web 2.0 – Page 172 – Andrew Careaga

Catching up on my higher ed blog-reading this morning, I discover two posts about blogging and the higher ed workplace.

One post, from erelevant, is an announcement that Warren Wilson College is looking for a VP of advancement. But it’s interesting that Morgan posted the ad on his blog. I’d be interested in hearing whether any candidates respond to the announcement, and whether any inquiries that begin, “I found your ad for the vice president’s position on the erelevant blog…” will make it past HR’s screening. Morgan, keep us informed, please.

The other post comes from Rob at UBrander, and it’s a lament about the substandard quality of applications he’s received for a web copywriter position.

He writes: “[M]ore than 50 applicants have made it through HR to my desk. Only four have received interviews. None have been hired.”

It seems they haven’t done their homework. But Rob has done his. Read on:

The ones who did get an interview didnâ€™t bother to Google me. If they had, they would have found my blog, my LinkedIn profile, etc. They would have learned that I have a particular philosophy of higher ed marketing related to the IMC process. They would be able to impress me with marketing terms like â€œbrand equity.â€ They would have even learned what I looked like so they could immediately recognize me when they walked into the department. Those who didnâ€™t get interviews might have checked me out on the Web, but what prevented them from getting an interview was that I checked them out too.

A cautionary tale for job-seekers in the Internet age: Google your prospective employer. And beware what you post about yourself.

Note to the PR folks who read this blog:

Click on over to Shel Israel’s post, The New PR Practitioner, at Global Neighbourhoods. It’s worth your read. (Anal-retentive grammarian types — and you know who you are — please ignore Israel’s typos long enough to soak in the overall message. It’s important that you do.)

Israel has a solid PR agency background. He cut his teeth at Regis McKenna Inc., where “we were taught to be trusted sources of information for the press and analysts who could most influence our clients relationships with customers and prospects.” So he knows whereof he speaks. And this background gives him no small insight into the issues facing the modern-day PR agency.

That insight translates nicely into higher ed PR. Oh, sure, we don’t pitch as aggressively as a lot of the agency folk, and unlike many of our corporate colleagues we’re more interested in getting coverage for our institutions rather than keeping their names out of the press. But with the rise of social media, our role is evolving, and the very nature of our work — at institutions of higher learning, where online access is ubiquitous — ought to prompt a greater sense of urgency among us than our agency and corporate brethren.

Folks, we need to get this:

PR people have a future as the same kind of trusted resources we were back in the days of Regis McKenna. except now we can use blogging and social media. We get to establish our own credibility over time and when we discuss our own clients on our blogs, we are trusted sources of information relevant to our audiences. …

[I]f you are in the PR proffesion … you will not succeed if you focus on smiling and dialing a media list of strangers, if you are intent in inject hubris into what you have to say or write. If you think you can succeed by being just cute or clever, you are living in the wrong Era.

Today, you need to join the conversation. You are part of the news distribution system, not just for your clients, but for the community where your clients would like to flourish.

This to me is very liberating. The PR people I know and respect are all interesting people and great story teller. They often know so much more than their clients allow them to express. We are now in a Conversational Era. It looks like we will be in this Era for some time to come, and the best and brightest of the PR professionals will join in that conversation, while others will just be left behind.

So. What are we doing to build those relationships? How are we becoming those trusted sources of influence and information? How are we joining in on the conversation in this Conversational Era?