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January 6th, 2012 by Steve

Heart-warming tale to end the week

This is an email I received from another PR (name removed to conceal identity and avoid blushes):

“Hi Steve

I hope this email finds you well.  I am emailing you about your blog on the 19th December in PR Week ‘PR’s New Years Resolution Should Be Labour Honesty’, and due to it being a subject of great relevance to me at the moment I felt compelled to email you.  I am one of those would be Account Execs that you mention in the blog, not being paid to do what seems like a great deal and while I cannot deny that gaining coverage worth a good deal of money but not getting any in return is unfair, my issue is not so much with internships themselves but the myths surrounding them.  I have applied and had many interviews for Graduate Entry Roles, where it appears that my experience and achievements (although modest) have counted for very little or alternatively have not been enough, which does give off a somewhat confusing message.  It seems to me the real issue with internships is not then internships themselves but the fact that they either not important and ‘unnecessary’ for entry level roles or I am expected to have had at least 6 month intern experience, that to me seems completely absurd.  On one level PR wannabe’s are expected to work for nothing as otherwise they have no hope of a job but on another certain agencies advertise as ‘experience not mandatory’, begging the question what is the point?  In our current society, expecting any sort of ethical behaviour in the work place only serves to leave you disappointed and I am aware that the Managing Partners of my agency do not bat an eyelid at exploiting me, however i feel that I am left with very little choice, what are my realistic alternatives when the current job market is so tough?  The reality is I, like many others of my circumstance have a passion for PR but are struggling to find a job, and the truth is I would rather do my unpaid internship than not be involved in PR at all and if I make a stand there will be another hopeful to fill my place.  Graduates desiring a career in PR are stuck between a rock and a hard place, with no guarantee of your sacrifice resulting in a job. 

While I agree with the principles of your blog, I do not think it is realistic to expect companies to stop using unpaid internships, what I believe could improve the situation is companies being clearer about what experience you need for a job and the likelihood of obtaining a job out of their internship or even better if companies would be prepared to take a risk on young graduates, who if nurtured and guided might show they are worthy of a pay cheque at the end.

I on behalf of all graduates in my position, also want to say how refreshing it is to see a successful PR professional standing up for interns, and addressing how much they do contribute, you are it seems in a minority but I still felt the urge to thank you for at least suggesting we should be treated differently.

Best Wishes

<NAME>”

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October 18th, 2011 by Steve

What to wear to a PR agency job interview

What a whore I am! I know full well this will up our search ratings because loads of people desperate to get into PR will look at it. Perhaps.

No matter, I have never been publicity-shy but this post is in response to many a recent incidence of sartorial indiscretion, compromise or tomfoolery, rather than with a purely commercial motivation, so I shall proceed.

It’s like this. The way people dress in PR has changed enormously in the past decade. In fact, the change really began in the mid-90s, when a few risque blokes would go to meetings without (SHOCK!) sporting a tie, following the business casual example set largely by the Silicon Valley set. For people going for an interview, making the right choice can pose something of a dilemma.

It didn’t used to be that way. Here’s a timeline of how things have changed in the world of the PR office wardrobe:

- 1980s: suits and ties for men, skirt suits with blouses or dresses and (often) killer heels for women. Just imagine eh?

- Early 1990s: men still largely as-was, apart from a dalliance with paisley prints on ties and a fashion for boldly-coloured shirts (and some suits too, though more in a that-detective-off-Midsomer-Murders way than an Ozwald Boateng way). Ladies still similar, but more evidence of trouser suits (actually this began at the back end of the 80s really)

- Mid-1990s: the transitional period. Men started to dip their toes into casual waters – often to hideous effect with offices awash with chinos, boating shoes and faded denim shirts. Women would have trouser suits or skirt suits for pitches and meetings, but mixed it up far more otherwise. Agencies would talk about having a casual dress policy and it did help in luring talent

- Late-1990s: confusion reigned. Men would typically stick on a suit and tie for pitches, but still even taking off a jacket in meetings could seem too informal. Women still had the ‘meeting suit’ left in the office (typically black or dark grey at that time, thanks a lot Ally McBeal) but would go for more daring dresses – by that I mean more eclectic/less conventionally business-like, rather than that showed your bits more

