Avoid these résumé sins

Courtney Ellett

PR agency owners and hiring managers get a healthy amount of résumés each month. I probably receive at least 20. Long ago, I promised myself (when I was the eager beaver sending out that résumé in hopes of a reply) that I would read each and every one that came across my desk and respond accordingly. In the many years of owning this firm, I’ve kept that promise. However, the time I spend on each résumé and my responses certainly vary – many times because of simple mistakes that could have been avoided. 

Sometimes these errors are forgivable; sometimes not. When you misspell my name or my agency’s name, you’re probably not a very good PR person or you were being careless. In either case, why would I consider hiring you?
 
Our team put a list of PR résumé sins for consideration:

• Misspellings: Check your spelling, check your spelling and then check again. Our field is built upon accuracy. If you can’t get it right in a résumé, it goes in the trash.
• But aren’t we all? Please do not put "I want to do PR because I'm a people person."
• More isn’t always better. A solid two-page résumé is better than a six-page résumé outlining everything you’ve done since kindergarten.
• Where are your handles? Social media, that is. Omitting your social media handles makes it that much tougher for potential employers to look you up. And believe me, they will.

  

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/vuhung/7158921905/

• Where’s the sell? When someone sends over an emailed résumé as an attachment with no other correspondence, we consider that lazy. Formal cover letters aren’t always necessary, but tell me in that email why I should even open up your résumé.
• Overuse of buzzwords. Yeah, we get it. You know strategic planning, media relations, social media, etc., but these can come across as stock vocab if you don’t explain your experience more fully.
• I like to collect pickle jars. Really? Is that necessary to share? Unless you’re applying for a PR job at a pickle manufacturer, probably not. Don’t include too much personal information unless it is somehow relevant to the position.
• What an ugly résumé. Don’t forget to make the document look good. Pay attention to format and consistency. And please make sure the font size is legible. Résumés sent with bad file names — eek! Make sure to keep it simple with first and last name and not revision12resume.docx.
• I feel pretty. Oh, so pretty. On the opposite side of the spectrum, some résumés are just too design-heavy. It takes away from the meat – the content. It should be visually appealing but not gaudy. Keep it classic.
• I want a job. All too often, we see a vague or meaningless objective right at the top. Be specific about what you want to accomplish in that role. Ensure that the skills and experience you mention are specific to that job.

Fighting over the Brussels Sprouts

Courtney Ellett

Last Thanksgiving, which is by far my favorite meal of the year, my mom passed around Brussels sprouts to the family. Quietly alarmed by this newcomer to our holiday table, I immediately said “no” like a picky child – I just don’t like Brussels sprouts. I was then shamed into trying them by my husband, who’s never found a food he couldn’t be best friends with. And what do you know? They were incredible!
 
I fix Brussels sprouts at least twice a week now. You rinse them, cut in half, place on a baking sheet, brush with olive oil and sprinkle on some salt. After 40 or so minutes basking in a 350-degree oven, your superhero side dish is ready.
 
The only drawback to my newfound veggie BFF? My husband and I ALWAYS end up fighting (albeit in a passive-aggressive style) for the last helping. One of us will quietly smuggle the remaining sprouts from the pan while the other isn’t looking. And when the realization occurs that all sprouts are gone, the ensuring look is one of devastation, as if the last Twizzler on earth has been gobbled up by the enemy. 
It’s hard to imagine that a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and some heat can make that much of a difference, but it does. Brussels sprouts went from pine bark to a sweet merengue in my taste book, and now I crave them more than chocolate.
 
Ideas can be that way, too. Sometimes, PR ideas need a little tweaking before they really work for a client and before they become so in love that they crave more and more. It can be a story pitch, an event, a social media tactic or an entire campaign. An idea can go from “what the heck were you thinking” to “that’s the most brilliant thing I’ve heard in a long time.” It just takes a bit of proper flavor and some “baking” time.
 
So before you quickly dismiss your own ideas or those from your colleague or clients, be sure and remember this little story. Ask yourself if the idea can be dialed a few degrees to the right or left to produce the results you want. You never know, you might end up with clients fighting over your ideas like we do over Brussels sprouts.

Beware the scare (tactics, that is)

Courtney Ellett

My 13-year-old called me around 4 p.m. awhile back in absolute hysterics. She was crying so furiously that I couldn’t understand her. My heart sank, and the worst possible things were flooding my mind. After my brain started working again, I asked her to slow down (PLEASE!) and tell me what’s wrong.
 
She sucked up her tears long enough to say the words “FBI…break-in…15 seconds.” Now, my imagination really went into overdrive, and I was frozen by the thought that someone had broken into the house. I once again pleaded for her to explain and so she did.
 

www.flickr.com/photos/light_seeker/6779884645/

She was at Gram’s house after school, and my mom had left to pick up little brother. Now, my mom’s only gone for about five to seven minutes, and my daughter has never had an issue with being alone for that short time. But on this day, the house phone rang and she picked up. It was a robo-call explaining that the FBI reports that a home invasion happens every 15 seconds and suggested you get a good security system to protect your home and family.
 
