Stop stressing over your handshake: Six big “dos” and “do nots” for interviews

The internet is an encyclopedia for interview tips, and it’s overwhelming to follow every single one. Many of them sound somewhat like this:

 

 

 

“First, practice your handshake. It’ll tell them everything about you. Also, know everything about the company. EVERYTHING. Interviewers can smell fear, so don’t be scared..”

 

There are things you should definitely do in an interview and things you should definitely not do. Using my own experience and help from the internet, I’ve compiled a list of both so you have just one list to help you instead of thousands.

 

The six big “dos”

1. Arrive on time and dress appropriately

Leave extra early for wherever you’re going, and make sure you know how to get there. Dress professional (overdressed is much better than underdressed), and ladies, if you’re worried about skirt length, go for pants.

 

2. Research the company

Let them know you care and that you’re interested in the company. No need to memorize every tiny detail; Show them you know what the company does, how they do it and maybe throw in a specific thing you read about them.

 

3. Be prepared

Review a few common interview questions and think of how to answer them. Also, bring a binder with your resume, cover letter and the internship’s description, along with a few samples of work. You’ll really stand out from the rest when you whip out a copy of that awesome press release you wrote.

 

4. Be honest

If they ask if you have a specific skill and you don’t, please don’t lie. Tell them you can learn how to do it and give them an example of a similar skill you have.

 

5. Be enthusiastic

Smile, engage them, be charming and laugh. This will set you miles apart from those who can’t even look an interviewer in the eyes.

 

6. Ask a few questions

They say the worst thing to say when an interviewer asks if you have questions is, “Nope!” This is true. Ask two or three solid, thoughtful questions and you’re golden.

 

This is how you’ll look and feel by following the 6 “dos”!

The six big“do nots”:

1. Don’t be egotistical

Being egotistical is annoying to most people, especially interviewers. Monster.com advices to tell them what you can do, but not to overdo it.

“Even if you’re putting on a performance to demonstrate your ability, overconfidence is as bad, if not worse, as being too reserved,” says Carole Martin from Monster.com

 

 

2. Don’t talk bad about anyone

Erika Anderson from Forbes agrees that it’s a bad idea to speak poorly about your last boss, a coworker, professor and so on. For the duration of your interview, your boss and everyone you’ve worked with are great, no matter how untrue that statement may be.

 

3. Don’t talk too much

This is one I struggle with. Tell them how your skills match the company, but don’t go overboard with details. Don’t try to answer too many questions at once!

 

4. Don’t keep your cell phone on

This one is easy! Turn it off and tuck it away before you meet your interviewer. This is one small step for you, and one giant leap for not getting an awkward phone call during your interview.

 

5. Don’t discuss money

It’s tempting, I know, but just hold off on this one. It’s expected you won’t discuss this until you’re offered the position, so bringing it up at your interview will be awkward.

 

6. Don’t drive yourself nuts

You will go in, talk with some people, then leave after about 30 minutes. You will survive with your body intact, and you may even get an internship from it. With preparation, there’s no need to freak out!

See this guy? He’s freaking out. Interviewers won’t like it if you freak out.

 

How did your internship interview go? Do you have more tips to add to these lists? Comment and share this blog with others to keep the conversation going!

 

Links:

https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/boost-your-interview-

iqhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2014/06/03/please-dont-do-these-9-things-in-an-interview/#3f803757a34e

Images

All are free use, public domain, no attribution required from Pixabay.com

Handshake: https://pixabay.com/en/handshake-hand-give-business-man-2056023/

professional people: https://pixabay.com/en/business-people-teamwork-team-2089530/

Guy who won’t interview well because he’s freaking out: https://pixabay.com/en/business-man-male-person-people-1302849/

Five Steps to Landing an Internship

 

I’ve heard it a million times, and I’m sure you’ve heard it as well.

 

“You need to get an internship!”

 

We can’t blame our professors for pushing us on this one. Internships are the best way to get hands-on experience before landing a job, and communications majors are particularly pushed to get one. Beth Braccio Hering from careerbuilder.com says internships are particularly useful for “testing out” a particular job, networking, getting college classes and gaining new skills.

 

Looking for internships is stressful. It’s nerve wracking. It’s frustrating.

It’s something you should definitely do. Keep these tips in mind, and you’ll have your best chance at getting that internship you need.

 

1. Think of What You Need

You can’t have an internship that’s too far away for you to drive, and you can’t be broke at the start of a new semester. Stay realistic with what will work out for you, and think of what you absolutely need in an internship. Here’s a few questions to get you started:

 

• Do you need one that pays?
• Is part time an option, or is full time a must?
• How far will you drive to it?
• Do you need it for class credit?