- Early 2000s: transition to a more commonly-accepted casual dress code largely completed. Jeans (shock!) began appearing on male and female legs. Less formal shoes became more common. Meetings still meant dressing up and most blokes still wore shirts, although some agencies accepted anything legal/moral

- Mid-2000s to today: most agencies accepted pretty much anything and casual became the norm, even for meetings. Even so, like going to a ‘wine bar’ in the country, some no-nos remain, such as trainers, tee-shirts and jeans aren’t always a good idea for first meetings. Equally, some more senior agency people can be too old for the things they attempt to wear to look casual, so should be mindful of that. The old rule of dress sort of like your clients does need loose interpretation, as often agencies are expected to appear more creative (although I’ve seen a few turn up looking like they worship at the altar of Sid Vicious, so common sense is always a good idea)

So there we go. A lot of change, and so a lot of confusion, and it must be tricky working out what to wear to interviews these days. I’ve seen all types in the past few years, so here are some tips on what to wear to a PR interview, at any level:

1. Find out what most people at the agency typically wear: that will give you an idea to base your wardrobe choices on. Photos of the staff on the web site can be a good indicator

2. Dress one level ‘above’ what you think you’d normally wear to work: best to be cautious, but not drift too far from the normal you

3. Focus on what’s going to make the lasting impression and do it right: jeans may be safe territory now but they won’t set you apart and neither will a shirt unless it is dazzling, but wear ‘bad’ shoes and they’ll stick out like a sore thumb, for example. Similarly with women, jewellery or accessories can be the stand-out if you’re worried that the top you were thinking of wearing might be a bit OTT

4. Yes to: smart pair of jeans, nice shirt, more casual shoes (for blokes). I appreciate if you’re entry level you aren’t going to have the money to spend on new clothes, but equally wearing a suit, shirt and tie that are obviously of the ‘my first suit, shirt and tie’ variety isn’t likely to win you brownie points any more. Suit and shirt without tie can be fine, but doesn’t really mark you out from the crowd

5. No to: trainers and tee-shirts (for first meeting at least), ladies’ suits that look too ‘librarian’

But most of all, if you remember nothing else, it it imperative not to go to a PR agency job interview looking like every other media hipster wannabe fool who hangs around Hoxton and, despite probable claims to the contrary, is utterly devoid of individuality. You might think you’ll look so edgy and alternative, but you’ll just look like all the rest of them. Bearing this in mind, here are the five things DEFINITELY not to wear to a PR agency job interview

1. Skinny hipster jeans, particularly black ones

2. Media specs

3. Black Converse high-tops (they may be classic, but you and the rest of your troupe are wearing the very same thing, so grow up and get some imagination please)

4. One of those stupid, floppy, short-backed, comb-over Hoxton haircuts

5. A scarf

At a time when PR is changing enormously, it doesn’t matter what people wear really (within reason) and more than anything else we need hard-workers with brainpower. But equally, don’t screw it up by trying to hard to look ‘media’.

And if you ride a fixie, do think twice before darkening my door.

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November 25th, 2010 by Steve

Speed Christmas party 2010: Barcelona

Yes, Barcelona. Spain. Well, Catalonia.

Despite the challenging economic climate (heard that phrase before?), the Speed team is heading off to Barcelona tomorrow for an, erm, annual team meeting and Christmas party.

How have we done this? We’ve been prudent with cash, we’ve won new business, we’ve delivered for our clients, we’ve kept developing people all year long, and we booked the flights ages ago so they were quite cheap.

Why am I mentioning this here? Well firstly, we rely on the support of clients (and the few colleagues staying at home) to do this. It’s a reward for all the hard work everyone has put in.  So thank you one and all.

And there’s an ulterior motive: we’re hiring.  So if your agency Christmas party is down the Dog and Duck with a few turkey twizzlers, you’re hard-working, clever and love media work, do get in touch. We can tell you where we plan to go next year

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October 7th, 2010 by Steve

Grad to be here. Where’s the photocopier?