You probably get the picture and understand why I got that worried call from my daughter. All she heard was “FBI…break-in…15 seconds,” and her mind went racing.
 
Now, I understand that it wasn’t the company’s intention to scare the pants off a tween – at least I hope not. But it happened, and I think there’s a PR lesson to be learned. Words can scare people, and those same words stick in their minds. It’s all they recall. Studies actually have proven that negative words are more easily recalled by humans than positive ones.
 
Our team – when prepping our clients for interviews or speeches or even website copy – advises that all negative words are removed and never repeated even if someone else introduces them. If you are in the hospital, the last word you want to hear is “mistake.” If you’re in a restaurant, you don’t want to hear “dirty.” If you are in search of a good courier service, “slow” isn’t a crowd-pleaser.  
 
And I suppose, some companies use scary words purposefully because they already know what we PR strategists teach, and they want the public to remember those words (and thus be scared enough into buying a product or service). But I say beware the scare tactics. You never know who is answering the phone.

Marissa Mayer and Vogue – appropriate or not?

Courtney Ellett

Marissa Mayer made headlines last week when announcements came about her sexy Vogue photo spread and article. Across the PR industry, experts were weighing in, and at Obsidian, opinions vary. Today and tomorrow, we’ll share two opposing viewpoints from our firm. The first comes from Courtney Ellett, owner of Obsidian, and second comes from Crissy Lintner, managing director in Dallas.
 
Courtney’s Take:
We were both born in May 1975, and she is 20 days my junior. Maybe that’s why I paid a good deal of attention to the news in July 2012 when Marissa Mayer was appointed president and CEO of Yahoo.
 

Photo: Mikael Jansson/Vogue

Sure, lots of people paid attention to this news, but I took it to heart as a 30-something female business owner. And I’ve paid close attention to news related to her ever since (something I don’t necessarily do with personnel changes at big tech companies). So when I saw that Mayer is the subject of a glamour-shot photo in September’s Vogue – I think I found out by Twitter, by the way – an opinion immediately formed in my mind. My first thought was “What? That can’t be right.”
 
Let me say that I’m not one to immediately shout out my personal takes on strangers’ actions and choices. However, the very subject was brought up at our office because this photo is stirring up discussion in our very own industry. It seems people are torn on Mayer’s choice to do the shoot, and even in our 15-person office, we have different opinions. So here’s mine.
 
Does it bother me that Mayer is a young female CEO lying seductively on a deck chair? No, not really. Vogue is all about female beauty in all its incarnations. I don’t read Vogue religiously, and honestly, most of what I know of it comes from my viewing of every single episode of Sex and the City. And the photo is beautiful. I instantly thought – ooh, I like those shoes! That’s the woman in me. Visually captivating photo, great clothes, love the lipstick and what a lovely deck chair!
 
But the business person in me has a different take. Mayer was brought to Yahoo to turn the company around. A lot of hoopla was created because she’s a female and such a young one and had a child during her first year there. There aren’t a lot like her in Silicon Valley (to my knowledge). And so entered the opportunity to make a real impression and a real difference. Because of this, plenty of coverage has been dedicated to any move that Mayer makes at Yahoo, from the telecommuting ban to her adjustment to the company’s maternity leave policy and the spring 2013 acquisition of Tumblr.
 
Those are significant operational moves by a CEO, sure. But what about Yahoo’s financial viability? What about revenues? What about the turnaround she was brought in for? I personally hadn’t seen news on that when this photo caught my eye. But I did find the following information after a quick Wikipedia search:
 
“In July 2013, Yahoo reported a fall in revenues, but a rise in profits compared with the same period in the previous year. In her announcement, Mayer chose to ignore the continued revenue slide, and instead hailed the company's relentless release of new mobile offerings. Reaction on Wall Street was muted, with shares falling 1.7%.”
 
“Continued revenue slide.” Yeah, that stands out. Sure, it’s only been 13 months since she joined Yahoo. Turnarounds do not happen that quickly, and many things may be in the pipeline over there that are laying the right foundation for such a turnaround. But this is my point exactly. It’s SO early to really know what impact Mayer will have. So why in the world is she taking time for a Vogue spread that has nothing to do with her company’s performance?
 
So I say, “Concentrate on your job, Marissa.” This, to me, distracts from her professional mission of getting Yahoo on the right track. To me, this is another example of someone being known as a CEO celebrity and not a great CEO (she may be, but I don’t know and only time will tell).
 
