Young PR Pros

Portfolios are more than just pretty pictures and links to projects. A portfolio is your proof point behind every skill you promote in your job interview. This episode gives you advice on putting together a portfolio to land your next job.

The first 30 days are crucial in a new job. You can use these precious first days to form excellent first impressions that can lead to long-lasting relationships in your new organization. In this episode our hosts and producer share their 30-day challenge tips and advice so you can make your first days at a new job count.

In this episode, the hosts discuss the benefits big data and uncover when is the best time to use data, and when is the best time to trust your gut.

In this episode we discuss real, concrete steps young professionals, and young at heart professionals, can take to combat fake news.

There is a lot of advice out there, and although a lot of it comes from kindness and people just trying to help, this episode strives to debunk myths and tell the truth about some of the most common career tips given out these days.

Companies and countries across the world are starting to implement the four-day workweek. For those of us stuck in the five-day workweek, here are tips for turning your week into a short week, leaving you a whole extra day to tackle bigger things and get ahead.

This episode talks about the importance of exercising your brain through deep work, as well we discuss the damage of multitasking.

Our generation has been dubbed the “Start-up generation”. About one-third of young Canadians want to start their own businesses. When you first launch that business, it can be daunting, scary and exhilarating. While you grapple with so many emotions, it can be hard to learn when to say no to any work that comes your way. That is our topic today. We list red flags you should look out for when meeting with prospective clients.

Although it’s important to fail and fail gloriously in life, this episode talks about real failure. We thought we would do a twist on the top 5 things young professionals need to do to succeed and flip it around and list all the things you should do if you want your career to come down hard, crashing and burning – in a bad way.

In this episode we share our biggest milestones, as well as how to mark and learn from then. We also mark our fifth anniversary with a bit of reminiscing.

In this episode, our hosts offer tips and advice for young professionals looking to strike a healthy balance between work and life.

In this episode, our hosts discuss the future of PR. Our industry is always changing, as professionals it is important to always be on top of what is new – not to change our strategy every five minutes, but rather to ensure the tactics we use continue to connect with our audience. As young professionals, it is even more important to be on top of trends. As the “young” ones in the office we may be called upon to provide information about the latest social media trend. While our host Kristine D’Arbelles attended a conference in Minneapolis, she ran into a good friend of the podcast, Shel Holtz, founder of the FIR podcast network and host of For Immediate Release, one of the longest running podcasts on communications and PR. Shel was presenting on the future of PR. Kristine sat down with him after his presentation to ask him a few questions. Shel had some good insight to share. Our hosts dive into some of the trends he presented: Messaging: the number one trend in social media? Dark social: what is it and how can PR and communications professionals deal with it? Facebook strategy: a pointless exercise, we explain why. Content strategy: how to build one in 60 seconds or less! Young PR Pros wants to thank Shel Holtz for taking the time to share his insight and knowledge on the future of PR and communications.

Kristine shares a story about getting caught with an unlicensed image on her blog. She was sent a letter from a lawyer and had to pay a fee. The image was from a post published in 2011, she had just launched her blog that year. Ignorance is not an excuse to break the law, however. So she paid the fine and added this to her important list of lessons learned. This episode is about all those times we made a mistake and learned a valuable lesson. But Young PR Pros goes beyond just being aware of your mistakes and dives into the learning. If you make a big mistake – that gets you fired, humiliated, etc. – you are never going to make that mistake again, because it stays with you. But what about those smaller mistakes, forgetting a grammar law in your writing, forgetting to include someone in your email, or miscommunication an idea. Young PR Pros' Concrete Steps to Help Learn from your Mistakes Make notes while you are working. If you are half way through something and its hard and you regret the path, jot it down. Refer to those notes at the beginning of a new project. Post-project or debrief meetings are super important. If your employer doesn’t host them, be the person to suggest it. Use this as a learning opportunity to see what your colleagues see as a success and what they see as failure. Admit your mistake. You can only learn from a mistake after you admit you've made it. As soon as you start blaming other people (or the universe itself), you distance yourself from any possible lesson. Listen to the full episode for more concrete tips. Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, send us an email or audio note at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros.

In honour of the traditional 1900s English Christmas carol, or for those born in the 80s - the Bob and Doug Christmas classic, we thought we would do our own 12 Days of Christmas. Listen to the full episode to catch Young PR Pros' 12 Days of PR Christmas.  We divided the 12 days into three categories: books, movies and activities. 1. Four Books You Need to Read Over the Holidays Day 1: Get the motivation to pursue your passion by reading No Fears, No Excuses by Larry Smith (note: forgive Kristine for her mistake, she says No Fears, No Regrets in the episode). Day 2: How will you measure your life by Clayton M. Christensen will give you the inspiration and wisdom you need to achieve a fulfilling life. Day 3: Meg Jay argues that 30 is NOT the new 20 in her book The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter - and How to Make the Most of Them Now. Day 4: Brush up on your grammar through the delightful sense of humour of Lynne Truss in her book Eats, Shoots and Leaves. 2. Four Movies You Need to Watch Over the Holidays Day 5: Ex-machina will keep you on the edge of your seat in this future world where AI is taken to the next level. Day 6: Kristine suggests watching a classic movie that has been referred to in a lot of pop culture references, Good Will Hunting. Day 7: You can't go wrong with superheros and PR. Hancock follows Jason Bateman who discusses the fine art of grassroots outreach, reputation management, and even a CSR campaign. Day 8: Iron Lady takes you through the life of the infamous Margaret Thatcher. The movie gives you a glimpse of the behind the scenes of political PR. If you have time, check out these honorouble mentions: The Queen and The Devil Wears Prada. 3. Four Activities You Should Do Over the Holidays Day 9: Read a physical newspaper on Christmas Day and New Years Day. Find out what is making the front page of national and local newspapers - you will find out a lot about your society. Day 10: Take a yoga class. Ross believes if you don't have your mind right, then your business or professional life won't be right either. Day 11: Learn more about your family. We often forget that some of our best allies are right next door, or in the same house. Learn about your family history, do you actually know what your Uncle Roger does for a living? All this information is very useful, because you never know when you will need professional help from a family member. Maybe your Aunt Sue is an entrepreneur who lived through the recession of 2008 and kept her business alive, how did she do it?  Day 12: Of course, listen to this podcast. But we won't be hurt if you listen to other amazing podcasts out there right now, such as Undone, Crimetown, Freakanomics, and The Revisionist History. We are off until the New Year. Thank you a thousand times to all our fans and listeners. We can't wait to spend another exciting year with you. We are already filling our 2017 calendar with shows on topics like learning from our mistakes, the future of PR, how to balance life and work, and more! Stay tuned! Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, send us an email or audio note at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros.