 

Find out what you absolutely need, then narrow it down to what you want. You’ll save yourself a lot of time by making sure you’re only applying to ones you can manage!

 

2. Know What You Want

Communications experience is versatile, and it can apply to a variety of internships. Some of them focus on managing social media, while others may have you creating events. Many of them require both skills and a lot more, too. Think of what you’d like to do as a job eventually and apply to internships that point you in that direction.

Make sure you apply to some backups, too! Applying to only what you want may limit your options. Focus on your favorites first, then apply to some second choices.

 

3. Keep Track of Where You Apply

Excel has become my best friend while applying to internships. Use a spreadsheet to keep track of things such as the internship job number, the company it’s for, when it begins, etc. This will keep you sane after hours of searching Indeed.com for new postings.

 

 

 

4. Tailor Your resume to Each Internship

It’s tempting to send the same resume to everywhere you apply. Different internships require different skills, however, so each resume you send out should include experience that specifically relates to that internship. Need resume help? Go to your college’s career center or click here for resume tips.

 

5. When in Doubt, Apply Anyway!

Will Simon at bigspaceship.com gives a ten-point list on how to land an internship, and his final tip is, “No one expects you to be perfect.” You probably won’t have every single skill an employer is looking for, and they won’t expect you to either. The last thing you should do is not apply to an internship because you’re afraid you don’t have a chance at it. You never know what may stand out and impress an employer!

 

Do you have questions about finding an internship? Ask away!

Did you get the internship of your dreams? Tell us what you did to get it!

Share this with your friends, and have fun internship hunting!

 

 

Sources:

Hering, B. B. (2010, April 14). Why are internships so important? Retrieved February 20, 2017, from http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/worklife/04/14/cb.why.internships.important/

 

Simon, W. (2013, December 11). Don’t Be a Robot: 10 Tips for Landing an Internship. Retrieved February 20, 2017, from http://www.bigspaceship.com/internship-tips/

Photos are fair-use and require no attribution

Photo 1: https://pixabay.com/en/executive-businesswoman-2051419/

Photo 2: https://pixabay.com/en/application-request-ipad-tablet-1883453/

 

Being Social Media Savvy

When people think of public relations, they often think of managing social media. Millennials tend to be social media savvy, and employers know that. In fact, many employers specifically looking for college students and interns to run social media, according to Bobbie Kay Lewis and Cynthia Nichols in “Public Relations Journal”.  Managing social media for an organization is much different from having a personal account, however. You’ll have a target audience besides your friends, and they won’t respond to the same techniques as your pals.

There are right and wrong ways to manage a professional social media account, and just like everything in communications, it’s a skill you learn to build. Thankfully, public relations professionals have wisdom to share! By combining their advice with my own experience in managing social media for organizations, I’ve created a plan to help you stand out against others when it comes to tweeting, posting and uploading.

Step 1: Run a social media account for a college organization

You won’t get professional social media experience just by using your personal Facebook or Twitter profiles. I’ve seen lots of clubs on campus that need a better media presence, and they’d probably be overjoyed to have somebody take care of their social media, especially if you can use it in a way that brings them more attention. It’ll be a commitment, but not one that takes up much time.

Step 2: Build up followers

The best results we’ve had for The Slate’s Instagram and Twitter pages have come from following students, professors and alumni at Shippensburg. We even started following local businesses and other clubs. When you follow them, they’ll follow you back. The more followers you have, the more people will interact with your posts!

Step 3: Be creative with posts

Greg Galant, the CEO of https://muckrack.com/, told Forbes that keeping posts entertaining is key to getting attention. Social media success takes creativity, and you need to find the most unique and exciting way to engage your audience in a brief post. What’s more exciting: Posting a tweet that says, “The Slate’s general interest meeting will be on February 15^th at 9 pm,” or posting this picture:

This was made using a social media template on https://www.canva.com. This site is fabulous for designing flyers, cards, social media posts and beyond. Better yet, it’s free!

 

Post videos! Upload pictures! Think of all the ways you can get your message across!

 

Step 4: Make your posts matter

This one is from David Meerman Scott, author of the book “The New Rules of Marketing & PR.” He mentions in Forbes that being newsworthy is important to making interesting posts. Some things may happen with your organization that may be funny or entertaining for you, but not interesting for your audience. Make posts that hit different news values, such as timeliness, proximity and impact for the most engagement from your audience. (For more on news values, check out this site! http://www.digitalthirdcoast.net/blog/values-content-newsworthy)

Step 5: Utilize all aspects of a social media platform

Don’t just post tweets. Go the extra mile by creating hashtags and live tweeting. Do live streams and create events on Facebook. Use polls, create groups and schedule posts in advance to keep your social media at the top of its game.

