Unemployed and Very Busy

Whoever said being unemployed meant having free time never saw my calendar.

Recently, I've been on a few interviews and I've noticed that all three of the individuals with whom I met shared a similar concern. They all wanted to be sure I could handle the work load. Each time they lamented about how their PR departments were so small and how all employees where many hats or stressed that their 3-4 clients were in fast paced environments, I just chuckled silently to myself.  My resume is chocked full of projects that require multitasking, strategy development, measurement, client management, and time. Then there's the significant amount of time I invest in applying to and following up on job opportunities. Yes, it's true. Job hunting is a full-time job. I've even developed a spreadsheet to track my applications. However, I always run into interviewers who are shocked by my work.

It's become apparent to me that many hiring managers, interviewers, and employers think that because I don't have a full-time job I must not be doing anything at all. Quite the contrary. I spend most of my time working on non-profit projects. For example, this summer I joined Wade Davis II and Darnell L. Moore as the PR Director for the first-ever YOU Belong Sports & Leadership Camp for LGBT Youth. I also traveled to the mid-west to pitch a potential client, developed 2 PR proposals, attended 5 industry networking events, participated in 2 webinars, read 3 books, and developed a speaker's bureau (more on that later). Yes, I've been very busy. I can't wait to have only 1 FT gig to worry about. With that in mind, check out my resume.

Back in 2011 the Classy Career Girl, Anna Runyan gave some great advice about surviving unemployment. I still use it to this day. Click below and check out her post.

How to Be a PR Professional Even When You're Unemployed

The truth? I haven't had a full-time PR job in 5 years! Also true? Each year I've been unemployed I have facilitated significant PR projects that I can be proud of (and can add to my resume). Not working in the industry I love and feeling as if I am getting left behind was frustrating and had begun to get the better of me. Lucky for me, I realized that there were a few solid ways for me to maintain my PR pro status although I was not working in PR full-time.

1. Become your own client: Although I was fortunate to maintain paying PR work pretty consistently, there was a lot of downtime. There were weeks when I didn't have a project and I risked falling in to a space of true unemployment. During those times, I became my own client. I updated my own website, created content for myself, and pitched myself. I actually landed a patch.com article for myself. Visit my website, like my Facebook page, or follow me on twitter.
2. Create Content: Whether or not you have a client the one thing all PR pros need to do is create content. How you choose to do it doesn't matter. Tweet, update your Facebook, blog, make a video or write an op-ed. What matters is that you're creating content that's compelling, informed, honest, and that you're sharing that content in the appropriate context.
3. Update your toolkit: There's always something new to learn. Read a new book (right now I'm reading WTF Business by Brian Solis), master a new social media tool or learn html. When I have downtime in between jobs and/or clients I've spent that time learning something new. I even taught myself SEO and used it to land a new client.
4. Be with other PR pros: The best part of not having a client to worry about was that it gave me time to attend networking events, workshops, and conferences. Being in the same room with PR pros who are doing great work is priceless. I recently attended events co-sponsored by PRWeek and MSL Group. I met freelancers, entrepreneurs, hiring managers, and even media moguls. Check me out with Arianna Huffington!
   
   
   
   
   
   It's tough being an unemployed PR professional. This industry changes so fast and if you're not careful, you can be left behind. I've used these tips to keep me inspired, motivated, and truly connected to my industry. What tips have you used when you're in between clients and/or unemployed?
   
   
   
   
   
   

Four PR Reminders from Super Bowl XLVI

As one of the most celebrated games played out last night, I was reminded of a few PR fundamentals.

The power is in the players! The Giants have a roster of players that are experts at what they do. They work well together and everyone does his job. In our industry recruitment is everything! We have to make sure we're creating the best teams, have everyone in the best position to support the client, and that we have a diverse roster of players. Players from different backgrounds, with different skills, and different perspectives serve to broaden an agency's ability to create solutions for its clients. 

In crisis don't panic and remember the basics. Last night, when the chips were down and the pressure was on, the Patriots were sloppy. They didn't execute a plan and they made fundamental mistakes. Take Wexler's missed catch for example. He said himself,  "That's a play I make a thousand times" and yet when his team needed it most he didn't. Manning and the Giants stayed calm, played their game. How many times have we seen an otherwise smart PR team collapse in the midst of a crisis? In those tough situations where almost everything is against you,  the basic PR skills can and often do determine how your client comes out on the other side. 

Stay tough. It seemed like every other play a Giants player was on the ground writhing in pain. For Ballard & Beckum the injuries were game ending but I'll never forget the image of Ballard on the sideline trying to power through the pain of that sprained knee. I'm reminded that sometimes as practitioners we have to be willing to fight for our clients. We have to be able to stand up for them and sometimes take it on chin. 

Newbies, when utilized effectively, can add spark. It seems like Madonna has been a fixture in the music industry since God was a baby yet she knows when its time to get a little help from the newbies. I would love to see PR veterans working closely with newbies. A partnership like this could help to reinvent a vet and also inspire a newbie. 

