By Deanna Ferrari
I’ll admit it, when I was a junior and senior in college, the job search process took second fiddle to my classes and social life. College life was more important to me at the time – as it should have been. Mind you, I was actively looking for internships and a post-graduation job, but I wasn’t putting in as much time as I probably should have.
Once I graduated and settled for a job doing something I wasn’t thrilled about, I realized that if I wanted to work in a public relations agency, I would have to work for it…so I did.
I put in a lot of grueling hours and finally found something.
But my biggest realization of the search was the value of the connections I made along the way. I was fortunate in that process to meet my current boss Paul Furiga, who at the time didn’t have a job opening at WordWrite Communications, but connected me with other pros in the area and kept in touch with me. Through Paul I met a great deal of people. Paul had helped me out, as he does a lot of people. It paid off, too, because he eventually recruited me to work for him!
Besides telling stories for our clients, a common theme at WordWrite is networking, making connections, and helping out other PR pros in the area. So when I saw a tweet about “Help a PR Pro Out,” a.k.a. HAPPO, I jumped at the chance.
HAPPO, a play off of “Help a Reporter Out” a.k.a. HARO, is the brainchild of Arik Hanson and Valerie Simon, two public relations professionals I really enjoy following on Twitter. As the HAPPO Web site puts it, “Help a PR Pro Out Day is designed to help connect PR job seekers with employers looking for top talent. On Friday, February 19, from 10 am – 2 pm CT PR bloggers, agency leaders, and PR professionals from across the country will donate their time and talents to help fellow PR pros connect with employers as part of the first-ever event.”
I am proud to be the “champion” for Pittsburgh, so myself along with my team at WordWrite are asking you to reach out to us and let us know – Are you looking for a job? Are you recruiting new hires? Do you know of anyone looking or hiring? We want to know! E-mail me at deanna.ferrari@wordwritepr.com as I am compiling a master list for Pittsburgh to be put on the WordWrite Web site this Friday, February 19. Are you on Twitter? Instead of an e-mail, tweet either @dferrari or @wordwritepr with a compelling 140-character “pitch” and we’ll include that as well. Or, just leave a comment below. Make sure to tag any tweets with #happo and #happopgh to differentiate Pittsburgh. Also, even if you want to relocate, the good news is that HAPPO is nationwide, so who knows? You may be connected to a great job in Dallas.
So, what’s your job search story? We want to tell it.
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Deanna Ferrari is an account executive for WordWrite Communications
This post can also be viewed at http://deannaferrari.com.