 

Of course, ALWAYS double check your grammar before making a post, and make sure you don’t accidentally make the post on your own account (definitely speaking from experience on these). Focus on creating two-way communication with followers and have fun!

 

Do you manage a social media? Share some of your favorite ways to use social media! Have questions about techniques to use? Let us know those too! Share this post with friends and look out for more tips for PR students!

 

Sources:

Instagram picture: Free for commercial use, no attribution required from Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/en/call-iphone-log-in-login-mobile-1866884/

Lewis, B. K., & Nichols, C. (2016). Social Media and Strategic Communication: A Three-       Year Study of Attitudes and Perceptions about Social Media among College Students. Public Relations Journal,10(1), 4-5. doi:10.18411/d-2016-154

Wynne, R. (2014, April 28). Winning Social Media Strategies For Public Relations. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwynne/2014/04/28/winning-social-media-strategies-for-public-relations/#44a72524103b

Five Reasons Why You Should Join Your College Newspaper

“I’m going into public relations. I don’t need to learn how to do this.”

 

This opinion was voiced by a PR student about writing newspaper articles in my Intro to Media Writing class. I’ve heard similar complaints from other classmates too, and it’s usually from students who could definitely use the extra writing experience.

 

I joined The Slate my first semester at Shippensburg, and it’s been one of the best decisions of my life, both professionally and personally. Joining a newspaper can help you as well, and I hope these reasons will prove how valuable your college newspaper can be to your future career.

Ok, joining your college paper won’t look like this. The newsroom will at least be in color.

1. You Learn To Meet Deadlines

Deadlines are everywhere. You have them for classes, bills and even expiration dates on food. Every job will require you to complete projects in a time frame, but there’s no surprise that the deadlines for public relations professionals are small and strict. Press releases are written on the spot, and newsletters aren’t written over months. Writing for your newspaper will train you to quickly transform hard facts into a story and get you used to writing under a little pressure.

 

2. You Write Often

Nobody starts out being a good writer. I cringe while reading the first article I wrote for The Slate, and I still find things I wish I’d written differently in recent ones. You need time to practice writing skills, especially writing skills used for public relations. Try branching away from opinion and fiction pieces and see what news stories attract you. You don’t want to be practicing your writing skills at your first job. According to this blog, you’ll want to have mastered them: http://blog.journalistics.com/2013/skills-entry-level-pr-hires-should-have/

 

3. You Learn How To Work As A Team (A Writing Team, That Is!)

In public relations, writing isn’t always on your own terms. It’s on the terms of your audience, stakeholders and bosses. A manager may ask you to extend or shorten a story, and you have to work within guidelines of editors and your own organization. A college newspaper provides the perfect environment to practice working with peers to create the best written piece possible.

 

4. You Learn How To Be Flexible

I know this girl whose A&E Editor thought she was writing a song review for that week’s issue of The Slate, but in reality, she told him it was for the issue AFTER that week’s. She had to listen to the song, evaluate it and write a 1200-word article on it in four hours. Now, she could have told the editor it was his fault for forgetting which issue the review was for and refuse to write it, but she decided to write it anyway.

 

Yes, the girl was me. This stuff just happens sometimes. Learning flexibility is a good thing.

 

I can never listen to Adele’s, “Hello” without feeling anxious now…

5. You Learn How Newspapers Run

Editors are busy, busy people. Stories fall through, articles may be written poorly, and after every other speed bump, they still have to create newspaper pages from it all. There’s no secret that there is tension between PR specialists and journalists, but joining a college newspaper will show you how editors work and what they need for your press release to be considered.

 

Joining a newspaper will give you the best real-world communications experience for writing, deadlines, organization and teamwork before you graduate. Join the staff, write a few articles or even take some pictures just to get a look into PR’s close cousin, journalism. Who knows, you may just meet some great friends along the way.

Have you joined your newspaper? Comment and let us know! Or, better yet, share this post with your PR friends and see what they think!

 

Sources:

Blog published by Jeremy Porter at:  http://blog.journalistics.com/2013/skills-entry-level-pr-hires-should-have/

All photos public domain, free for commercial use and require no attribution from Pixabay.com

microphone: https://pixabay.com/en/microphone-music-score-song-805256/

newsroom: https://pixabay.com/en/new-york-times-newspaper-press-room-1159719/

coffee and newspaper: https://pixabay.com/en/newspaper-news-media-print-media-1595773/