One of the benefits of working in the industry of public relations, communications and marketing is the ability to be creative. We work in a unique world where our job is to find creative ways to tell a story.  In this episode, our hosts share their secrets on what they do to cultivate their creativity. What is our creative process?   We start with sharing the coolest projects we worked on and the project that brought out the best in our creativity.  Ross used Pinterest to connect with foodie bloggers to promote a new candy in Canada.  Julia built a video-greeting card with a short marketing pitch from the company's CEO.  Clare, being too humble, decided to share a cool project she was privy to at a previous job - it involves a recipe book.  Kristine built a mobile game to teach young drivers about the dangers of distracted driving. Then we talk about the tools we use in our creative process. Here are some of our favourite tools:   Reddit, find out what communities are saying about the topic of your project or story Buzzsumo Bullet Journaling, the new way to journal. Some professionals claim they are more productive with the Bullet Journal.  Conferences, trade shows or professional development events  Taking notes, jotting down ideas outside your work day. Ideas and creativity don't always come in a formal brainstorming meeting or between 9 to 5.  Tumblr Hashtags  Evernote Bookmarking articles  Finally, we talk about our favourite campaigns. Campaign we look back on with awe, campaigns that inspire us to be creative.   Ross loves the Old Spice guy campaign Julia is a sucker for Apple Clare thought the podcast The Message was brilliant  Kristine goes back to Apple's 1984 commercial - innovation beyond its time Our final top tips for being creative: Research what your audience is saying about your topic/product. Focus groups are an important tool to help make sure your creative idea resonates with your audience.  There are no stupid ideas. There are bad ideas, but not stupid ideas. When it comes to creativity you can't fail, you just need to think through things a little better.  Ask yourself what hasn't been done. The best ideas are new and revolutionizes an industry.  This episode was brought to you by The Voice, IABC Ottawa's premium podcast. Join Sherrilynne Starkie and her cohosts, Tina Barton and Angela Prokopiak, as they provide expert insight and practical tips with the help of some of North America's leading marketing and communication professionals. Tune in to their 2017 season where they will cover topics such as content marketing, employee engagement, reputation management and more.   Thanks Sharon Cheung for the shout out. Sharon is a long-time listener who has used Young PR Pros to get industry insights and tips on transitioning from role to role.    Also thanks to Shel Holtz for the shout out. Shel is a young at heart professional who listens to Young PR Pros to find out what the young professionals are saying/thinking today. 

The average person will make a career change approximately five to seven times during their working life. With an ever increasing number of different career choices, about 1/3 of the total workforce will now change jobs every 12 months. By the age of 42 you may have had about ten jobs, says Career Change Statistics. With this new landscape, making career choices can be overwhelming. Young PR Pros hosts Kristine D’Arbelles, Ross Simmonds and producer Clare Bonnyman discuss tips and advice on how to best approach making a career decision. Some of the advice you will hear in this episode includes: Don’t make decisions based solely on money, says Kristine. Money is important to assess the type of lifestyle you want, but just because a job pays more doesn’t make it a better fit for you and your career goals. Don’t be afraid of making a decisions, and don’t beat yourself up for bad decisions, says Ross. All decisions will make you feel a little uncomfortable, because with every new opportunity there is a certain level of uncertainty. Sometimes you just have to trust your gut. Get to know corporate culture, says Kristine and Ross. You will spend more hours at work than hours with your family. So make sure the company you choose to work for shares similar values. Don’t be afraid to interview employees, or even ex-employees (to find out why they left). In this episode, Young PR Pros also introduces a new segment, the Book Report. Kristine is the first to present and she chooses Larry Smith’s No Fears No Excuses. Thanks to Sharon Cheung for giving us a shout out in this episode! Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, send us an email or audio note at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros.

Once upon a time, there lived this driven young man who dreamed about becoming an entrepreneur. One day, he used all his allowance to purchase different coloured do-rags and sell them out of his locker at school, turning his allowance money into pure profit! That young man’s name was Ross Simmonds, host of Young PR Pros. In this episode, Ross takes the hosting chair as our resident expert on entrepreneurship – giving Kristine a break.   Given our recent episode on the definition of PR, it was fitting to start off the show by stating the definition of entrepreneurship. Merriam Webster Dictionary defines an entrepreneur as a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money. But Young PR Pros knows that it is so much more. Some of the words that come to us when we think of entrepreneurship is: freedom, accomplishment and passion. What words would you add?    In this episode we talk about what you need to make the leap to entrepreneurship: factors you need to consider, and tips and advice for starting out. We also explore fears, what prevents people from becoming an entrepreneur and how can they overcome those hurdles.    We pull from outside experts, real young entrepreneurs trying to make a living today as entrepreneurs: Bryant McNamara, Darcy Boucher and Kate Headley. Listen to the full episode to hear their tips and advice for young entrepreneurs looking to break into the world of PR and communications. In fact, a lot of the advice works for any entrepreneur.   Finally, Ross himself gives us his expertise and offers some great advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: Learn to say no. Do your research and ask yourself: is there someone in this world that would pay for this product/service? Don't wait, start reading up on entrepreneurship now. Listening to the podcast is the first step.  Multitasking is a myth.  Don’t forget to tune in to the entire episode; don’t miss our Lessons Learned segment at the very end.   We want to hear from you, what did you learn from this episode? Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, send us an email or audio note at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros.  

