSTON

I’m coming to Boston on Friday, February 27th!

I had a great conversation about jobs, PR, and life with my professor last night. (Thank you!!!) His advice was that I make use of my spring break travel plans and stop in Boston if I get the chance. There’s always an open invitation to crash on my best friend’s futon at BC, I’m going on spring break with her anyway, I love that city – so why not? Moreover, I realized that it was important for me to learn more about the city I want to work in and get some face time with some people who work there. In conclusion, I’m hoping to set up some informational interviews for that Friday.

Do you know any PR people in Boston that would have 20 minutes to sit down with me and my portfolio and tell me honestly what I’m doing that’s great and what I could do better?

If so, please don’t hesitate to email me at janetaronica@gmail.com or message me on Twitter. (@janetaronica)

Thanks!