Five ways to dazzle a potential employer

• January 15, 2008

By Francis Moran

A few months ago, Karen Russell of The Teaching Blog made a list of a dozen things she wished PR pros would blog about. Since I am on the receiving end of many, many enquiries from people seeking employment here at inmedia, most of which utterly fail to dazzle me, I thought I’d tackle this one, five ways to dazzle a potential employer.

Truth is, I feel sorry for today’s university grad or early- or mid-career person looking for that first or next position, especially if they’re responding to a job ad or board posting. Information technology has made it easier for resumes and cover letters to be machine-scanned, with only those that meet specific requirements making it through to be read by human eyes. Further, everyone knows that personal networking and connections are extraordinarily powerful tools in any job search and, if you don’t have them, you’re at a terrible disadvantage.

So, I’m not sure I can counsel anyone on how they can break through those barriers when seeking employment at a big company. But here are five things that would certainly put you several steps ahead at a small company like inmedia.

1. Present as though you actually know who I am. I admit I have one of those gender-ambiguous first names, but that’s no excuse for addressing me as Ms. Moran or, even worse, Dear Sir or Madam. A simple phone call is all it takes.

2. Also present as though you actually know what my company does. Telling me all about your political science education, or your years of sales experience, or what an incredible engineer you are means you have done absolutely no research whatsoever into who we are and what we do. We have a web site and, now, a blog, both of which should tell you everything you need to know about us, what we do and a whole lot about our culture and approach. The better an understanding of that you exhibit, the more you’ll dazzle me.

3. If you truly want to dazzle me, draw clear, compelling connections between what you know and what we do. Tell me how your education, experience and interests would make you a superb technology media relations practitioner.

4. Dazzle me with your writing. Writing is what we do, and we set extraordinarily high standards for it. Everyone, from clients to media, consistently comments favourably on our writing. You won’t survive a week here if you’re not a superb writer, and your cover letter won’t survive a first reading if it’s poorly written or contains spelling or grammar errors. As unbelievable as this may be, if everything is spelled correctly and there are no grammar errors, you will be in the top percentile or two of all the enquiries I get. Shocking, but true.

5. Try to rise above the noise. When I was younger and looking for a job, I often used some gimmick to attract attention to my application. I can’t say it ever worked for me, but the very first person I ever hired when I set up my first agency about 15 years ago enlarged his resume and cover letter to poster size and sent them to me in a mailing tube. He got my attention, and the job.

Bottom line — and here’s the real nugget for anyone seeking a job in public relations: These five suggestions just happen to constitute a solid handful of best practices in media relations itself. Know your media targets and why you’re pitching them. Get the story right and write it well. Do what you need to rise above the newsroom noise. If you can apply the fundamentals when you’re applying for a job, you’ll engender a lot of confidence that you’ll be able to apply them if you get the job.