Who can relate: you introduce yourself to an acquaintance at a friend's party. They ask you what you do for a living. You say you work in PR. You get a blank stare and most people respond with: oh so like advertising, or my personal favourite, you must spin the media. Well Young PR Pros has had enough, so we sat down as a team and put together our own definition. First, we reviewed a few definitions pulled from various sources online. Public Relations Society of America: Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics Canadian Public Relations Society: Public relations is the strategic management of relationships between an organization and its diverse publics, through the use of communication, to achieve mutual understand, realize organizational goals, and serve the public interest Entrepreneur.com: using the news or business press to carry positive stories about your company or your products; cultivating a good relationship with local press representatives. We discussed what each definition had done right, and what they had missed. Then we made a list of key terms that needed to be included in our own definition: Adaptability Relationships Cultivate Strategic Process Diverse We combined all our key terms and came up with... Young PR Pros' definition of PR Public relations is a strategic communications process to build and cultivate mutual beneficial relationships between organizations and their diverse publics, while remaining adaptable to the publics interests and needs, all to serve the greater good of our society. What do you think? Did we miss anything? Do you agree with our definition? If so, why or why not? Now that we have a definition, we need to know what skills are needed to fulfill this explanation of PR. Young PR Pros ran an online poll and asked you, the audience, what you thought the most important skills are for young professionals entering their first job? The top three were: Writing Multimedia Awareness building We closed with our favourite segment of the show, Lessons Learned. But, we want to hear from you. What did you learn this week? Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, send us an email or audio note at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros. Do you have plans this summer? Don’t forget to visit youngprpros.ca and catch up on old episodes. Go back to class September with fresh new ideas and succeed in your career.

It is just Kristine D'Arbelles and Clare Bonnyman this month. Clare is finished her internship in Thunder Bay and is back in Toronto. Anyone hiring? Clare is pretty awesome. Taking a little break this month, we look back on some evergreen lessons and replay our episode on tips for entrepreneurs. At the end of the show, Kristine and Clare are surprised to learn some new lessons. We share them with the audience. Some of the great advice you will find in this episode is: Entrepreneurship is the best thing for your career and will make your resume stand out. Technology has made consulting easy – build a worldwide clientele. Build up a reputation for yourself – build your brand through social media and blogging. You don’t need to be an expert, just be out there. Companies nowadays – mostly non-profits and small businesses – don’t have big budgets and look for freelancers and consultants all the time. Find work through networking, RFPs or job boards. Listen to the full episode and then share your opinion. Are you an entrepreneur? How did you make the leap of faith? Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros. Do you have plans this summer? Don’t forget to visit youngprpros.ca and catch up on old episodes. Go back to class September with fresh new ideas and succeed in your career.

The Young PR Pros family is expanding. We welcome Clare Bonnyman as our new assistant producer. Clare has extensive background in radio editing. We hope her skills will make the show sound even better in your ear buds on your commute, in the office, or wherever you listen. OH, and Julia Kent welcomed her new son into the world on April 6. Clare is just like you, our listeners, a young professional wrapping up her studies and ready to tackle the brave new world. We give her the role of picking this week's topic, to make sure we are keeping the show relevant and true to our audience. Clare asked each host to describe their first job. Julia Kent talks about her first marketing job at the NAC. Ross Simmonds shares his first experience as a social media trainer and strategist for the CBC. And Kristine D'Arbelles tells the story of her job as a publicist for a deaf-blind speed skater. Spoiler alert, one of the hosts gets an honorable trophy for having the coolest first experience. Can you guess which one? Listen to the full episode to find out! Growing our podcast family is just the first step in making our podcast even better. In this episode, you will hear the voice of listener and fan Adil Skalli, who shares his ideas for a future episode. We love Adil's passion and attitude and encourage other listeners to share their ideas to, by email, on Twitter or Facebook, or send us an audio clip. Adil's comment is a good introduction to the new direction of the podcast. Don't worry, we aren't changing too much. We will continue to bring you great content on topics that are relevant to young PR professionals. However, once and a while, we will speak to a broader audience and offer our advice for ANY young professional looking to start their career. We close the show with a new segment called lessons learned. Each host, including Clare, shares the number one takeaway from the show. What did you learn? Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, @kentjulia, @thecoolestcool, or @namynnob.

For the first time in Canadian history, a Prime Minister appointed a caucus that was 50 per cent female and 50 per cent male. When asked why he chose to make this bold statement he respond: because it is 2015. This moment of history prompted the hosts of Young PR Pros, Kristine D'Arbelles, Julia Kent and Ross Simmonds, to discuss gender and ethnic equality in the work place. We start the conversation with analyzing the current landscape. Ross says the best way to get more women in managing roles is to hire more women managers. These women become role models and create generations of aspiring women managers. Julia agreed, but warned about the dangers of filing quotas - i.e. hiring based on gender and not merit. We then chat about pay equality, which is a hot topic in world news. Ross suggests we should be open and transparent about pay. Organizations should share with all their employees what everyone makes, it doesn't have to be tied to an individual, but to a title or level in the organizations. This empowers employees to ask for a fair wage. Kristine notes that young professionals don't always have the skills to negotiate pay, yet they should. She suggest doing research and using tools to figure out a fair wage. Here are a few tools: A toolkit for woman seeking a raise from the New York Times. Globe and Mail lays out what a public relations professional should expect to make in Canada. The Public Relations Institute of Australia has a few suggested tools for professionals in Australia seeking a raise. Or try PayScale, a company that links individuals and businesses to the largest salary profile database in the world. Have you asked for a raise? What was your experience? Would you feel weird if you got a job because your race or ethnicity over your qualifications? Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, @kentjulia, or @thecoolestcool

In this episode we revisit the topic of accreditation. In episode 100, we talked about a topic that has divided the world of PR and communications for decades: is accreditation worth it? In case you haven't heard the episode, Ross thought accreditation was just a money grab scheme from large associations. Kristine, who was on the fence, believed that accreditation might weed out those who bring a bad name to the industry. Julia made an obvious comparison between accreditation and post-secondary school diplomas – in the end it is experience that matters, not a piece of paper. The episode caused some discussions online and listener Judy Gombita reached out to us on Twitter encouraging us to interview Natalie Bovair to give us a different perspective on accreditation. We tracked Natalie down and she was gracious enough to give us a bit of her time to defend the honours of accreditation. Listen to the full episode to see why accreditation matters.  What do you think? Are you accredited, do you have anything to add to Natalie's defense? Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, @kentjulia, or @thecoolestcool

This episode was recorded a week before federal election day in Canada. In this episode we talk about PR moments that caught our attention during the longest campaign period in Canadian history. Here is a recap of a few trends and moments we found note worthy: Sticking to a message: or not saying anything about at all. We discuss how Stephen Harper sticks to his messaging and refuses to let his opponents push him off message. The online campaign: this federal election has two campaigns running in parallel with each other - one in the media and one online. We discuss the grass-root content being generated by the average Canadian and how that us effecting the campaign. We also talk about selfie votes, and how Justin Trudeau is winning. Voter apathy: We end with a discussion around voter apathy and how that has affected the campaign. So did we get it right? I guess Justin Trudeau won in selfie votes after all. Do you have a communications moment or trend to share with us? Share your story or advice by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia and @thecoolestcool.

