PRSA Young Professionals Present Insider’s Guide to PR Recruitment How the gatekeepers think
Last month the company that I currently intern at (Burson-Marsteller) loaned its San Franciso office for an event for the PRSA Young Professionals in the Bay Area. I was lucky enough to be able to attend after work. At the event were three recruiters from Weber Shandwick, Korn/Ferry, and CCI Staffing. While at the event, they answered the “dos’ and “don’ts” in the application process, especially pertaining to the PR industry.
COVER LETTERS
- Consensus: not that important
- Should be a quick synopsis of your resume
- How to email it. Paste your cover letter into the body of the email while you attach your resume
- Tells recruiters if the candidate can get to the point (writing skills)
- Talk about you! Show the recruiter what you want in life and how this internship will help you
- Most recruiters consider the cover letter secondary, they will read cover letters of good resumes, but expects all candidates to have a cover letter
RESUME
- Should be: chronological, perfect formatting, concise in job description, and absolutely no SPELLING ERRORS
- Anyone with 0-5 years experience should only have a 1 page resume
- Should match job description and cover letter
- Use specific words from job description (wrote press release, handled edcal, pitched to media)
- Don’t be afraid to NAME DROP! If you worked on a major client like Intel, say that!
- Quantify your work, how many press released did you write?
INTERVIEW
- Don’t wear perfume/cologne. Why? What happens if your recruiter is allergic to your smell?
- Good skill sets: team work, intellectually curious, open minded, can talk about news/market, communicator high energy, good social skills
-Tiffany Siu
