02.03.08
So, We Disappeared for a While…
Hello On the PRowl readers!
Maria and I have been traveling, celebrating holidays, starting new jobs and beginning new semesters–we have been busy bees here in Boston.
I started my first job at SHIFT Communications on January 22, and I have been thoroughly enjoying learning the ropes and figuring out new things. I’ve been meeting great people and I’m looking forward to building a career at SHIFT.
Just wanted to throw a quick update on here–it’s Superbowl Sunday, so I need to get ready to cheer on my Patriots!
12.17.07
The Final Final
So, today I took my final final of college. As I sat there, test finished, totally not caring if any of the answers were right, I couldn’t believe I was done. I knew I wasn’t going to add anything else to my answers, but I spent a few extra minutes sitting and waiting for the “wow” moment when I felt totally different. Strange, but it just felt the same as any other final exam.
I expected when I passed in my test, that I would maybe punch my fist in the air and make some little squeal sound as I left the room. Instead, I just put the exam on Don Wright’s desk, wished him a happy holiday, and walked out. I was happy and proud, but I didn’t feel as if I had just had a life-changing experience. I mean, there was no beautiful music playing and there weren’t any people applauding as I walked out of the building and headed home. Weird, right?
I guess it just takes a while for big things to hit you sometimes.
12.11.07
Transitions
The paper that Maria mentioned in her most recent post marks a big transition for me. This really is the end of college and the start of a life in the “real” world of public relations. I plan to start working near the end of January, so I have a month and a half to attempt the metamorphosis that occurs when student becomes professional.
I practically live on the Web, so I’m not going anywhere. I just feel that today, writing this paper, I am truly seeing within myself how much my life is about to change. I am experiencing a departure from Amanda playing the role of student to become Amanda, the Future as Chris Brogan so wonderfully calls me.
PR students of the Web, I hope that you feel as empowered as I do when you are on the cusp of graduation. I feel excited and ready to tackle a million and one new things, with a great group of friends who are cheering me on. This is a huge transition in life, and I am proud and happy to share it with all the friends of On the PRowl.
PR pros- please keep giving us your esteemed advice.
PR students- please keep using this blog as a forum to discuss issues and ask questions.
Professor Quigley- please grade us well.
I leave you with a haiku:
“We are On the PRowl/ Real world students with a voice/ Here we shall be heard”
12.02.07
College Kids Party; I Network
It’s no secret that college students party.
That said, I don’t think enough students, especially students who want to go into the communications business, understand that partying can be useful for boosting their personal brand. In my previous post, you’ll notice that the professionals who left comments stressed the importance of building a network early in your career path. My advice to my fellow college students: if you know you like to party, USE it.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’d much prefer to go out to a bar with a group of like-minded, passionate, exciting people from whom I can learn than to a frat party where underaged drunk people are wandering around aimlessly, spilling beer on the floor. I’m not saying that college students shouldn’t go to big crazy parties and trendy clubs with their peers. (IMHO, you absolutely should have those experiences.) However, it is extremely beneficial and FUN to step outside of the college-kid stereotype and “party” with people who can teach you new things and advise you in your career/life path. When I’m at parties with professional people I admire, I may be having a few drinks, and I not be acting the way I would in an interview, but I am building one hell of a strong network.
When you’re at a bar or a party, you tend to let loose a little and show your true colors, right? Well, I think that’s what’s going to get you places. Show off who you actually are to people who can help you in your career. Be social, be authentic, be fun. People will notice that you’re not just the average college student, and that really pays off when you’re searching for a first job or your next competitive internship. In this business, it’s so much better to be a real person who’s out there having fun than a random interviewee smiling and holding a resume.
And here’s some extra proof. My e-friend Justin Kownacki told me that when he’s interviewing potential hires, he WANTS to find some party pics of them on Facebook and Flickr. When people invite you to events and pose for pictures with you, it means they probably know your name and they may even like you. You’re a smart, savvy student. You have interesting things to say, a ton to contribute, and, oh yeah, you like to go out on the weekends.
If you’re going to party anyway (and let’s face it–you are), why not do it with smart, connected industry pros? In my book, networking is the new night on the town.
11.28.07
How am I dealing with it? Trials, Tribulations and Advice
I am the CEO of me. Chris Brogan told me that. Many others have asked me “what’s your brand?” What are the three or four word that synthesize “you”? When Googled, do you know what comes up about you? When I asked the group attending the new media job search session at PodCamp Boston 2 what advice they had for me as I begin my hunt for life-after-school, I was told to create a marketing campaign — with ME as the product.
I knew that a cover letter is supposed to “sell” you, but is a marketing campaign a little over-kill? In the world of new media — the answer is unequivocally no. But making a campaign about yourself is much easier said than done (to be cliche). During a traditional job hunt, you figure out what you might be interested in doing, find a position that offers that, then try to figure out what the employer wants from you and you try to package yourself in a way to make yourself look like you fit the part regardless of whether you actually do or not. That seems so easy compared to what it seems I’m up against now. I actually have to know who I am. Three or four little words that synthesize the essence that is me.
I attended Jeff Pulver’s Real time social media breakfast this morning. I knew in advance that upon arriving at S&S Restaurant and Deli in Cambridge I would have to fill out a name tag. Normally this would not be cause for panic. I have long known what my name is and even how to spell it. But this name tag required an extra piece of info: a tag-line. I needed a tag-line for myself. The horror. I fretted over this for hours last night and it finally came to me while my Herbal Essences Defunkify Shampoo tingled my scalp (it is really quite an amazing feeling. you should try it): Maria Thurrell. SuperGeek – Here to save the world. A little cheeky (like me), geeky (also like me) and six words long (verbose – just like me). While I think that this fits me rather to the T, is this an image I want to present to possible future bosses? What does SuperGeek say to people who don’t know me?
Jeff Pulver told me this morning that I need to figure out what it is that I am passionate about. But I already know, I exclaimed! New Media. Public Relations. Social Activism. Way too vague was his response. Uh oh. I thought I was doing pretty good. I have to narrow it down even further?! Maybe I don’t want to grow up after all…
So, with all of this swimming around in my brain I am going to write the case study for my Organizational Structure class that is due at 6pm tonight and hope that somewhere between asleep and awake the answer will come. Or perhaps someone will clue me in.
If you know me, how would you describe me in 4 words or less (ok, I’ll give you 6)?
11.27.07
How Did YOU Deal With It?
I finish school in about three weeks. I am at once astounded, scared and excited beyond belief. I feel like everything in my life is changing or about to change.
To my new-kids-on-the-real-world-block friends like Yianni Garcia, Sandy Kalik and Alison Driscoll, and to anyone else who’s fresh in the marketing and communications biz, how did you make sense of all the changes that happened in your life when you finished school and started a job?
What’s the best advice you have for someone who’s about to graduate and enter the field?
