How to Handle Rejection

I'm not talking about getting turned down for a date--you'll have to go to another blog for advice on that one. I'm talking about job rejection. Whether you're about to graduate and applying for your first full-time position, you're an eager student applying for summer internships, or you're just looking to make a career change, there's a chance you could be facing some rejection sometime soon.

Getting a rejection letter or email for a job that you carefully crafted a cover letter and tailored your resume to can be pretty discouraging, but I prefer to think on the bright side of things and I've come up with some ways to handle rejection and turn it into something positive.

1. Learn from it
Maybe you can pin-point what you said (or didn't say) that caused your job-quest to end in rejection, or maybe you're not quite sure. Go back through the job description and look at the skills and think of ones you might not have highlighted enough or ones you could improve on. Think back to the interview process and consider what you might have done better or changed. Use this opportunity to reflect and improve.

2. Understand it
In a perfect world, every employer would call the people they reject and tell them exactly why they aren't getting hired. Unfortunately, that's usually not the case and it's up to you to figure it out. Try and think about the office atmosphere, the type of work they do, and the way they do it. You might have had all the qualifications, but not have been the right fit for that company. If they didn't think you were a right fit for them, they probably weren't a right fit for you anyway.

3. Use it to your advantage
In interviews you might get asked "what's your biggest failure?" or "talk about a time you didn't succeed and how you handled it". Job rejection is a perfect scenario to use in an answer to this question. You will learn from it and it will help you along the way, whether you realize it now or not, and employers will be impressed with how you handled it and all the ways you used it to become a better PR pro.

4. Chin up, soldier
Remember, there are hundreds of opportunities out there for you. Don't let one rejection get you down or stand in your way of doing the best you can. Keep looking for jobs and internships and you'll find the right one, even if it's somewhere you might not expect.

How have you handled job rejection? We want to hear from you.

Spend Spring Break Thinking About Post-Grad

Spring break is the perfect time to start thinking about post-grad opportunities. You finally have some free time to start planning your course of action.

Grad school?
Full-time internship?
Full-time job?
Travel?
Move back home?

The possibilities are endless to the point where soon-to-be graduates are practically drowning in them. If you're anything like me you have about a thousand questions and a lot of different ideas (some irrational, some totally plausible) about what's going to happen after May.

If you're considering grad school, here's a great resource from Pearson that offers the why's and why not's, FAQ's and other helpful resources to answer all your questions.

If you're not quite ready to enter the real-world workforce, a full-time internship this summer is a great alternative. You can gain more experience without the pressure of committing to a real job.

If you have a yen for travel now is the time. Ask for a trip for your graduation present! If you don't go now, you might never go at all. The only people who have more free time than recent grads are retired seniors.

Are you looking to save some money? Moving back home is something many post-grads do. As long as you're sure you're doing it to save money and not just hide from your real-world responsibilities, it can be a sensible option.

If you're totally ready to start your full-time job then spring break is the ideal time to start looking around and applying. Make a list of the places you might like to be and then search for companies, organizations or agencies in those places. Be aware of what type of environment you want to work in; is it formal where you have to wear business professional or are you looking for an informal place where you can wear jeans? A company's website can tell you a lot about the atmosphere.

Some great job resources are LinkedIn groups, Indeed.com, CareerBuilder.com or your college or university's career center!

What are some ways you're preparing for post-graduation? Not planning on looking for jobs for a while? Tell us why!

Intern vs. Employee: Whose Job is Harder?

You might think there is an obvious answer to this question and wonder why I'm bringing it to debate at all.  It seems like a no brainer, why would a part-time (or even full-time) intern have a harder job than someone actually employed by the company?

Let's break it down:

Employee

• 40 hour work week (but let's be real, in PR we all know it's more)
• Multiple clients, projects, meetings, etc.
• Work-life balance challenges
• Inter-company relationship maintenance

Intern

• Busy work 
• Smaller tasks
• Part-time (generally)
• School-work-life balance

The biggest difference between the intern and the employee is that the job isn't the intern's end-all. They aren't bound to this company for an extended amount of time like an employee is. However, the employee is there every day. They're familiar with the in's and out's of the people they work with and the clients they have.

I think it's harder being the intern because you're NOT there every day. Even if you are, you're not included in every email chain and every meeting. It's hard to get completely familiarized with every client to the proper extent when the job isn't your main focus because of school, extra curricular activities, etc.

Which do you think is more difficult? Have you had an experience where you struggled as an intern but felt that if you were employed you would succeed?

The Death of the Unpaid Intern

Last week, The Atlantic Wire posted an article that questioned if the days of unpaid internships are numbered. Two interns who worked on the movie Black Swan sued 20th Century Fox for not paying them a proper salary...and won. You can read more about the details of the lawsuit here.

