Child’s Play

How You Act Says Who You Are.

Warning: You may consider this a venting or a rant.

I wasn’t going to write a blog entry tonight, but my mom just called.  My dad had a medical  emergency. It was 4:45pm, and neither of my parents drive any longer. I’m 186 miles away.  Dad is 93 and has Parkinson’s. Mom is 92 and very hard of hearing.

Since it was still 15 minutes before closing time, I called the doctor, who had seen him just this morning, to alert him and get his guidance before calling 911 to take Dad to the emergency room. The receptionist answered, very pleasantly and asked me to hold while she got off another line. Instead, she immediately closed the switchboard, dumping me into the remote telecare nurse line.

Had she simply said the doctor was gone for the day, asked me if telecare could help, or a dozen other alternatives rather than just disappear, I would have been disappointed but would have understood.

But she didn’t, leaving that doctor and his office with a black mark on their reputation. And yes, I’ll probably tell those eight or more others whom angry clients are said to tell.  And when I’m in their little town, I’ll probably name names. I will certainly tell the doctor when next I see him.

So what does our errant receptionist teach us about the power of communications and the importance of the right communications?

Lessons?
1. When you cannot help someone, have the guts to tell them. Most people will think better of you and of your business.
2. Remember, whether you’re selling mouse traps or healthcare, your receptionist is your first line of communication. She sets the image of your business. Hire accordingly and train her in the way you want to be perceived.
3. Show a bit of kindness, even when you have to say no.

Fortunately, we’re so used to dealing with medical emergencies, this sort of treatment doesn’t throw us. I just moved immediately to plan B (and I always have a plan B for our medical situations.) My dad will be fine. But  many people dealing with emergencies– medical or otherwise– aren’t so fortunate.

4. Even if your business isn’t a doctor’s office or hospital or other emergency facility, take a moment to put yourself in the shoes of your patient/client/customer.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is more than the Golden Rule, it’s good business sense.

So You’re Looking for a Job.

This morning I had an e-mail from a young woman soon to graduate with a degree in communications and an emphasis in PR. While I didn’t have any openings, I started writing her a note on sources to check. That led to a longer letter on tips. Since I get a lot of these queries from new grads as well as from the newly laid off in PR and elsewhere, I decided a blog post of the contents might be helpful to others.  Please feel free to send a link to anyone who’s looking who might benefit from the information. If you are searching in other industries, manyof the comments will still apply; others can work if you substitue information of your own industry and location for PR and Houston.

To respect my young colleagues privacy, we’ll just call her New Career Adventurer.

Good morning, New Career Adventurer,

Congratulations on your accomplishments over your school years and for starting your job search before your diploma is firmly in your hand. Wise woman!  I remember your previous letter. Unfortunately now, as then, I have no opening except a part-time unpaid internship. However, you’ve represented yourself well both times and stayed on my mind. Perhaps the following suggestions include a few job search campaign ideas you may not have thought of.

Suggestions:

Attend professional organizations and, if given the opportunity, announce your search to become some company’s valuable employee:

Since you arelooking in PR, try these organizations: Public Relations Society of America, International Assoc. Business Communicators and American Advertising Federation-Houston. All have job banks. PRSA and IABC have them at the local as well as national levels. Go to meetings of all three groups as often as you can afford to, if not every month, then every other month. Tell people you are job hunting and would appreciate referrals, but please don’t buttonhole anyone. Introduce yourself, exchange cards (Get cards if you haven’t yet) and move on.  After the event, you can contact attendees who give you cards if you’d like to visit more or set up an appointment. Appointments can be for job interviews or networking/referral/advice purposes with no obligations attached. Both the AAF and PRSA  have local young adult subgroups that are also excellent for gathering/sharing job search leads. There is also a Business Marketing Association and an American Marketing Association that will have members who could hire/refer/advise you.

Follow up:

Collect cards and follow up with nice-to-have-met-you notes even if you don’t need a meeting. In your note, you can include a reminder of  your current job hunt  without getting pushy about hiring or referring you. Make them, not you and your needs, the focus of this note. Just end with a “still looking” or an “your ideas welcome” plus appreciate their becoming a part of your network, etc. etc. Always send a thank you note after each meeting, interview, referral or other kindness. In addition to being good manners, this will further move you up a notch as 1. they see your name and a sample of who your are (thoughtful, courteous) and 2. few job seekers take the time to say thanks. Consider this your direct mail campaign. A box of professional looking notes and a few stamps will do. Replenish your forever stamps soon. Our office administrator says stamp prices are rising again soon.

