6 Ways Personal PR Can Help When Job Hunting by Matt Weisman, Intern at Direct Recruiters

Public Relations is important for companies to promote and maintain a positive image, but it’s also important for an individual who is searching for a job. If you do not know how to make yourself stand out in the right way, you may lose an opportunity to someone who does. If you aren’t knowledgeable about the company you are interviewing for, you are at a disadvantage to a candidate who is. Not knowing the proper way to use social media and how to network can hurt you as well.

How can you use public relations to help with your search? Here are 6 good ways:

Promote Yourself– Find your strengths and talk about them. Think hard and separate your strengths from your weaknesses, then use your strengths as your sales pitch. This requires you to be honest with yourself. Use anecdotes to elaborate on why you chose what you did as your strengths. It can also be helpful to have personal business cards and a short website about yourself.

Find the Right Angle– Figure out what sets you apart from the other applicants; what makes you better. Go above and beyond the everyday status quo and show your potential new employer what you can bring to the table.

Do Your Research– Be sure to know about the person or company that is interviewing you. Know your personal values and how they align with the corporate values of the company. If they don’t match up exactly, either be flexible and willing to adjust your values to work with those of the company or accept that that particular position may not be for you and move on.

Social Media– It’s important to be informed, so be sure to stay up to date with news and trends. Don’t be afraid to interact with brands and companies on your social media platforms. Remember to follow the 1/3 rule: make 1/3 of your content interaction with your followers, 1/3 industry related, and 1/3 building your brand or business—and don’t forget to keep your personal pages clean.

Network– Talk to everybody you can. Keeping in touch with people in your industry and similar fields can help you in a future job search or in collaborations. Always be nice to the people around you and don’t burn bridges—you never know whose help you will need in the future or who you will run into again

With today’s competitive job market, it is important to maintain every advantage that you can. Overall, PR is a very handy tool to help you stand out.

Have you used any of these methods in a job search or do you have any other ways to use PR?

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