While that’s an amazing outcome for the Black Swan interns, what does that mean for the rest of us? The new precedent that developed from this case states that employees should be covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) unless the internship meets six criteria that says it is okay to use young workers without pay. After reading over the FLSA’s “Test for Unpaid Interns,” it is quite clear that most unpaid “internships” do not meet this criteria. Most of these interns are performing the same jobs as employees, and should be compensated as such. 

So with this new precedent brought to light, why are there no summer intern riots in the streets? For one, this story just broke less than a week ago. After a quick Google search I found that this story has ran on The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Huffington Post. However, the ruling on unpaid internships has yet to make it to major news networks such as CNN, CBS, or FOX. Only two networks have reported anything on the lawsuit: NBC and ABC. 

Fortunately, the story has begun to gain some traction over the weekend. In true grassroots fashion, blogs have been covering this new development in full force. Could that be because the unpaid interns are at the helm of these blogs? Regardless of who’s responsible for getting the information out, the important thing is that it starts a conversation. 

Another reason why people may not be so quick to protest is simply because they like their internship the way it is. Sometimes just the rush of doing work in your desired profession is enough. For some, the promise of gained experience and knowledge is fulfilling on its own. However, for those who aren’t as easily fulfilled, take the time to look at the FLSA as written by the U.S. Department of Labor. You may be surprised to discover that your summer internship may just be your summer job. 

Resume Words to Avoid

It's the most wonderful time of the year - time to update your resume that is! Most of us are in the middle of our summer job search and what better way to prepare yourself than by editing your resume before you send it off to an employer. 

The best way to land the summer job of your dreams is to stand out! While you're updating and editing, make sure to avoid these overused words:

1. People Person - Do you honestly even know what this means? Employers want to see that you can successfully communicate your ideas but "people person" does not really relay that. Use "effective communicator" instead and nix the "people person" nonsense. 

2. Hard Worker - Everyone claims to be a "hard worker" believe it or not! To impress your employer, explain how you have gone the extra mile by citing examples.

3. Dynamic - Unless you have figured out how to cure a disease or are a superhero, ditch the word dynamic.

4. Familiar With... - This is geared towards editing your skill set and qualification section. To describe your knowledge of computer programs like Microsoft Excel or Photoshop, use descriptive language such as: beginner, intermediate, proficient or advanced to really speak to your level of knowledge. 

5. Reliable - You wouldn't be applying for a job if you weren't reliable so it is okay to leave this word out. Employers expect you to be dependable and to arrive at work on time, no need to brag about it. 

The main point here is that you want to be able to show employers why you are the right person for the job. Words are a powerful thing and using descriptive words will help you stand out above the rest!

Check out more words to avoid here!

Perfecting Professional Pages

As aspiring professionals, it is crucial to our potential careers to always keep our social media accounts clean in the event that a future employer would look for them. Because of their popularity, I have outlined some tips for Facebook and Twitter to keep in mind before you permanently put information associated with your name out there on the Internet forever.

Twitter:

• If you wish to post things that are for your friends, consider making a personal account as well as a professional one. For your professional account, make it an easy name to remember such as your first and last name, or initials. A potential employer won't be interested in looking at posts from "Puppylover22", let alone hiring them.
  
• While it is beneficial to follow people in your field, talk to them too! Relationships can be formed easily just from retweeting something they are promoting, or responding to one of their posts. Creating conversation on social media can give you a point of reference when contacting them in the future.
  
• Watch who you are following and who your followers are. Don't follow anyone with posts that you wouldn't want to be associated with, or let your followers mention you in explicit posts.
  
• Stay unbiased. It will turn professionals off to you if your profile is filled with your opinions about issues such as politics, business or other hot topics.
  

Facebook:

• I'm going to be a broken record and emphasize the importance of monitoring your page's pictures. Family vacations, fine. The crazy party you went to last weekend, not fine. If you need to keep those pictures, untag and save to a flash drive. If you really want to make a professional impression for yourself, make your profile picture similar to a head shot instead of a cropped one, or one with friends where it is unclear whose profile it really is.
• Be aware of your fan pages. Make sure that everything you "like" on Facebook is appropriate, and that they should refer to your interests and organizations you participate in.
  
• Utilize privacy settings. Keep some of your personal information to the imagination. You don't need to put your cell phone number and address on your profile, as well as any details of your personal life.
  
• Keep your statuses rated PG. Do not swear or bad mouth organizations or activities you are involved in. You want to create a positive brand for yourself and encourage productive interaction with your page.
  

How do you stay professional on your social media accounts?