How NOT to Get a Job in the Communications Industry

Hodgson/Meyers is an award-winning marketing communications agency in Kirkland Washington. They focus on improving their client’s B2B communications. Gary Meyers, the president of Hodgson/Meyers, receives many job inquiries from the college aged demographic. His experience is like mine, in that most of them blow it entirely.

Earlier this week, Meyers blogged about some recent communications he’s received from those with college degrees in English or Communications. He provided two examples. Here’s the first:

Inquiry #1 (name changed, spelling, punctuation and grammar per original):

Hello,
my name is Janie Doe, Im interested in getting into advertising and
trailor making of major motion pictures and i came across your
company. I’m a graduate of the UW in 05/09 and am looking for
an internship possibility or if your hiring some time soon
thank you
Janie

Gary offers these poor unfortunates four points of good advice. Here’s his first:

1. Use proper spelling and grammar. Not lower-case text slang riddled with misspelled words and poor punctuation. You are looking for a job in a field where professional communications skills are critical. Reading the above email is painful.

See all of Gary’s advice, and one more painful example, here:
http://blog.hodgsonmeyers.com/2009/10/01/how-not-to-get-a-job-in-the-communications-industry

Any company that offers complimentary tattoos of the Pileated Woodpecker would be a cool place to work. Click the link to Spike’s page to get yours. (Maybe Hodgson/Meyers will send me some for my Cub Scouts!)

UPDATE 13-OCT-09: For more NotJobs tips on how NOT to get that PR/Marketing/Communications agency job, see these postings:

• How Not to Get a Job: Bad Cover Letter/Bad Presence [28-AUG-07]
• How Not to Get a Job: Cover Letters from Hell [11-NOV-07]
• Now Not to Get a Job: Just Ask [22-FEB-08]

Summer Break is over!

Dear Readers,

Thank you for your patience as I took a desperately needed summer break. Instead of locking myself inside at the keyboard, I got out and did some camping, helped with a few scout activities and worked on growing a face cord of zucchini. I also got to work on some interesting projects at work.

However, I did miss commenting on a few items over the summer, topics like:

• Ricci v. DeStefano aka the New Haven Firefighter Testing Case, in June.
• The July article on How Not to Write a Resumes by Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half Intl.
• The recent college grad who sued Monroe College because she hasn’t found a job (on CNN in August), diploma shown above.
• The Canadian Navy’s employment branding campaign tackles recruiting problems (also in August).

Ah, but it is good to be back.

How Not to Get a Job: The Checklist

HOW NOT TO GET A JOB: THE CHECKLIST
So, for anyone out there who feels like failing to get a job in usability, here’s a brief checklist of steps.

1. Don’t do any research. Why waste your valuable time finding out about your future employer?
2. Make sure that your email approach makes it clear that you didn’t do any research by wording it in as impersonal a way as you can manage.
3. err… that’s it.

Over on Usability News (from across the Pond), usability and human factors expert Caroline Jarrett opines on her experience with a clueless new grad submitting a resume. Instead of hitting DELETE, she actually pings the culprit to see what is up. Hilarity ensues.

Caroline’s conclusion is not uncommon given this type of submission:

Clearly this person is not going to get a job with me, now or in the future. He has decided that his time, as an unemployed graduate, is much more valuable than the time of his prospective employers, who might represent his meal ticket for years to come.

Check out the full thing here:
Caroline’s Corner: How Not to Get a Job in Usability

Tips: Longhorn cover letters-bad, better, best

Everything IS bigger in Texas. For example, The College of Liberal Arts at UT Austin has a career center of its own. They offer an interesting take on crafting cover letters, including a progressively improved sample. Check it out:

From Bad to Better to Best: The Evolution of A Cover Letter

WSJ backfires on NAU?

Seeking to reverse five years of declining enrollment, Northern Arizona University (NAU) contracted with educational institution image meisters Lipman Hearne. The LH campaign rolled out in 2006. NAU got a new logo, a new web page and series of print ads. Lipman Hearne got several awards, including a 2006 Best of Show from the Admissions Marketing Report.

In the last month or so, NAU has been peppering half-pages ads through various print editions of the Wall Street Journal. One ad in particular caught my eye:
As a college recruiter, I’m not impressed by this series. Many thing bug me about these ads. I’m sure that Sunday Hannan (above) is probably a nice person, but the fact that NAU has her appearing in a national ad wearing shower thongs doesn’t impress me. From reviewing the series, I must say that it doesn’t appear that NAU attracts the type of student that I want to hire.

I sincerely hope that NAU can attract more students. However, because of these ads, Northern Arizona University is off my list of targeted schools for this year’s college recruiting season.

Tip: Job Search Book by Brad Karsh

A while back, Mary Ellen Slayter at the WaPo reviewed a book by Brad Karsh. Brad’s book, “Confessions of a Recruiting Director: The Insider’s Guide to Landing Your First Job” [Amazon link], exposes some of the reality of the recruiter’s side of the desk:

Here are a few of his “confessions”:

· Most résumés are never read. By anyone. This, of course, is the opposite of students’ experience in applying to colleges, he writes, where most admissions departments consider applications individually. If you had a vision in your mind of a group of recruiters poring over ever single piece of paper, think again. Recruiters don’t have time to do this. “In fact, recruiters typically spend less than 10 percent of their time reading résumés,” he writes. And if yours happens to be read? You’ll get 15 seconds, tops, to catch the recruiter’s eye.

· Most cover letters are never read, either. But you still have to write them, for two reasons. One, companies want to see if you will put in the extra effort. “Some companies will use it as a screen against people who apply to every job opening they ever see,” Karsh writes. Second, it is a chance to show something extra that isn’t on your résumé. Assuming, of course, that they read that, too.

Check out the entire review, then check out the book.

Youth Spotting – Video Resumes

In his Youth Spotting segment on last night’s Daily Show, Demetri Martin gave Jon Stewart some how-to tips on video resumes. He did come up with the world’s longest acronym to help. Check it out.

Warning: Cable TV Language

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=86620&title=youth-spotting-video-resume

Video expires 10 June. If you don’t see it here, check Demetri’s Comedy Central page.

New Tool for Colorado Recruiters: C4

At today’s meeting of the Boulder chapter of CTRN, I learned about a new free web tool that recruiters can use to blast jobs out to college career centers across Colorado. Dr. Lisa Severy, the Director of the CU Career Center, introduced the C4, or Colorado Consortium of College Career Centers. The web tool can be found at http://www.myconsortium.com/colorado/employer/.

The consortium members included Colorado State University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Colorado at Denver, the University of Northern Colorado, Regis University and Fort Lewis College. More schools are expected this summer.

HERE’S THE WISDOM:
Recruiters: Visit this web site, and use this tool to blast your job out to nine strong Colorado campuses. The best news is that it is FREE!
Candidates: Make sure you’ve updated your alumni office. If you’re in school, stop by and sign up with Career Services.