What lessons did you learn from the big game?

2011's Top 8 Women Who Tell It Like It Is!

Anyone who knows me knows that I possess an intense conviction am tenacious and rarely bite my tongue. So in the spirit of that my Top 8 year-end list salutes women who did the same thing and made 2011 a better year! So get ready, here they come!

8. Sheryl Sandberg

As the woman who made Facebook into a bona fide business, Sheryl Sandberg is celebrated this year as one of Forbes Magazine's Most Powerful Women. She's at the top of one of the world's most successful companies and has not compromised the things that are most important to her in order to get there. 

7. Riley
Ok so she is not quite a woman but young Riley already sees through the marketing tactics that try to lull her into only wanting pink princess toys! Someone give this girl a superhero and a marketing gig! 

6. Rihanna
She banked one of the year's highest grossing tours raking in $90 Million, beating out Jay Z & Kanye and Britney Spears, she has the #2 song on Billboard's Hot 100 and according the Daily Mail this Rebellious Flower boasts the year's sexiest ad campaign. It's no wonder she demands we suck her cockiness!'

5. Deirdre Breakenridge
For everything I thought I knew about public relations this year, Deirdre taught me the true essence of our industry by proving to me that if what I'm doing is "comfortable" then I'm probably doing it wrong. Every post on her blog is a golden nugget of information that she could probably charged a hefty fee to view (please don't)! She truly gets it and is changing PR for the better and for good. Click the pic and see what I mean.

4. Dee Rees
Her film Pariah is a powerfully truthful and moving illustration of the stories I see and experience regularly but never see portrayed on the silver screen. In Pariah, Dee Rees eloquently tells the story of a young, brown, aggressive, lesbian's search for identity, peace and ultimately her place in a world that sometimes want nothing to do with who she is! 

3. Janet Mock

Janet Mock is known to many as the gorgeous, successful Staff Editor for People.com, a beautiful woman born on the island of Honolulu who is at the top of her game. She also happens to be trans. Janet Mock's powerful story of how she was born boy and transitioned into the woman she was always meant to be has provided an uncensored look into the transgender experience. Click below to read her story.

2.  Nancy Upton
Nancy showed fat girls, the fashion industry and women everywhere that one industry giant's "blatant, sloppy attempt to lazily win over the hearts of women who, because of their size, already face daily struggles to defend their looks and physical behavior" would be rejected in a BIG way! Click the pic to get the full story.

1. Amber "NineteenPercent"
This feminist phenom was previously unknown to me and thousands of others, that was until she used her vlog to educate the world and pop superstar Beyonce on the many shocking reasons girls DO NOT run the world!

Hey, how much for those ideas?

I recently watched The Social Network for the first time. I walked away from the movie trying to figure out which character I most identified with. Was it the rebounding, serial entrepreneur, looking for "the next big thing" or the betrayed best friend fighting for justice when all he really wants is his friend or maybe I am the cunning main character who would have everyone believe none of this was intentional? Maybe it's all of them or none of, I haven't exactly figured that out yet but one thing's for sure, I learned from all of these characters that you never know when an idea, your idea could change your world. This movie and its cast of characters has taught me to never underestimate the power of my ideas, my intellectual properties. As a PR professional this is an important lesson I had to learn the hard way. While working as a (highly underpaid) freelancer at company that I thought I would someday have ownership in I freely gave of my ideas. I gave this company ideas, strategies and even worked to bring many of them to fruition. About a year or so into the contract, the owners claimed they could no longer keep me on as a freelancer. I can't tell you how frustrating it was to see this company launching and profiting from the ideas I shared with them. This was a great lesson in knowing my worth. Today I'm a lot smarter! I don't take anything for granted. I have a clear understanding of what I bring to the table and while I'm not running to the printer to get business cards that say "I'm CEO, bitch" I surely not sitting quietly in the corner with my 0.03% ownership. Know your worth, protect your ideas and have integrity. Valuable stuff!

This PR Professional is the News

I had the opportunity to share my story with the folks over at my local www.patch.com. Check it out how I put my brand on my community

Breaking In (again)

There was a time when I knew that I had broken in to the PR industry. Maybe it was the first time I saw my client in the NYT or when I created my first monthly PR activity or perhaps it was when I successfully orchestrated PR for a trade show in Germany from my office in New York for a client based in Utah whose product came from Brazil. Whatever the moment, I knew I was in public relations. Then when the economy went down and jobs were scarce I found myself in an interesting position...not working in PR. My challenge wasn't finding a job but finding a PR job. I was able to work as a substitute teacher, a counselor, a writer, a singer anything except for PR. Do you know what that does to PRnista's self esteem? So here I am nearly 3 years away from my last full-time PR gig and still looking. It's challenging, frustrating, and sometimes depressing but I love this business and know I belong in it! I'll keep plugging away at it until I break into the biz...again.