In this episode, hosts Kristine D'Arbelles, Julia Kent and Ross Simmonds talk about tips and advice for networking. Our hosts answer common questions like how do you approach a group of people you don’t know? Are business cards really necessary? And other great tips you can take with you to your next networking event. A few things to remember when networking: Always bring business cards. Kristine encourages young professionals to use a business card as a way to showcase creativity. If you are a good designer, show off what you can do with your business card. Make it stand out among the pile. Follow-up is key. Julia suggests to add people to LinkedIn after a networking event. Reference the conversation you had at the event and then set a call to action. Never be afraid to say you are looking for a job. Ross loves to see young professionals offer value to potential employers. Research the employer and find out what you can do to make their life easier, then approach them at the event and offer your services. This can lead to a job opportunity. What other tricks to you use at a networking event? Share your story or advice by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia and @thecoolestcool. This is a recurring topic that our listeners keep asking for. If you haven’t heard enough tips after this episode, check out some of our other episodes on networking, such as episode 48 and 29.

So much good news comes with today's podcast. First, host Kristine D'Arbelles records her first episode with her new baby. He was a good little boy and napped (almost) the entire time of the episode. Second, after almost three years, hosts Kristine and Julia welcome a new co-host - Ross Simmonds. You have heard his voice a few times before in interviews and as a guest host. Young PR Pros is very excited to welcome Ross and can't wait to hear what he has to say on future episodes. This week's episode is about the importance of doing real-life projects while you are in school. In the Spring, Kristine sat down with professor Renée Filiatraut and her student Marley Lewington from Algonquin College to talk about the College's yearly student PR campaign - a real-world class assignment (full interview here). The assignment takes the students out of the class and encourages them to build relationships with organizations in their local community. This prompts a discussion among our co-hosts on the importance of real-world assignments/project. Ross encourages young professionals to spend less time worrying about finding a job "that pays" and spend more time finding a job that will offer good experience - even if that means taking an unpaid internship. Kristine shares her experience of doing real-life assignments for her public relations diploma. Julia talks about building relationships with people who helped her career during internships. Ross and Kristine discuss job shadowing and informational interviews to learn about company cultures and network. Listen to the full episode and then share your opinion. What kind of real-world assignments did you have to complete? If your school didn't have real-world assignments, what did you do to get hands-on experience? Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia and @thecoolestcool. Do you have plans this summer? Don’t forget to visit youngprpros.ca and catch up on old episodes. Go back to class September with fresh new ideas and succeed in your career.

Young PR Pros is back from its long break. Where were we you might ask? Kristine D’Arbelles, founder and co-host of Young PR Pros, has been off having an amazing adventure. The adventure of motherhood. Kristine gave birth to a beautiful boy late May. We jump right back into the swing of things, with an episode jammed packed with great advice for entrepreneurs. We invite Ross Simmonds back for his third episode as guest host to share his experience as an entrepreneur and offer advice for young professionals looking to follow that path. Ross is a communications and marketing strategist and entrepreneur. You might know him as @theCoolestCool on Twitter. While reading an article in the International Association of Business Communicator's magazine, Communication World, Kristine has noticed a trend in the millennial generation - more and more of her friends are option for the consultant root and gaining experience before getting permanent jobs. This new trend might stem from en employer's need to see real experience on a young professional's resume. For those of you jumping into the world of consulting, read and listen on. We start with Ross, an entrepreneur himself, who had this to say about entrepreneurship: It is the best thing for your career and will make your resume stand out. Technology has made consulting easy - build a worldwide clientele. Build up a reputation for yourself - build your brand through social media and blogging. You don't need to be an expert, just be out there. Julia Kent consulted for a year at the beginning of her career and said: Companies nowadays - mostly non-profits and small businesses - don't have big budgets and look for freelancers and consultants all the time. Find work through networking, RFPs or job boards. Listen to the full episode and then share your opinion. Are you an entrepreneur? How did you make the leap of faith? Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia. Do you have plans this summer? Don’t forget to visit youngprpros.ca and catch up on old episodes. Go back to class September with fresh new ideas and succeed in your career.

This week, our hosts Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent welcome on the show for the second episode in the row - Ross Simmonds. Ross is a communications and marketing strategist and entrepreneur. You might know him as @theCoolestCool on Twitter. Ross has agreed to join us from Halifax as a superb guest host to help bring new views and opinions to the show. For episode 101, we discuss the best PR and communications campaigns. A few weeks ago, our host and roving reporter Kristine attended the University of Ottawa Public Relations Association (uOPRA) conference Connect 2 Success. The one-day conference brought together professionals from all industries of PR and communications to talk about what young professionals need to be successful in their future careers. At the conference she interviewed speakers, experts and panelists and asked them to share the best PR or communications campaign that has resonated with them throughout their careers. You can find video footage of all the interviews mentioned in this episode on our website, or on our YouTube channel. The examples ranged from the great Tylenol crisis communications taught in all PR classes, to Dear Future Mom a campaign promoting Down Syndrome Day, to an award-winning campaign that aimed to make tea more popular than coffee, and even the Obama presidential campaign. Kristine, Julia and Ross added to the list. Here are a few campaigns we think are the best campaigns ever: West Jet's Christmas and April Fools video campaigns The Old Spice rebranding campaign McDonald's Our Food Your Questions campaign The hosts then discussed what made these campaigns memorable, what do they have in common and why do they resonate with so many people. The top three things we found were: Each campaign included some elements of good storytelling Campaigns with a human touch or emotional touch resonated more with audiences And finally, all these campaigns followed the first commandant of communications: know thine audience Listen to the full episode and then share your opinion. What is the best PR or communications campaign you think should be added to our list? Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia.