I never bet. But if I did, a good punt might be that graduate recruitment has not appeared on board meeting agendas at most PR companies in the past year.

I’ve written before about the difficulties of getting a first job in PR at the moment, why many agencies have what amounts to a hiring freeze and why agencies should be bolder in looking to the future. Most of which is pretty obvious.

One part of all of that was the issue of graduate recruitment schemes, and what agencies should look to do in order to turn people into competent PRs, starting the day they join. Training is obviously an important facet, but it does not begin and end there.

Why am I regurgitating this? Well, at Speed’s last board meeting there was – shock – an item about graduate recruitment. Not because we didn’t have much else to talk about, but because we’re serious about attracting a high-calibre graduate intake and taking a responsible, sustainable approach to developing their skills. And not just graduates, but people with the right skills and experience who want to get into the fast-modernising PR trade. I didn’t go to university myself, so that’s a topic close to my heart.

What should a good graduate recruitment programme look like? Without giving away too much on the Speed approach, which we’ll be unveiling in the coming weeks, it should cover:

- Close links with universities and training courses so that students know what may lie ahead (and we can bag the best ones early). Not just PR courses, but marketing, journalism and broader media courses. Not the crap ones though

- Clear and written commitments to potential recruits about what they’re getting into, what the employer will provide and, equally, what the employer won’t do. Plus, crucially, what the employee will be expected to do to develop themselves and build a successful career quickly. This is critical in sorting the ambitious, industrious and intelligent from the lethargic, confused and under-equipped. And you can quote me on that

- A reasonable model and timeframe for making the transition from assistant in the background to consultant in the foreground. There will always be shades of grey. Yet if a person will never meet a client for six months so that when they do they are ready (think about how the likes of Beckham, Scholes and Giggs were introduced to the first team of the three-time European champions) then be straight with them about that. There is a lot less photocopying than there used to be in this job, but there will always be grunt work to do as new recruits gain a 360 degree view of the job

- Details of salary bands and what is required in order to make progress through them. Agencies fudge salary expectations at graduate intake level more than with any other level of employee – largely because the rest of us have got wise to it. Be clear and honest and it will help you attract clear, strong and honest candidates who respect you. Providing you don’t pay peanuts obviously

- Above all, complete and utter honesty. Do you risk creating a bad first impression with a client if you wear something a bit weird to your first meeting? What’s the best way to make a name for yourself with colleagues without becoming infamous for the wrong reasons? How do you show a client that you know your stuff from the off? All questions the graduates will come across, and all things that their colleagues can help with. Graduate schemes need to have the commitment and the involvement of everyone in the company, both to give the new intake the best possible start and ensure that they become colleagues that everyone can rely on

- Grammar, spelling, timesheets, quality (*slaps wrist*)

More on SpeedGrads soon. And some memories on my start in PR, which might prompt a few tears and a few wry smiles.

By the way, want a career in PR? Leave a comment below or track me down elsewhere if so.

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August 25th, 2010 by Steve

The lost boys (and girls): part one

“Gizzajob”.

Yosser Hughes’ lament in Boys From The Black Stuff became a popular hallmark of job seeking in the 1980s. In the 2010s, in PR, the clarion cry might be “Gizzachance, any chance”.

Getting your first job in PR is, probably, more difficult at the moment than it has ever been. Ever. This is the first of a short series of posts looking at what this means for young people trying to start a career in the industry, those of us already working in PR jobs and PR agencies looking to develop and attract the right skills – skills for battling through the recession and better commercial fortunes in the future.

First, let’s get the legal bit out of the way. The title mentions boys and girls, but by that I mean all females and males of an employable age, in possession of the appropriate paperwork in order to be eligible participants in the payroll. Phew.

So the ‘lost generation’ factor has been much-publicised by the conventional media in the UK. The spectre was raised as the recession really began to bite in 2009. As this summer’s exam results season got into full swing, reports followed about the social, professional and personal implications of a generation of school and college leavers who’ve been unable to find work for two years. There have been reports this year that prospects are improving for graduates, yet for many the employment outlook remains bleak. With GCSE results just announced this week, the question was whose prospects were bleakest – given the paucity of jobs available, would grads get the albeit low-level jobs in favour of those who left education at A Level or the GCSE stage?

