If you are a graduate applying for a job role, you may not have had much experience interviewing. This blog-post will help get you thinking about what you may need to prepare to enhance your chances of success.
What is your specialism?
PR is multi-faceted. It is important to know what type of PR that you want to work in, whether it is events, cooperate, crisis management or even media relations.
Even though it may sound like the obvious, as a new graduate eager to climb the career ladder it is really important to do the correct homework and research the company. Look at their clients, campaigns and their shared company vision/ethos. For instance, The Relations Group share the vision to be ‘Pre-eminent, award-winning and most-trusted’, but each company has a different goal – it is important to decipher that.
Come armed with questions you want to ask, this will help you make an executive decision. If you were to apply for a position at The Relations Group you may want to consider:
- How does broadcast PR differ from traditional PR
- What sectors the company works with
- What the culture is like
- What the progression path is
- What are the targets and KPIs
Communication is key within any role, but personality is what sells in PR. Whether on a telephone interview or face-to-face the candidate should be focused on bringing their CV to life! A candidate must have phone-confidence to succeed; this may involve reaching out to brand managers, news desks or presenters, but whoever the contact is – they are only ever as enthusiastic as the person on the other end of the line.
ENTHUSIASM
People buy into people, the content of course is important, but it can be made to sound even more significant with the right tone and excitement. Building relationships is the foundation of any role as rapport building creates a level of trust. A phone interview is therefore an opportunity to showcase your ability to build rapport and influence the interviewer (as you would do in PR) – if you can’t hold a phone call with confidence and charisma; it may not be the right career move you.
CREATIVITY
Keep in mind that a recruiter is inundated with CVs and cover letters. Just because a job advert asks for a cover letter, doesn’t mean you have to play by the rules - the best are always applications that stand out! Why not make a video or an audio-piece? Remember you are campaigning for YOU to get this position and therefore, it’s all about influence and creativity - as any media-fanatic would know.
KEY QUALITIES
There are certain qualities that recruiters look out for dependent on the job role. These may be tested through personality tests, competency tests, SPAG assessments but it is important that as a candidate, you embody these. Take our typical Junior Account Executive position as an example: https://jobs.theguardian.com/job/6263621/broadcast-pr-agency-junior-account-executive-18k-and-fast-track-progression/
This individual must be:
- Tenacious – be able to take rejection and adapt to suit
- Credible - helping the company achieve it’s ‘most trusted’ status
- Work well under pressure in a fast paced environment
- A natural communicator when liaising with big brands
- Enthusiastic – able to create ideas that give you a buzz and motivate.
We have various positions within the company; roles advertised will vary from client-facing, media-facing, content writing, production and graphic designing. Check out our websites below for more insight and listed opportunities:
http://www.radiorelations.co.uk/careers.html
http://www.imncontent.com/
http://www.televisualise.com/
The next post will be talking about what to do during the interview - touching upon body language and what to do if you get asked questions off-guard!
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