This week, our hosts Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent record their 100th episode. Young PR Pros wants to thank our guests, listeners and anyone who has helped spread the word about our podcast. We hope we can continue to share our knowledge with young PR and communications professionals for another 100 episodes. For our special anniversary show we invited an engaging new guest host, Ross Simmonds, to join our conversation. Who is Ross Simmonds? Ross Simmonds is a marketer, strategist and entrepreneur. He founded several small businesses - including Foundation, that specializes in content consulting & creation, Hustle & Grind (a subscription service for entrepreneurs) and Crate (a content marketing software - beta). Ross also shares his thoughts on marketing, business and life on his blog. And he is the author of Stand Out: The Content Guide for Entrepreneurs. You can follow Ross on Twitter, or subscribe to his newsletter. Ross will be tagging along for the next few episodes offering his ideas and opinions on various topics that are important for young PR and communications professionals. We hope he spark new conversations and offer different perspectives on future topics. This week's topic: This week's topic has divided the world of PR and communications for decades now: does accreditation really help our industry? Without missing a beat, Ross jumps in and shares his belief that accreditation is just a money grab scheme from large associations. Kristine is a little bit more on the fence and believes that accreditation might weed out those who bring a bad name to the industry. Julia makes an obvious comparison between accreditation and post-secondary school diplomas - in the end it is experience that matters, not a piece of paper. Listen to the full episode to get in on the heated debate, and then share your opinion. Do you think accreditation is necessary for our industry? Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia.

Are you victim of routine? Do you feel like your career isn't moving? Maybe it is time to refresh your career. In episode 99, our hosts Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent take inspiration from IABC's Communication World. In the March issue, IABC interviewed Mark Schumann who talks about the three Ds to ensure his career and communication functions move forward: diagnosis, development and delivery. Kristine and Julia look at refreshing your career through two lenses: moving on to another opportunity, or refreshing your current role. The answer isn't always jumping to a job that pays more, sometimes you can refresh your career by making change within your own organization. Don't forget, the next episode is our 100th episode. We have a special surprise in store for you. The surprise might involve a new voice. And this is a voice you do not want to miss. Also, Young PR Pros will be sponsoring the uOPRA conference Connect 2 Success. If you are attending the event, be sure to stop by and say hi to our host Kristine. Kristine will be appearing on a panel called Getting Started in the Field, as well as interviewing key speakers. We will be asking speakers to give us an example of the most impressive PR or communications move they have ever seen. We will share their responses and all our interviews over the coming months. This is the second time we participate at the uOPRA conference, check out the interviews with last year's speakers here. Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia.

As young PR and communications professionals, we are often expected to know everything about social media. That is why, this week on Young PR Pros our hosts Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent talk about the most popular social networks, who uses them, and what companies might benefit from each platform. We get our inspiration from AdWeek - Who's Really Using Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram in 2015. As a side note, because it might sound confusing in the episode, the numbers we are quoting are projected new subscribers for 2015 - not current totals. You can find a full breakdown of number of users by social platform here. Julia mentions that there are six types of social networking sites. We briefly go through each one. The main lesson we want listeners to take away from this episode is that it doesn't matter if 1.5 billion or 300 million people are using a social network - doesn't mean your company NEEDS to be there. As a young professional entering a new job, make sure you ask your executives and your bosses what their business goals are. And remember, if you are using social networks to build your professional brand you have your own business goals. How do you choose which networks to use? Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia.

In Decmber 2014, the Financial Post wrote an article about how PR professionals are stepping out of the shadows that have been cast by advertising and marketing departments and have taken their proper place at the front of business success. And that is where our host Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent begin their conversation. The author of the Financial Post article says: The rise of social media coupled with the growing importance of social responsibility are moving public relations professionals from the backroom, crafting press releases and organizing events, to the forefront of brand development and consumer engagement. This is good news for young PR professionals. Our profession is finally showing its worth. Businesses are realizing the importance of the two-way communications of PR more than the message blasting of advertising. So what should young professionals do with this news? Kristine and Julia make a few suggestions: Relationships - and we are not talking about networking. When starting a new job think about how you are helping your organization build strong relationships with their clients, customers, stakeholders, etc.Listen - it is great to know how to Tweet and how to post an engaging post on Facebook, but none of that is worth anything if you don't listen to your followers and respond to their needs/comments/questions.Speed - listening means nothing if you can't respond in a timely manner. Of course, we don't expect organizations to respond within 30 seconds, but it shouldn't take more than 24 hours. Stay tuned to our next episode where we talk about social media tools - such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc - and how they are best used. And of course, don't forget we want to hear from you. Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia.

Welcome back and welcome 2015! For our first episode of the year, we are doing a listener request. Bowda PR suggested we discuss 2015 trends young professionals - or any PR and communications professional - should be watching. Our hosts, Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent did a bit of digging and found four interesting trends to watch. 1. Tracking the impact of social media Hootsuite says, 2015 is the year that the impact of social media on business gets easier to show and possibly impossible to ignore. 2. Owning owned media According to Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs, 2015 will be the year we create and curate content customers want. The idea of brands as publishers will be more important. 3. Online advertising, testing and optimizing Jay Baer, President, Convince & Convert says 2015 will be the year of paid amplification. With content marketing reaching near-ubiquity, the success pendulum will swing toward boosting consumption of content. That will put a new focus on math, testing and optimization as content production and content distribution become equally important. 4. Wearable technology A bit of a surprise to Kristine and Julia, but nonetheless very interesting - Mark Schaefer, Executive Director at Schaefer Marketing Solutions says by the end of 2015, wearable technology should be gathering enough steam that we will begin to see some early marketing applications. What do you think 2015 will bring?  

In 2013, Forbes reported that one in five Americans work from home. That is almost 30 million people who work and live in the same area. For some working at home is a dream come true - you can make your own hours, no pressure of adhering to office politics and you can wear whatever you want. For others, working from home can be a complete disaster, no structure can cause stress and lack of productivity. Regardless of where you fall, it is important to keep in mind the possibility of working from home as you hunt for a job. More and more public relations and communications agencies are going office-less, take Arment Dietrich as a good example. And with an uncertain job market, a lot of young professionals are starting out their careers as consultants working for themselves. This week, Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent discuss a few good tips for working at home. We get our inspiration from Cupcakes and Cashmere. Blogger Emily Schuman shares her experiences and top 10 tips for working from home. They are: Get dressed every day. Create a designated work area. Set hours and stick to them. Get outside. Be smart with your money. Schedule things with other people. Take advantage of your flexibility. Keep healthy snacks around. Have a to-do list. Keep things tidy. Catch the entire episode and see which points Kristine and Julia agree with - and see which points can apply to those working in an office setting too! Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia.

