ADPR Connection Prep and Resume Advice
By: Sara Lawrence
ADPR Connection is less than two weeks away! ADPR Connection is taking place on Nov.1-2 this year and consists of a career fair, panels and networking opportunities geared towards advertising and public relations students. PRSSA and AdClub hosted a joint meeting with Samantha Meyer from the UGA Career Center to prepare students for the event and give them helpful tips on how to make connections with employers:
1. Goals and Dress
Meyer talked about knowing your goals for the event, whether that is to build your network or seek out hiring opportunities for internships or post-grad jobs. Make sure you know if you are looking for a spring internship, summer internship, full-time job or just an opportunity to get to know the employers. She also recommended that students wear business casual or professional clothing. If students want to be colorful and show off their personality, they should, but they should make sure it is still appropriate for the event.
2. Employer Research
Researching the employers was another big recommendation. Students should know who is attending the event. Make a game plan and come up with a list of the top five employers you want to talk to, doing your research on them before, so that you know what their company does when you go to talk to them. Make sure you know if they have job or internship openings posted on their website, LinkedIn, Handshake or another applicable platform and see what the job/internship descriptions include. In order to get more insight on the employers you want to talk to, look at their website and clients and follow them on social media before the event. Make sure you don’t ask them anything that you can find on their website!
3. Conversational Networking and Elevator Pitch
Samantha Meyer also discussed different approaches to conversational networking and elevator pitches that students should use when talking to employers. While conversational networking is much more casual and may be applicable at some networking events, elevator pitches are the typical approach for career fairs. In elevator pitches, you always want to try to include your name, your major, whether you are looking for a job or internship, your experience, skills and knowledge of the company offering a position you are interested in. Make sure you do not force it too much; keep it natural to serve as a gateway into a productive conversation.
4. Resume Building
The presidents of PRSSA and AdClub also gave students resume advice on both their resume format and content. They advised students to include their education, campus involvement, work experience and skills and honors or awards as their different resume sections, as well as their name, email, phone number and LinkedIn at the top of the page. Hyperlinking the email and LinkedIn is beneficial for employers to easily contact you and view your accomplishments more in-depth by looking at your LinkedIn posts. They also recommend that students use specific action verbs when describing their contributions and involvement on their resume, stay aware of verb tenses for current and past involvement and use numbers to emphasize the magnitude of their involvement.
It is important to remember that creative resumes are allowed too! If you go the creative route, make sure you use color and atypical designs carefully and sparingly. Adobe Illustrator or Indesign provide good creative resume templates in which students should highlight their best creative work and keep the components of their resume brief, especially when they are expanded upon in their portfolio.
In general, students must make sure they spell check their resume, tailor words and phrases to match job applications, include direct, relevant experience and keep it all on one page.
Make sure you register for ADPR Connection before Oct. 28 at ADPR Connection Registration and use these tips to prepare to talk to employers and perfect your resume!
