A couple of weeks ago, Kristine D’Arbelles was invite to moderate a panel of young and senior professionals at the CPRS Navigate Your PR Career.
The evening was split into two panels:
- Job search strategies: Best practices from senior PR professionals with Carolyn Gardner, Director of Marketing and Communications for Novotech Technologies, Patti Murphy, Director of Communications and Development for the Ottawa Food Bank, and Jim Armour, Vice President of Summa Strategies Canada.
- Designed to succeed: Tips and trends from young PR pros with Darcy Boucher, Founder & President of Bowda PR, James Kenny, Senior Consultant at Hill+Knowlton Strategies Canada, and Stephanie Rochefort, Communications Services Officer at the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.
In this week’s episode I touch on my favourite tips and advice for young professionals.
First, I concentrate on three questions I asked the senior panelists:
- How do you approach a potential mentor? (hint: avoid using the word mentor)
- How should a young professional use LinkedIn, and what are the best ways to connect with senior professionals?
- How do you avoid having your resume in the “no” pile? (hint: don’t give them a reason to throw out your resume, NO SPELLING MISTAKES ALLOWED!)
The young professionals had a different view on searching for a job, they talked about:
- How your online presence can help you land a job.
- The amount of work you put in to searching for a job directly correlates with the quality of the job you will receive (in other words: you have to work hard at getting a job, do your research).
- There is a lot of potential in contract positions (in other words: don’t discount a short-term contract position, they can turn in to long-term careers).
OurMode fashion was also present at the CPRS event. Stay tuned for a separate show with CJ and Katherine where they will share tips on coordinating a stand out, budget-friendly interview wardrobe that is versatile enough to be converted for evening networking events.
And finally, I ended the show with a very exciting announcement. If you live in Ottawa and are looking for a job, you have the opportunity to work with our host Kristine at the Canadian Automobile Association. Read the full job description here. Kristine hopes to meet you soon!
We want to hear from you! Share your comments below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or in our LinkedIn group, or on Pinterest, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell or @kentjulia.