We all get a lot of email every day. Doesn't matter if you are a student or a professional, our inbox fills up very fast. This week, Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent discuss a few simple rules for emailing that will help you get through your inbox faster and more efficiently. We get to hear about some of Julia's pet peeves for fun too! We get our inspiration this week from an article on Time.com by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg called 9 Rules For Emailing From Google Exec. The nine rules for emailing are: Respond quickly.When writing an email, every word matters, and useless prose doesn’t.Clean out your inbox constantly.Handle email in LIFO order (Last In First Out).Remember, you’re a router.When you use the bcc (blind copy) feature, ask yourself why.Don’t yell.Make it easy to follow up on requests.Help your future self search for stuff. Listen to this episode to learn more about the nine rules and find out which ones Kristine and Julia live by. We want to hear from you! What are your email rules? Are there any of Eric Schmidt's rules you agree/disagree with? Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia.

This week, our hosts Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent talk about some good PR and how blogger relations made it happen. Although not a completely new concept in PR and communications, blogger relations has grown into an excellent way to get your message out through a non-traditional gatekeeper. Back in the day, your only gatekeeper was journalists. If you wanted to be featured on the 6 o'clock news, you had to build relationships with the right journalists, editors, producers, etc. Today bloggers can be equally as powerful gatekeepers. In fact, some bloggers have a stronger and more dedicated followings through website hits and social media followers than the local newspaper. As a young professional entering their new career, don't discount the possibilities of a good blogger relations strategy. To demonstrate the possibilities, Kristine and Julia share their experience as bloggers. Julia shares her experience as a book club blogger and how it landed her an interview on TV as a subject matter expert. Kristine shares her Cardel Homes story. Cardel, a local home builder, invited bloggers and their spouses to truly experience what a Cardel home has to offer - and what better way then to host a small get together complete with wine and delicious food. Bloggers got to experience first hand the versatility of the home. The Cardel example shows PR professionals and communicators that using blogger relations can go beyond the basic "pitch" and the online world. The other lesson learned here is that young professionals are encouraged to take advantage of the blogger relations trend in PR and communications to make a name for themselves as they build a career. Improve your writing skills and get experience in social media strategies by building your own strategy to gain new followers and readers. What about you? Have you started a blog to help build your personal brand? Do you have a good blogger relations story to share? Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia.

In this week's episode hosts Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent talk about how a listener of the show went from podcast listener to career star. We tell you Sharon Cheung's story. Some of you might recognize Sharon's name. This is not the first time she is mentioned on Young PR Pros. Sharon was the mastermind behind our popular Take uOPRA to Work series in 2013. The series followed four professionals in different PR and communication roles and industries to help new and returning students to the University of Ottawa understand the opportunities available to them after graduation. The series even won a local IABC Ottawa Excel Award in 2014. Now Sharon works with Kristine at the Canadian Automobile Association. Kristine sits down with Sharon and asks her questions about the interview process. What did she do to put together a compelling resume and cover letter? What did she do to prepare for the interview? What did she include in her portfolio? This episode is about a real success story. Sharon offers excellent advice on how she went from Young PR Pros listener to career starter. We want to hear from you! Do you have a success story to tell? Don't be shy, your experience and advice could help other listeners! Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia.

This week, Young PR Pros welcomes new listeners from the FIR podcast network. For our regular listeners you don't need to change anything, you will still continue to receive new weekly episodes through iTunes or Stitcher. For those who don't know, the FIR podcast network, run by internationally acclaimed communicators Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz, is a collection of business podcasts on niche topics that appeal to communicators in different countries around the world. The anchor show, For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report, is the longest running communications podcast, broadcasting business and communications advice for more than a decade. In 2013, Hobson and Holtz expanded their podcast and created a network of a dozen shows, including the popular Canadian social media podcast Inside PR, hosted by Martin Waxman, Gini Dietrich and Joseph Thornley. For our first episode on the podcast network, we discuss the definition of the word spin. Some people see this as a four-letter bad word and want it eliminated from our vocabulary. Others see it as a flexible word with the opportunity to bend and change - or spin if you will - the definition. Hosts, Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent bring in two experts to weigh in on this debate. The first is Elizabeth Gray-Smith, Social Columnist at iPolitics. We caught up with her earlier this year at the uOPRA Let's Grow Together conference and asked her how she felt about the word spin - spoiler, she doesn't think spin needs to be a four-letter bad word. The second expert is Gini Dietrich, CEO of Arment Dietrich and who is no stranger to the podcast, offers her view on the word spin. If you know Gini at all, you can guess what her opinion was. Here is a hint, she runs a blog called Spin Sucks. As our hosts easily discover, there is no easy right answer. The good news is that having this conversation is important to making our industry a better place. We have come far from the days of Mad Men, but there is still more work to do. So what can young professionals do today? Be curious and ask questions. Don't be afraid to stand up to your boss if you are uncomfortable with the task they have given you. Remember, no one gets fired for asking a question. Sometimes that is all it takes, one curious person asking the right question. What do you think? Do you think we can change the definition? Or should we get rid of the word? Or do you have another solution? We want to hear from you. Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia.

With the first week of back to school almost complete, Kristine D’Arbelles and Julia Kent share a few back-to-school tips and advice for the young PR pros. You can read about all the tips in detail in this morning’s blog post entitle 4 Back to School Tips for the Successful PR Proo. If you have something to add to the list, we would love to hear about it. Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, @kentjulia or @mollimegasko.

