Personal Development

4 ways to stay marketable and grow your career

Adrian AguileraLeave a comment

Business 2Growing your professional career should go beyond running the cycle of your “9 to 5” job and/or applying to 10 online applications daily. Employers review hundreds if not thousands of applications every day. If you are truly looking to stand out and become great at what you’re at, additional effort needs to be made on becoming better at your craft, as well getting out of your comfort zone and marketing yourself more often. Below are four ways you can consistently stay marketable so you get placed at the forefront of potential employers.

Update your resume regularly

The resume is your key selling point to prove to your interviewers that you are qualified for the position. Do not begin your resume with an objective. Your objective is to receive an offer for the position. Instead, organize your resume so you begin with your skills, followed by your experience and ending with your education. Your skills can be summed up into bullet points, such as being “skilled in blog writing” or being “experienced in Google Analytics”–  just to name a couple examples. Your experience should list what you did in your previous and current positions. Try to show as much quantifiable value as possible, as this will give you an edge over other job candidates. For example, if you were going for a marketing coordinator position, don’t just say that you wrote blog articles and social media posts for a non-profit company. Show more value by stating that you wrote blog articles and social media posts, which improved a non-profit company’s online donations by X percent and volunteer sign-ups by X percent (X being the numerical value). Obviously this won’t work for every task, but the more you can quantify, the greater your professional worth. Make sure to update your resume at least once every couple months and keep it to brief (ideally one page), so you have it pristine at all times.

Build a web portfolio

While the resume describes your qualifications, your portfolio is proof that you can fulfill the tasks of the position your seeking. Gather your “greatest hits” of work into a folder and update this on a monthly basis. This will ensure that you have portfolio examples ready at all times should a hiring manager or recruiter ask for them. From there, turn this into an online portfolio so you have an easy-to-access representation of your work. Web portfolio sites such as Coroflot, Behance or Dribbble are completely free or have free trials to join. Plus, many of the portfolio sites also contain a professional community that posts new job positions, giving you another source for your career hunt.

Join a professional network

The old saying is still true. It’s not just what you know, but who you know. While you are ready to prove your worth with an updated resume and online portfolio, you won’t have much luck by only applying to positions online. Most industries have professional associations you can join that are relevant to your industry such as the American Marketing Association, Public Relations Society of America or the Association of Information Technology Professionals – just to name a few. While it does often cost money to become a member, it is worth participating in the exclusive networking events, mixers and webinars. After you join an association, create a professional business card to exchange with other professionals during the events. Make sure to connect with as many professionals as possible and once the event is over, send an email thanking them for connecting with you. Also, follow up regularly to stay connected. This will ultimately help move your resume to the top of the pile.

Start a side hustle

Your work toward growing in your profession shouldn’t stop after you’ve left your day job. Starting a side gig is not only a great way to earn extra income, but ensures you continue to grow at your craft – especially if you’re dealing with corporate politics. Use your professional network that you’re building and put yourself out there on how you can help grow their business. If nothing is readily available, offer to help a family or friend’s business for free or take on a passion project that is relevant to your profession. This will add an additional layer of value should you score a big interview, as well as ensure your creativity doesn’t die from the corporate red tape.

Use these tips to get out of your creative and/or job-seeking rut and into a professional who is on their game. This lifestyle of professional growth will not only help you continue to advance in your craft, but will help give you the drive, fulfillment and belief that the future is truly in your hands – if you’re willing to work harder and smarter towards it.

4 Ways To Build Professional Relationships With Journalists For Better Media Relations Results

Adrian AguileraLeave a comment

suit-869380_640Raising awareness on a key product, initiative or service via media relations is vital for boosting you company brand or business. But where do you begin when developing a solid media relations strategy and how can you maintain a steady stream of quality press coverage? It begins with developing professional relationships with journalists, understanding their work, showing sensitivity to their deadlines and even discovering their personality type. The old adage that exists in the business world today is true when pitching journalists: Often times, it’s not what you know, but who you know and how well you know them that leads to success. So before rolling your sleeves back and getting into the nitty gritty of a media campaign strategy, button-up and become a go-to source by developing professional relationships with journalists.

  1. Research their beat and consistently read their work

If you want a journalist to view you, your agency or organization as a source, it is vital to understand their beat, as well as their writing topic interests. Start off by creating a list of publications you wish to be featured in, narrowing down the desired sections (EX: leadership, technology, design) and regularly reading each section everyday for a couple weeks. Do this for each publication and limit yourself to 2-3 publications per month – so you do not overwhelm yourself. Over time, you will begin to learn who is who and what they write about.

  1. Connect on Twitter

Once you begin to understand who your target journalists are and their beat, the next step is engagement. This is where the “relations” part of media relations comes into play and Twitter is an excellent source to begin forming relationships with journalists. Twitter also allows you to stay up-to-date on potential beat or publication changes and dive deeper into understanding their personal interests. A sincere “like,” reply, or share from a journalist’s post can potentially create a lasting impact over time and form conversations. This, in turn, may lead to an organic way of suggesting story ideas or presenting a pitch.

  1. Understand their preferred method of contact

Make it a priority to ask a journalist their preferred method of contact. I cannot stress this enough. I have seen far too many marketers and public relations professionals skip this simple step and assume that all journalists are open to phone pitches or email correspondence during all hours of the day. Journalists have duties, deadlines, as well as lives and they are not here to solely cater to us. Make it a point to ask what their deadline days are, what type of style they typically like to see in a pitch as well as their preferred platform of regular communication. This ensures that both you and the journalist are on the same page, giving you a stronger likelihood of being featured in an article.

  1. Don’t inundate them with never-ending pitches and follow-ups

As many of us learned at a young age no means no. The same holds true when developing professional relationships with journalists. This truth can mean the difference between becoming a source or becoming a pest and, trust me, you do not want to be viewed as the latter. A good rule of thumb is to wait a couple days before following-up and then attempt a final follow-up correspondence a couple days thereafter. If no reply is given or a clear “pass” is stated, don’t beat a dead horse. Move on.

Developing a strong media relations campaign begins with a foundation of professional relationships with journalists. Remember that it’s a two-way street when working together. By putting these truths into practice, you can rest assured that you will, with time and effort, become classified as a source, improving your chances of press coverage and boosting your brand and business. What are your thoughts on building professional relationships with journalists?