Whitney Denney and Samantha Meyer Provide Tips and Tricks On Resumes and Networking 

By: Raynor Manley 

On Tuesday, Whitney Denney, the Career Consult for students studying in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication in the UGA Career Center, and Samantha Meyer, Grady’s Director of Experiential Programs, led PRSSA’s meeting for ADPR Connection Prep. 

Hope Baxter, Event Planning Committee Head, and Lena Soenke, Vice President, served pizza to students that attended this week’s meeting.

They provided us with advice on how to polish our resumes and network ourselves at each of the event’s taking place next week. These events include: 

Monday, October 25, 2021 

  • Navigating as a New Professional, Virtual Panel, 3:30 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
  • Navigating the New Workplace: Virtual Panel: 4:30 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

  • Senior Mixer – 10:15 – 11 a.m. 
    • Media Garden, College of Journalism 
  • Keynote Address with Brian Easter of Nebo Agency – 11 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
    • Peyton Anderson Forum, College of Journalism 
  • Building Your Brand Online with Google, Virtual Panel – 1 p.m. – 2 p.m.
  • Career Fair – 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. 
    • Tate Student Center Grand Hall 

Students must pre-register for each event. 

In the meeting, Whitney and Samantha provided valuable information about how to make your resume stand out and how to prepare for networking events. 

Resumes: 

  • It’s important for the most relevant information to be seen first. This includes your degree and place of education. This is often the piece of information that should come at the top of your resume. Include your major and minors and place of study.
  • Customize your resume to the job you are applying for. You want to look at job descriptions and add keywords from the description to your resume. For the career fair, this isn’t necessarily possible beforehand, so you should tailor your resume to the types of roles you are looking for. 
  • You should never be general and cliche on your resume, instead you should give detail and be specific to what you have done. Try to add numbers or values wherever you can. (Ex: I grew this company’s engagement rate by 20%)

There are a ton of resources and examples on the career center website, so check it out if you are feeling stuck or need help. 

What should I wear to the career fair?

  • You should wear business casual or at least as close as you can get. 
  • Wear sensible shoes that you can stand and walk in for long periods of time. 
  • Don’t wear distracting clothing or distracting makeup.
  • The SGA Clothing Closet provides students with free professional clothing so this is always an option you can look into. 

I feel like I don’t have enough experience because of the pandemic. What should I do?

  • Everyone, including the employers, are happy to finally be in person together again. They also went through the pandemic and know times were tough. They might want to know what you DID do with your time during the pandemic. Did you keep your grades up? Remain active in PRSSA? They just want to know more about you and what you like to do! 

Networking:

  • There are two kinds of networking. 
  • Conversation Networking is viewed as a more relaxed, two-way conversation between you and the employer. You might introduce yourself and then they introduce who they are. A good question to ask if you aren’t necessarily looking for a job is, “Do you have any suggestions for me as to how I can get closer to reaching my professional goals?” They will then provide you with advice. 
  • The most important thing to do after networking is to get their contact information and follow up within a day or two. Remind them what you talked about and establish that connection because you never know when they can help you out in the future. 
  • The Employer Pitch is when you tell them about yourself and your experience in a short period of time. However, you often won’t have to give your whole pitch without them adding to the conversation. Just make sure they know what you want them to know by the end of your conversation.
  • It is always important to do research on the company before talking to them or applying for a job. 

If you have any other follow up questions, be sure to check in with the Career Center or reach out to Whitney Denney herself! Thank you again to Whitney and Samantha, we loved hearing from you and hope everyone is looking forward to ADPR Connection! 

 

REMINDER: This was the last PRSSA meeting open to non-paid members. Membership closes on Nov. 1st so be sure to fill out the membership form and pay your dues by then to be a member this semester!