The long-term impact on young people unable to start any sort of meaningful career is fairly obvious.

In PR, the picture roughly seems to mirror that of the overall labour market, although there is the added challenge of a industry with a major modernisation challenge, meaning the skills required are changing and will continue to change.

PR Week features editor Cathy Wallace wrote this piece on how difficult it was to get a job in PR last August. I asked her how the situation has changed in the year since then. Was it any easier now to get a job in PR?

She said: “I think it’s harder. I have heard horror stories from graduates who have been working unpaid for up to two years, without managing to secure a graduate position. There is a problem of supply and demand. Universities are churning out young, fresh, eager PR graduates faster than the industry can gobble them up. Unfortunately as many agencies have tightened belts, entry-level recruitment has been one of the first sacrifices made. This short-sighted approach means in five years time, agencies will be bemoaning the lack of senior account execs and managers, not realising this is a direct consequence of shutting their doors to graduates!”

Personally I agree that there has long been a disconnect between the PR industry and PR course leaders – academia does not always understand some of the commercial realities. I would’ve asked a tutor for a view on that but they’re on holiday, so that’ll have to wait for a future post. I also agree that, as ever, too many agencies seem to have a short-sighted approach to attracting talent at the moment, and it will come back to bite them.

I also asked Cathy for her view on how well PR agencies train new recruits, particularly graduates. How does PR compare with other sectors? In her view it’s mixed, and it hinges on management nous: “Depends on the agency. An agency with a well-structured approach to training, development and progression, managed by a professional who is as skilled as management as they are at PR, if not more skilled at management, will offer a graduate an unrivalled development path. Done properly, the training offered in PR agencies is absolutely second to none.

“But a graduate joining an agency run individual who has set up on their own because they are good at PR, without any management training or experience, can often find themselves flung in at the deep end and given far too much responsibility with little to no training or investment. Unfortunately despite the trend for agencies to cut graduate recruitment in tough times, some go the other way and snap up graduates because they are often eager, desperate to prove themselves and willing to work unpaid or for a pittance.”

The slave labour point is one I’ve made before. It seems to be getting better, with several agencies stating they will not take people on unpaid and unfair experience schemes. Speed is one of them. Even so, graduates are desperate for work so will often jump at the opportunity.

I’ll be doing a few more posts on this topic looking at what agencies need to do with entry-level recruitment, how graduates can improve their chances of landing a first PR job and what skills will be needed for the future. They’re all my own views, of course, but echo comments many in the business have made to me in recent months.

Until then, a few thoughts on what the current situation is for PR’s lost generation:

- Nervy recruitment: many positions tend to be on short-term contracts or on a freelance basis. This is commercially sound for the agencies but means PR is a risky career path for entrants. This is how journalism has been for a long time though. The PR industry needs to think long and hard about whether this type of casual labour is cutting off its nose to spite its face, given client relationships and excellent talent are what will see them through the recession and help them build for the future

- Graduate schemes are in flux: many agencies have simply deprioritised their approach to fast-tracking a graduate intake, but equally are tending to shut the door to others such as those without degrees but with relevant experience, such as in other areas of marketing. Agencies need to work out what it is they’re offering, adapt the schemes they ran when times were better and do more to be fair to the newly-qualified, who seem to be being led a merry dance

- The lost generation is, in the main, not helping itself by making broad-brush applications or not being smart about how to get a foot in the door in a cut-throat market. More on that later

- Agencies are angsty about how to develop new entrants in the current market. Training costs money and time, and they need their more senior people focused on client retention and business development. And as PR modernises, what skills does a new entrant need anyway? The classics of features tracking, media relations, press release writing and the like are now just a relatively small part of the mix. Equally, some graduates are applying for jobs expecting to do nothing but social media meddling all day. Agencies must be clear on what they need

More on this tomorrow. If you do send me a CV in the meantime, do check the spelling, grammar and style consistency, if you’re serious about getting an interview.

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