Use the Social Media sites:

Get yourself on LinkedIn, and let people there know you are in the job market. After you join and fill out your profile, go to the Groups section and join the several open enrollment PR, Ad and marketing forums. Also join the InHouston group. That’s very active, and Eric Standlee, who started the group, hosts regular events that have a high attendance of professional people, too. Join your school alumnae group if one exists. These folks share a common bond as well as job requests/job leads information. LinkedIn also has a place to ask questions and answer the questions of others. Participate in these queries as best you can, both asking and answering.

Join Facebook, but join LinkedIn first as it is almost entirely professionals who use the site for business purposes only.  Facebook combines social and professional. Both LI and FB are valuable tools for you. Facebook has groups, too.

My Space can be used, but you’ll find more people here who are still in school, posting family stuff or are artist/musician amateurs and professional. My sister, who is a performer and songwriter in Nashville and her colleagues use My Space constantly with good results. That’s not the door you are knocking on, however. My college roommate used MS when her son was paralyzed by an MRSA infection. They could quickly keep friends and family coast to coast posted on his progress through a long and harrowing year while focusing their time and attention on him.

Of course, start a Twitter account, but Twitter can overwhelm and gobble up time unless you are very selective. Put yourself on a budget of how much time you’ll spend each day reading and responding. 15 – 30 min? 8 – 10 hours?

There are several tools online to help with Twitter as well as general SM management. Browse around, search Google and the blog search, Technorati. You can download a free timer at http://www.lenagames.com. The icon resides on your computer desktop and works as simply as a kitchen timer on your cabinet. Also Ping.fm website will let you update multiple SM sites with a single update.

Update at least once a week, maybe once a day, or twice, but not 7 or 8 times a day. You don’t want people to think you are sitting around with time on your hands. Make your updates interesting. Drinking coffee at Starbucks is not interesting– not even on FB and Twitter.  Saying you can count 9 different languages being spoken while you drink your coffee at Starbucks offers a bit more substance. A good question can be an interesting update. it can provoke thought or actually lead to information you and others need, such as “How do I__________”. A link to a useful site or news article will be welcome as an update. Our mayor, who had to notify the families of the two fallen firefighters, followed soonafter with a short heartfelt note on FB about their deaths and about how hard it was to be the messenger, one of the hardest parts of his job. Someone else had a joyful note on FB about the rescue of the ship captain, even before the news was mainstream. A PR friend posted great photos of the freak snow Houston had this winter– for example: a shot of snow piled on an orange on the tree in his back yard.

To control your inbox, I suggest you get a Gmail or Yahoo e-mail account and have your social marketing e-mails come to that account. Otherwise, you’ll be hunting through long lists of social media e-mails in your inbox to find your “regular” e-mails. Sending them to a separate account keeps you in control. Personally, I like Gmail. Just don’t forget to scan the SM e-mails daily.

Be sure to fully fill out all your online profiles in depth. Keep your content professional, but it’s good to let a little of yourself show through. Books you are reading, music you like, travel interests, pets maybe. On a similar note, go through your old postings from high school and college and clean out any content– written notes, graphics or photos –that you would NOT want a would-be employer to see. More and more employers are checking the social media sites, Googling your name, and using the internet in other ways to see if the you as presented on your resume is the you as presented via postings on the internet. This includes checking YouTube.

Start a blog:

As you seem to be a fairly competent writer, you might also start a blog about your job search experiences. Make it interactive so others can comment. Make it informative and humorous, but don’t name names of companies or people and don’t put any detail that would make them recognizable. That still leaves a lot you can include. Put a clever disclaimer note that states that the names and places changed to protect the innocent and the guilty or some such phrasing. The Houston Chronicle hosts blogs as does Google. I mention the Chronicle particularly if Houston is your target market. Otherwise, try WordPress, TypePad and a few other blog services that offer free versions suitable to your needs.

Have a webpage:

Make it attractive and include a pleasant introduction, a photo and a resume page. If you use a PC, you can make a simple page using Windows. Read up on this. I’m sure there are ways to do so on a Mac as well. Also WordPress lets you design webpages as well as a blog and offers 70 templates in it’s free version.

Link it all together:

You can link your blog not only on your website, but also to your LinkedIn profile.  Explore other link possibilities.

Carefully proofread every word you send out in letter, resume or online.

