Getting a job, in any industry, can be tough. As a college student, there can be a lot of pressure placed on you to have the next step figured out. This pressure especially increases as you get closer to graduation. As tough as job hunting and life-figure-outing can be, it gets a little easier when you have people with experience in your area of study give you some advice.
I recently sat in on a panel discussion, as a part of my Fashion Journalism course, featuring industry professionals of the journalism world. The panel featured Jaimi Blackburn, Director of Public Relations at Fearless restaurants; Mary K. Dougherty, owner of Nicole Miller Philadelphia and Mary K. Dougherty and Associates; James Zeleniak, PUNCH Media Principal; and Kylie Freeston, Nicole Miller Philadelphia, (intern) assistant event coordinator.
The most important thing for you to do in any industry is to set yourself apart from others. The panelists had a few tips on how to dow this. Here are a few key take aways I found to be extremely helpful and important:
1. Communication is very important
As a millennial, I hate being referred to as a “millennial” (lol). However, I must admit, we do some some strange ways. Every point of communication you have with an employer determines how they view you as a prospect — starting from your resume, to your thank you letter, to your follow up phone call. During the panel, Mary K. Dougherty let us in on a little “trick” her company uses when looking at prospective employees. The resumes of those that send a thank you letter following an interview are stapled to the letter and set in a pile for review. The resumes of those that have no corresponding thank you letter are trashed.
Another topic of discussion was phone calls. James Zeleniak expressed the importance of communicating voice to voice or in person. We live in the age of texts and emails, but a vocal or in person conversation makes a good impression! Apparently we millennials don’t do this anymore, but this is what employers look for.
2. Know how to sell yourself
Everyone is competing for a top spot. It is important to know how important you are and express what value you bring to a team. In the words of Jaimi Blackburn: “You should be able to sell yourself in whatever area is listed on your resume. Even if you worked at Baskin Robbins, you were an ice scream scooping technician with a specialization in 31 flavors.” She said that as she chuckled at the end of her statement, but she wanted to make sure we understood the importance of branding yourself, especially in an interview. If anytime is important to sell yourself, the interviewing and hiring process is one of the most important.
What are some helpful tips you’ve gotten about making it in your field?
XO,
Sydney
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