Tesar-Reynes

Preparation is key they say. After my midpoint internship review last week, I thought of a few tips that may help you better prepare for your annual review. Following are recommendations to maximize your yearly review, particularly flavored for agency work.

It was truly a wonderful week last week.  All of the words from the Obama administration were nice to hear but the proof of the pudding was in the Dow Jones numbers.  It went up Tuesday.  It went up Wednesday.  It went up Thursday.  And it even stayed up on Friday.

On Friday afternoon, when there was not a large selloff, I saw a lot of smiling faces as I walked around Chicago. It seemed that all of us were losing the battle against the constant bombardment of bad news; here was a non verbal positive statistic. Now I know that all the pundits are saying that this rally is probably only temporary.  But it’s the first piece of really solid news that we have seen in months.  It’s a little bit like giving …

Flipping through the Chicago Tribune this week, I stumbled on a headline that immediately caught my attention. “Chicago lawyer with $225,000 in debt has reason to hope.”

Hope eludes most of us these days. As part of my daily intern duties, I flip through the headlines of the Trib and Journal every morning. News of a stumbling economy and growing unemployment dominate headlines. The cycle overwhelms this green-behind the ears PR wannabe who thought he’d have the world at his fingertips, newly armed with his Bachelors degree.

How naïve I must seem. The 29 year-old lawyer mentioned in the article, Aukse Rimas, owns more debt then I can imagine and makes twice as much as me. The piece presents a simple point – Though she’s deep in debt, …

By now you’ve heard of it – the mini-blog site that the media is in a frenzy about since Jon Stewart parodied it on his show. When the nation’s premier conservative newspaper writes an article on How to Tweet, you may have considered finding out for yourself.

Bloggers and journalists have written thousands of articles on how to get started on Twitter. I refer to Scott Meis’ blog, Social Media Snippets, for the best Twitter advice. Two posts you’ll want to check out are Why Twitter Can Seem Intimidating and his Twitter Tools …

In every recession an old word reappears in corporate lexicon: “headcount.” I have heard that word ten times in the last two weeks. The rationale seems the same, whether it was the 80’s, 90’s or the 21st Century:

The way around these rules remain the same also:

I visited my PRSSA chapter for my last official meeting Monday. Afterwards, me and other members of the executive board went out to grab a bite. We chatted about how our marketing and public relations internships were going.

As we opened up, we got into an interesting conversation about our fears. The added pressure of hiring freezes and the competition that brings for jobs can make the workday stressful.

We of course would always perform our duties to the best of our abilities. We had to admit, however, lurking deep in the back of our heads existed legitimate, insecurity driven fears. Here are four of the fears we discussed. I hope this post helps our readers better …

In the course of interviewing senior management, there has been a constant buzz about the quality of the entry level people who have been recently hired and supervised by them. I suspect that this conversation is very parallel to when I came into the work force. I also believe that the accusations and frustrations surrounding the Millennials are more thought-provoking and different from the previous cohorts.

Almost all of the comments rotate around the generation’s sense of entitlement. There appears to be an almost universal sense that this generation sees themselves as unique, the best and the brightest that ever existed, and should be treated that way. The issues below tend to flow from this attitude:

Work Ethic

I will work when I want, I am able to multitask so I can text …

When a salesman calls, you have a perfect right to cut him off pretty quickly or not return the e-mail or voice mail. This is just part of the times. He gets it and no feelings are hurt. When a candidate calls a potential hiring company and gets no response or a curt response, there is a lost opportunity.

I totally understand that the corporate world, large and small, has been cutting all departments to the bone; HR has not been excluded. The department is overworked and understaffed. Pragmatically, answering unsolicited resumes has to be at the bottom of the to-do list.

There are two problems here. Firstly, today’s applicants are not your average letter writer. They are hurting; they are scared; and they are desperate. They are perfect vulnerable targets for good will. Secondly, as a good corporate citizen, …

Six weeks into my first position at a marketing/PR agency, I find myself working with clients more often. The task can seem intimidating at times. For a rookie, managing the client relationship can be like sitting at the dinner table with your rich uncle you only see a few times a year. You’re eager to impress, but don’t want to seem overly try-hard.

Last week, Kevin Donnellon, a friend and former VP at PR agency giant Golin-Harris, sent me this newsletter on client relationships. It was a welcome read. I mentioned the important lesson Kevin taught me on handshakes in a previous comment on one of Tony’s posts.

If you’re new to the industry like me, you probably don’t have much client relationship experience to draw …

When I wanted to move to Chicago from New York, I did it all the wrong way! I did not keep my wife up to date on the firms I was looking at, whether they required relocation or what their status was. My rationale was that why jerk her around with possibilities when there was nothing certain.

The only thing certain was the mushroom cloud in the kitchen when I mentioned the probable offer from Chicago…she had never even been there.

Now I am not the brightest star in the sky, but I am not alone. There are a number of candidates that I have talked with that have said, “Don’t worry, my wife is cool.”

In reality, I don’t know if they are cool. Because I’m a recruiter, I could be dealing with a prideful candidate or a fearful one.

One …