This week, our hosts Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent are on vacation. We thank our listeners for their patience and understanding while they take some time to relax, rejuvenate and spend time with family. So while they soak up the sun, please enjoy this encore presentation of episode 9, which aired on May 29, 2012. A lot of the advice you will hear still applies to the changing PR and communications industry we live in today. Also, enjoy the voice of our past host Molli Megasko, who is still rocking it in New York City! We miss her dearly, but know she is doing awesome work. Hard skills that matter During the opening of the show, Kristine talks about a Forbes article called Five Ways to Land that Post-College Job (Even if You Graduated Years Ago). The article offers some great tips that the ladies of Young PR Pros have mentioned in past episodes. The article also serves as a nice recap of some of the great tips shared on this show. The conversation this week was sparked by a comment left by an avid listener, Sherrilynne Starkie, she asks: I liked your discussion of important soft skills. But which hard skill do you think are most important for starting a career in PR? Molli starts off by saying knowing how to work around a content management system is a great hard skill to have. Molli says it is especially important for our generation. She spends a lot of time working on client's websites. Kristine encourages young pros to learn a little bit of HTML code. This helps format and structure information on a webpage. With everything merging online, this is a skill that will definitely come in handy. Molli adds Facebook coding, or FBML, as an added bonus. Although FBML is being deprecated, learning similar tools that work on Facebook pages such as JavaScript and Social Plugins will put you ahead of the game. Julia thinks young pros should learn how to use Photoshop or any other photo editing software. Julia and her company use GimpShop a freeware version of Photoshop. These tools are also good to use when wanting to scale down images for web or for email. Kristine adds audio editing to the list. Although she says it is not an asset, it is a great unique skill to have. Editing audio can help if you are interested in podcasting, or if you want to send a radio journalist a quote from your spokesperson, etc. Word processing skills are a mandatory hard skill, especially for our generation. Julia says you are valued even more if you are an expert in Word processing tools, that is, really knowing your way around equations in Excel, table of contents in Word, and slide transitions in PowerPoint. A working knowledge is mandatory, but don't put it on a resume, it is assumed and expected you know them. Finally, Julia mentions languages as a great hard skill to have. We live in a global world. If you can save a company from having to go through another agency due to language barriers, you will be greatly valued. Also, if you plan on working in Canada, the majority of government jobs require you speak both English and French. Any of these skills can help you stand out among the crowd. We want to hear from you. What do you think are some good hard skills to have as a young PR pro. Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, @kentjulia or @mollimegasko.

When was the last time you reminded your boss about a good project you ran? When was the last time you asked for constructive criticism on your writing? How often do you talk up your teammates and colleagues? This week, Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent discuss mistakes young professionals might be making that are holding back their careers. Our inspiration this week comes from Fast Company's You're probably making these five mistakes at work. This is not to make you paranoid, in fact, you might not be doing anything wrong, but for peace of mind it is still important to periodically look back at our job and see what we are doing - or not doing - to improve our careers. Kristine and Julia discuss everything from handling upsets poorly, to the importance of asking questions, to walking the line between self-promotion and team work. Our hosts share their experiences and reveal what mistakes they were making at the beginning of their careers. We want to hear from you. Will you admit to making any of these mistakes? Share your comments below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or in our LinkedIn group, or on Pinterest, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell or @kentjulia.

This week, Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent talk about corporate social responsibility or CSR. For those who are new to this term, CSR is the voluntary activities undertaken by a company to operate in an economic, social and environmentally sustainable manner. CSR not only does good for mother earth and our communities, it can be a great opportunity to emotionally connect with your audience - with the ultimate goal of increasing your bottom line. Julia kicks it off by sharing what her company does in the realm of corporate social responsibility. MHPM's CSR is not just a communications tactic, but contributes to their service offerings and corporate brand. We find out that the work they put in to CSR directly contributes to increasing their bottom line. Kristine then shares some examples of other organizations across the world that have embraced corporate social responsibility and have been recognized for their efforts through the 2014 CSR Awards at the National Press Club in Washington. The awards recognized CSR A-List and the latest inductees to the CSR Hall of Fame. Together, these organizations represent top quality work in the domain of CSR communications. If you are ever required to do some brainstorming for your boss around CSR - this is an article you want to read! We would love to hear from you. What CSR projects have you participated in? Share your comments below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or in our LinkedIn group, or on Pinterest, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell or @kentjulia.

Customer service shouldn't be a foreign word to public relations and commuications professionals. Although we might not always be face to face with our organization's customers, their happiness often decides the fate of your communications department and organization. This week, Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent explore the old saying "the customer is always right" and how it applies to PR and communications. We got our inspiration from one of our favourite podcasters, Terry O'Reilly, host of CBC's Under The Influence. On Under the Influence, Terry explores the critical shift from a century of overt one-way messaging to a new-world order of two-way dialogue. Most recently, Terry did an episode called Tales of Customer Service. He talked about an amusement park that delivered such superior customer service that other corporations asked for lessons, a shoe company you can order a pizza from and a store that actually accepted a returned product they didn't even sell just to keep their customer happy. Not only are the stories in Terry's episode fascinating, but it reminds us that good customer service equals good communications, and vise versa. People remember people, not products, so what better way to solidify an emotional relationship with your audience than through good customer service. We would love to hear your thoughts? Do you have a good/bad customer service story? How do you incorporate customer service in to your strategic plans? Share your comments below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or in our LinkedIn group, or on Pinterest, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell or @kentjulia.

This week, Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent share their experiences of good and bad meetings. Public relations and communications is a people industry, so get used to a lot of meetings in your careers. In this episode we concentrate on in-person meetings - conference calls are a whole other story. As a young professional you might not be the one calling the meeting, but there are certain things you can do to ensure the meetings you attend are efficient and productive. We pull some of our ideas and advice from an excellent article from lifehacker.com called How to Have a Meeting That Isn't a Complete Waste of Time. The author, Mihir Patkar, gives an extensive review of the good, the bad and the ugly of holding meetings, and offers concrete advice to hosting productive meetings. We want to here from you. Tell us your horror stories, what was the worst meeting you have ever attended? We also want to hear the good though, what was the best meeting you ever attended? Also, Young PR Pros will be in Ottawa, Canada on May 28 for Navigate Your PR Career hosted by CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau. If you are a PR or communications student or you have joined the profession in the last five years, then this event is for you. Navigate your PR career gives you insight on searching for a job, both full time and summer internships, and building your career once you are in. Get a chance to meet and network with senior professionals as well as young professionals who can share their experience of the current job market. Share your comments below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or in our LinkedIn group, or on Pinterest, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell or @kentjulia.

