Power Up Your Communications Career CMA Public Affairs Roundtable

Sept. 1-2, 2009 • Baltimore, Maryland

Presented by:

Tracy Imm, APR

Marketing & Communications Director

Vision Multimedia Technologies, LLC

timm@vmtllc.com

Who am I?Hiring Manager

Project Team Leader

Downsized executive

Entrepreneur

Commercial Banker & Financial Analyst

Strategist

Writer

Community Volunteer

Accredited in Public Relations (APR)

Social Media expert

Sister, daughter, aunt, wife

Management trainee

Junior team member

Proposal Writer & Sales Leader

Middle management

Agency account executive

General Contractor

Chief of staff

MBA graduate

People lover

Experience in nuclear power and aerospace & defense2

Agenda

• Today’s Competitive Landscape

• The Brand Called You

• Navigating the Landscape

– Implementing an Effective Game Plan

• Resources

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The Brutal Facts:

A Down Economy

A little doom and gloom for you:

• ―The economy will be in

shambles throughout 2009– and

for that matter, probably well

beyond.‖ (Warren Buffett)

• U.S. unemployment reaches an

all time new high of 9% (Wall

Street Journal)

• Mass layoffs occur across all

sectors and in all functional

areas (Business Week)

• The impact is not confined to

blue collar workers, Wall Street,

the Rust Belt or junior positions.

Decide right now that

you will not be a

VICTIM but rather in

charge of your destiny

and career.

Finding a new job

• Before… you could send

out lots of resumes to

lots of places, do a little

networking and find an

comparable or better job

• Now you need to work on

differentiating yourself

from the pack and this

may mean that you may

need to take a lower

level job to stay

employed or get training

to jump start your next

move

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A new paradigmWe used to talk about progression on the career ladder where the only

acceptable path was up.

Think of it more like a personal jungle gym where you traverse as you need

throughout your working life:

•Relocation is now an acceptable way of life.

•Lateral moves are now acceptable.

•Shifting to different functional areas is now acceptable.

•Going backwards to then go forward on another rung (where you want to be) might be a

good strategy and is now acceptable.

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A Proven Approach• As professional communicators, we

are trained in this methodology:

– Analysis

– Planning

– Implementation

– Evaluation

• This process works for your work life

as well

– Where are you now? What do you

like to do? What are your

passions?

– Where do you want to go? be? do?

– Execute your plan—use social

networks like LinkedIn, create a

Visual CV or Web site/blog

– Evaluate how it went

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From the hiring manager‟s perspective

PUT YOURSELF IN THEIR SHOES:

• Have you done your research

on the organization before

your interview?

• If you do not have experience

in that sector, have you read

up on industry trends, issues

and what the competition is

up to?

• Many times, you are being

tested to see if you will fit

into their culture more than

anything else.

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From the hiring manager‟s perspective

• Carefully read the job description

to see what the organization is

looking for.

– Develop several talking

points around these key

items and how you either

have first hand experience or

demonstrated results in that

area.

• This is what you are

bringing to the table as

the candidate.

• You are basically

structuring your

responses to increase the

likelihood that you will

be a top candidate and

potential hire.

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From the hiring manager perspective

According to Fast Company’s Technomix Blog in August 2009:

• 45% of employers check social networks before hiring

• A study conducted by CareerBuilder found 35% of companies had rejected

a candidate based on information from a social-network profile.

Indications of drinking, drug use, inappropriate behavior and maligning

past employers were top reasons for rejection

Managing your online reputation should be a top priority for you

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Importance of Branding

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The Brand called

“YOU”

1. Talents:

What are my unique strengths or talents? What is

the highest and best use of my talents? How can I

better maximize the talents that I have? What

talents might I have that have not yet been

developed?

2. Skills:

What skills do I currently have? What skills will I

need in the future that I do not currently have?

To what degree am I constantly upgrading my

skills?

3. Knowledge:

What is my current level of knowledge in my

specific field? What am I doing to stay current?

What other areas of knowledge am I pursuing?

(SOURCE: THE SPEED OF TRUST, S. COVEY)

How well do you

know yourself?

This is the analysis

phase.

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The Brand Called You

4. Attitudes:

What are my attitudes about work?

About life? About learning? About

myself, my capabilities, and my

opportunities to contribute? Are there

more productive attitudes and

paradigms I could embrace that would

help me create better results?

5. Style:

How effective is my current style in

approaching problems and

opportunities and interacting with

others? Does my approach facilitate

or get in the way of accomplishing

what needs to be done? What can I do

to improve the way in which I go

about doing things?

(Source: The Speed of Trust, Covey)

• ASSIGNMENT:

Briefly answer these questions

and evaluate yourself in each

category.

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The Brand Called “You”

What 3 words would you use to

describe your brand?