One last caution: Since typos are every writer’s horror, be sure to proof-read over and over again. For instance, in your letter below, you have “graduation” where you meant “graduating.” It mars an otherwise beautifully written letter.  I worry about such oversights in my own writing,; we all do– or should. I’ve corrected over a dozen in this article and hope I’ve caught them all. If writing online, print out your copy in large type. You’ll catch more that way. You surely do not want typos to go out to eagle-eyed PR folks who might reject you as a viable candidate for their job opening before they ever see your smiling face.

Best wishes. Keep me posted. Feel free to share this e-mail with your fellow searchers if you think it helpful.

Barbara Langham

PS. When you get your LI, FB & Twitter accounts up, I’ll be happy to connect if you wish. That goes for other readers, too.

Two Easter Gifts to Re-create

Before this day is gone, I want to share with you two online Easter gifts I’ve found and used over the past few months. They’re great rejuvenators  to ease your stress, refresh your brain and restore your creativity. Spring’s the season of re-creation, is it not?

First, if you are a word person, one of the best ways to restore your energy is to do something that requires no language. Of course, you could take a long walk, roller skate as some do in Houston’s downtown tunnels, or dance around your living room while singing to your heart’s content.

For those who lack that kind of energy, discover lenagames.com/bigjig.htm or just put in bigjig.com and your browser will most likely convert. Lena has various games and gizmos. Some are for a nominal price, but many are free. At bigjig.com you can download a free jigsaw puzzle every week, or buy a batch if you’re so inclined. Once downloaded and installed, these weekly puzzles can be adjusted as to piece shape and number of pieces — from 200 or so up to 1100 -1500. I work them while I clear my head or if caught on an extra long phone call. My grade school granddaughter quickly worked 5 in one evening when I reduced the number of pieces to 300 or so each. Try it out. It’s a good spacial conditioning exercise and organizing exercise if you need an excuse.

Second, is the musical experimental internet station, http://www.pandora.com. Choose your artists, musical pieces or more. Rock, hip hop, jazz, classical. You name it. You can even make a suggestion if you don’t find what you want. I’m a classical and jazz fan, and at present am listening to Brahms and Chopin and similar selections by others that the station adds in. But the finger snapping, toe tapping, hip swinging stuff is there, too. Makes a great background dimension when your staring at the screen all day. If I use instrumental only and play softly, I can even play music while I’m writing or editing, and it doesn’t intrude upon my thoughts, the office next door, or if someone walks in.

The Eagle has Landed.

Good morning. It’s Easter Sunday. Let the world rejoice. While it’s a day of celebration for Christians everywhere, may you of other persuasions find joy today as well in the renewal of the earth and all things that grow upon it.

Sleepyhead here, missed the morning sunrise, but the eagles nesting at Sutton Center are doing well.  Someone named them Fred, Ethel and JJ.  Can’t tell Fred and Ethel apart, but one is out fishing and the other is cuddling JJ beneath its breast. If you’re missing  joy, (and too many are these difficult days) go to the webcam and peek into the nest from time to time. http://www.suttoncenter.org/eaglecam.html.  I still have to figure out how to place links in WordPress and get them to stay; meanwhile, you may have to cut and paste. At last peek, 72 people from Canada to Texas were peering at the eagles. They’ve become a community and chat and watch via a Tulsa radio website. http://www.kjrh.com/content/news/hawks/default.aspx. There’s also a webcam there showing a falcon nest, but those birds are gone. Me, too. Off to church.

It’s a beautiful day. Pause to soak it in. Spread joy. I can think of no better way to communicate.

Peace, love, blessings, cheer….

Communicating– Every Day in Every Way….Commu

Communicating. How do we do it? Actually, we are doing it all the time, in all sorts of ways.  We communicate in every word, every look, every decision (conscious and unconscious). Every action communicates, and that includes those we omit as well as those we commit. Yeah, we all know that, but remembering it in the heat of the moment is the trick.

Communicating is going to be the broad field of this blog. I hesitate to say focus. I’m a Gemini so be forewarned. I tie in whatever catches my eye, tickles my fancy or garners my indignation or admiration. I’ll try to thread the bits together like  strings of popcorn and cranberries that circle the wildbird’s Christmas tree in winter or try to leave a trickle of blog crumbs to mark your path to the gingerbread house– but unlike Hansel and Gretel, let each of you find delicous morsels along the way and only the good witch of harmony, influence and even profitability at the end.

It’s Saturday night, and this is beginning to read like a bedtime story. So may your dreams be sweet and fill you with sugarplums of inspiration to carry you to new heights next week.  Put a pencil and paper beside your bed to write them down as soon as you wake up– even at 3 am.  No joke! Otherwise, it’s hard to remember the sweetest creative goodies in the morning.