This week, Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent review an article in Canadian Living by Jackie Middleton called 8 social media mistakes that could damage your career. Middleton writes: Social media has made information very accessible, and the worst kind of information can hurt you professionally. One expert shares etiquette tips when it comes to your social media streams. We explore all eight mistakes and give our own experience and opinion on each. Everything from the obvious rule of not posting nude pictures to the grey areas of adding colleagues on Facebook. We want to hear from you. Would you add to the list? Is there anything on this list you agree or disagree with? Share your comments below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or in our LinkedIn group, or on Pinterest, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell or @kentjulia.

This week Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent continue their conversation with Tara Lapointe. Tara is a dynamic marketing and communications strategist with more than 15 years experience in the arts and entertainment industries. She is currently the Head of Marketing Communications at the Canada Council for the Arts, Canada's national arts funder, where she leads the public relations, brand and content strategy and translation team. Tara is also the recipient of the "40 Under 40" Award. She is wrapping up a year as VP, Marketing Communications of IABC Ottawa and has recently announced that she is accepting the role of incoming president for the Ottawa chapter. We asked Tara: What are your interview pet peeves? Tara's main pet peeves are: Disqualifying yourself even before the interview. No cover letter - no job. Not telling the hiring manager why you want to work for them. Mistakes in your cover letter. Not reaching out to the hiring manager after sending in your resume or job application. Not doing any research before an interview and coming unprepared. Not asking questions during an interview. Need ideas for questions, re-listen to episode 20. But find out why they bug her so much by listening to the entire episode. We want to hear from you. What are your interview pet peeves? Are there things on Tara's list you agree or disagree with? Share your comments below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or in our LinkedIn group, or on Pinterest, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell or @kentjulia.

This week on Young PR Pros, Kristine D'Arbelles and Julia Kent record face-to-face with our guest Tara Lapointe. Tara is a dynamic marketing and communications strategist with more than 15 years experience in the arts and entertainment industries. She is currently the Head of Marketing Communications at the Canada Council for the Arts, Canada's national arts funder, where she leads the public relations, brand and content strategy and translation team. Tara is the recipient of the "40 Under 40" Award. She is wrapping up a year as VP, Marketing Communications of IABC Ottawa and has recently announced that she is accepting the role of incoming president for the Ottawa chapter. Our question for Tara was: What are the benefits of being a PR generalists? Tara mentions three very important benefits: Being able to adapt to the next opportunity Being able to adapt and relate to a large communications team Being a specialist can limit you in the onset of your career Tara closed the episode with her advice for young professionals: Be open, explore widely and don't be afraid to ask questions. We would love to hear from you. Are you a generalist? Or are you a specialists? How has either role help you shape and grow your career? Share your comments below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or in our LinkedIn group, or on Pinterest, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell or @kentjulia.

Young PR Pros host, Julia Kent, is a popular girl on the University of Carleton campus. For the fourth year in a row she has been invited to speak as part of a three-person panel at the School of Journalism alongside Lauren More, vice-president of communications with Ford Canada and Carrie Bendzsa, brand systems and external communications leader at IBM Canada. The hour-long panel is full of great tips and advice for young professionals who are currently studying journalism making the transition to public relation or communications. So much information, that Young PR Pros has announced a new four-episode series called From Journalism to PR. Over the next month keep your eyes out and your ears pealed for more tips and advice that we gathered from this excellent panel. In episode 3, we talk about the infamous PR title. We answer your most common question: what is in a PR title? The world of public relations, communications and marketing is mixing, melding and expanding. Today, a title is just that - a title. First, we play a clip from the panel where each individual shares their titles and a brief description of what they do in a regular day. As you will hear, there is very little correlation between tasks during an average day and the person's title. The most important lesson learned out of this episode is to make sure you do your research when applying for jobs. The job description and title might only just scratch the surface of an average day in that role. Interview others in the organization, or ask the person interviewing you to give you a brief synopsis of an average day in their role. We would love to hear from you. What is your title? Does it reflect your day-to-day tasks? Share your comments below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or in our LinkedIn group, or on Pinterest, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell or @kentjulia.

As our listeners heard a few weeks ago, host Kristine D'Arbelles got to attend the CPRS student event in Ottawa called Behind the PR Scenes – an evening with Jim Watson. She was lucky enough to get a few moments with the Mayor where she could ask him one question. She asked: Have you ever regretted sending a tweet? In this week's episode, we share the Mayor's answer, and like the good politician he is, he says there was no single tweet he regretted. However, he did mention he regretted getting in to long conversations with people who he knew wouldn't change their mind, conversations that belabor a point and don't help anyone. Kristine and Julia talk about our response to the Mayor's answer, the psychology of communicating and the questions you should ask when communicating with a non-respective audience. But we want to hear from you, have you ever regretted sending a tweet? How did you react? Did you delete the post? Apologize? Share your comments below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or in our LinkedIn group, or on Pinterest, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell or @kentjulia.

For the eighth semester in a row, Young PR Pros host, Julia Kent, was invited to speak as part of a three-person panel at the University of Carleton School of Journalism alongside Lauren More, vice-president of communications with Ford Canada and Carrie Bendzsa, brand systems and external communications leader at IBM Canada. The hour-long panel is full of great tips and advice for young professionals who are currently studying journalism making the transition to public relation or communications. So much information, that Young PR Pros has announced a new four-episode series called From Journalism to PR. Over the next month keep your eyes out and your ears pealed for more tips and advice that we gathered from this excellent panel. In this week's episode, episode 2, we talk about the valued skills journalists bring to a PR role. Writing, writing, and writing Networking Video, audio and image editing skills These skills are all very important to be a successful journalist, but an even more successful PR or communications professional. We also do a quick book review on the newly released Spin Sucks by Gini Dietrich. Check out Kristine's blog post earlier this week that gives you many reasons to acquire and read this amazing book for PR and communication professionals. Stay tuned to episode 3 where we will discuss the various titles PR professionals use to describe their job; and we take a walk through the day in the life of each of our panelists. We want to hear from you. Did you attend the panel in Ottawa? Are you a journalists who switched to PR? If so, how did you manage the transition? Share your comments below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or in our LinkedIn group, or on Pinterest, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell or @kentjulia.