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The Brand Called „YOU”

Be both credible and competent

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR CAPABILITIES:

• Run with your strengths and with your purpose

• Keep yourself relevant

• Know where you’re going

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR RESULTS:

• Take responsibility for results

• Expect to win

• Finish strong

» Steven Covey’s The Speed of Trust

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How can you become the “best” possible candidate?

Differentiate yourself in multiple ways:

– Skills (possess something rare or

unique)

• What experience do you have with digital

communications platforms and social

media marketing?

• Are you a generalist or specialist?

• Are you exceptionally good at media

relations? Crisis communications?

Employee communications? Community

relations programming?

– Experience (B2B, B2G, B2C)

• What results have you achieved in your

assignment with U.S. Army Chemical

Materials Agency and SAIC?

• You can do pro-bono work for

organizations to get more leadership,

project management and

marketing/communications experience

that your employer may not offer.

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How can you become the “best” possible candidate?

– Outlook

• A positive attitude is

important and it shows

to employers

• Can you put yourself in

someone else’s shoes

and provide counsel that

is value add?

– Preferences

• Know yourself: Are you

an extrovert or

introvert? Do you like to

lead? What are your

greatest strengths?

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Be interesting

Traditional Communications Skills

Evaluate your skills and experience in the areas of:

• Integrated Marketing & Communications Strategy

development

• Public Relations & Corporate Communications

• Employee Communications

• Community Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility

• Public Affairs support

• Communications Consulting and Coaching

• Project Management/Leadership

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Social Media &

Digital Communications Skills

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How much do you know about social media and how good are

your digital communications skills?

Employers want communications professionals that know a

variety of technologies, can create online marketing strategies

and know how to execute the tactics.

The Dummies Book series includes: Search Engine

Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, others.

Developing Your Game Plan

• Where do you want to work

(location, industry, etc.)?

• Can you describe your next

ideal job?

• How much longer do you need

to work?

• What other skills and

experience do you need to

get? If you can not get it on

the job, can you get it

another way like through a

volunteer role?

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• Showcase your experience, your education, your achievements, your

credentials

• Create both a functional and a chronological version

• Create a Visual CV (www.visualcv.com)

• Consider hiring a professional resume writer to work with you

• Customize your cover letters for each job

• Post your resume to several sites

• Use the verbiage from the job description

• Send a hand written thank you

Your Resume and Cover Letter

Networking 101

• WHY: Most people find jobs

through people they know, not

through online postings

• WHAT:

Create a proactive networking

strategy----write it down and measure

your success

– Create your ―elevator speech‖

about who you are and what you

are looking for and practice it on

everyone (what 3 words describe

your brand?)

– Read books/blogs on networking

techniques

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Networking 101

• WHO: Your network is bigger than you think:

– List of former colleagues, supervisors,

classmates

– List of people you know from

church/synagogue, community organizations,

etc.

– Find recruiting firms that specialize in

communications/marketing

– People your family knows that can assist you

– People you don’t know now but that you want

to meet (use LinkedIn)

• HOW AND WHERE:

– Events to attend (free, low cost) in your

community

– Take a class or seminar

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Implementation

• Get business cards printed that

you can hand out when you

network

• Recognize that you may spend

more time searching for your

next position that you expected

• Don’t take rejection personally

• Continue to stay positive and

surround yourself with people

who will support you during

your search-it will show in your

interviews

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Implementation

• Find opportunities to exercise,

eat right, enjoy your family and

friends, complete projects that

you have been meaning to do for

years

• Network, network, network

• Volunteer your time and talents

to an organization that will

benefit

• Get feedback from close friends

and family on your networking

techniques, elevator speech and

continually refine your approach25

Five things to do when you are out of work

• Create a job for yourself

• Focus on ambition and execution

• Start a blog about the industry you want to join

• Start a company

• Practice talking about yourself with everyone

Penelope Trunk

The Brazen Careerist

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Books to consider

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Available Resources

Top Communications Professional Organizations:

– PRSA (Consider getting your APR, read

articles, attend seminars and monthly

meetings, join the board, post your

resume)

– IABC (Consider getting your ABC, read or

contribute articles, attend seminars and

monthly meetings, join the board, post

your resume)

– AMA (Read or contribute articles, attend

free webinars and monthly meetings, join

the board, post your resume)

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Available Resources

• Sign up for Ned’s Job of the Week e-

newsletter (JOTW@topica.com)

• If you want to create your own firm, then

look into all the resources available through

the U.S. Small Business Administration

www.sba.gov and your State agencies that

promote entrepreneurship

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Professional Help

• Consider hiring a professional

resume writer to write several

versions of your cover letter

and resume

• Consider hiring a career coach

to help you figure out your

plan

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We are free to do what we will with the

cards we are dealt, to chose what response

we will make to fateful events, to decide

what cause or persons will receive our

devotion.

-Steven Covey