There are people known for their career results, and others are known for the news they make. I liken this to the many young folks in Hollywood who are famous for just being famous (I’m sure you know who I’m talking about). Mayer hasn’t proven herself (to the laypeople of the world just yet). When she does, maybe I’ll have a different opinion when she does photo shoots like this. 

Life is like a country song

Courtney Ellett

A while back, I was in my car on the way home when one of my favorite country songs came on the radio. I’m not exactly sure why, but as I listened and shamelessly sang aloud, I thought: “I know everyone doesn’t appreciate this song like I do. Some would even laugh at me for loving it, but I don’t care and it doesn’t change the way I feel about it.”

Yes, that conversation occurred just like that in my head in a matter of nano-seconds.

I’m not alone though. Everyone has a song, movie or hobby that everyone else doesn’t appreciate on exactly the same level (ahem, The Fifth Element). And that’s how it should be. But my fun and fleeting notion turned quickly into asking myself how that is applicable to decisions we make in business – particularly, why certain companies choose certain PR firms. Why are some a good fit and others are not?

Firms are like songs. Some are rowdy, some are conservative and some are in between. Some are rigid, some are loosey-goosey and there are those dancing somewhere in the middle. Some are the ones you casually see once in a while, ones you seriously date and the ones you choose to marry. The parallels could continue, but the important thing to remember is they’re not all the same, and one firm can’t be everything to everyone. Nor should it try. Usually, there are a lot of wonderful firms to choose from in a given marketplace, but here are some considerations before you get engaged to any of them.

• Choose wisely: Simply put, you need to put in the effort to find out which firms are out there and which one is the very best fit for you. Ask friends, colleagues and family whom they’d recommend. Take it to the Internet to see who’s out there and doing big things. This is a starting point.
• Dig in: Finding the right partner can be hard work. And honestly, a simple recommendation shouldn’t seal the deal. It is also my belief that an RFP process usually isn’t the best way to find your match either. After you do your research, line up in-person meetings with each agency. Make sure you have your list of questions and priorities ready. Have a dialogue; don’t just listen and don’t just talk. Communicate. And don’t just ask for references; actually call their client references. 
• That lovin’ feeling: Chemistry matters, folks. Work with people you like and get along with. You should feel a certain kind of energy and connection when you meet your future PR partner.
• $$$: Poor, ole budget. This excuse seems to be the stepchild of the prospecting game, and many agencies hear: “We just love you and your firm, but it came down to budget.” I’m here to tell you that budget should never be a deal-breaker. If you find an agency worth their salt, they usually deserve what they charge. If you simply don’t have a budget for the services proposed, work with your firm of choice to streamline offerings to get it within your price range. Quality costs.
• Who’s got game?: Every PR firm doesn’t have the same skill set. Some focus on social media, some boast about their event promotion skills, and some say they can do it all. Just be sure that your needs match their services and that you receive the strategic approach you deserve.

In the end, it’s about finding a firm you trust and value – and one that feels the same way about you.

Are you easy? (To do business with, that is.)

Courtney Ellett

I often have chats with my parents about my line of business, among other things. And it never fails that my father, a retired executive with a Fortune 100 company, wraps up the easy-going conversation with a golden nugget of wisdom to signal that the conversation is coming to a close and I need to pay close attention.

He’ll say something like “Courtney, I know you know this, but I’m going to say it anyway…” The look on his face turns from a father to a serious business man. The hallmark of his advice is that it’s simple and fundamental. And I believe that nothing is better than simple.

Most recently, we were discussing client satisfaction in general and he said, “Sometimes the only question is, ‘Are you easy to do business with?’” And he repeated it: “Are you easy to do business with?” He maintained that a company gets in its own way if it’s not easy for the customer to be a customer. If you make it difficult, they’ll go elsewhere.

Wow, I just loved what he said. Honestly, I couldn’t help but ask myself that question about our firm. I want to MAKE SURE we’re always easy to do business with.

That very day, with Dad’s counsel echoing in my ears, I experienced a company – or at least an employee – who got it and one who just didn’t. 

The first experience happened when I called Barnes & Noble in Collierville on a recent Saturday morning searching for a book my son needed desperately for school. This was after I had furiously called local libraries with no success. I called at 9 a.m., and no answer. No answering machine to tell me anything either. I thought they just might be too busy to catch my call. Not easy.

Thirty minutes later, I called back. After maybe the 12th ring (again not easy), a colleague answers. I tell him what I need, and he said “We don’t open until 10. Please call back.” Not easy – with an exclamation point! Obviously, this guy was already at work and “on the floor” and on the clock – not answering the phone from bed in his PJs – and yet he couldn’t tap on his computer and check on the book’s availability.

On the flip side and on the same day, my husband and I made a grocery run to a Kroger near our neighborhood. We were looking for ground pepper. We easily found the spices aisle, but could not for the life of us put our eyes on the ground pepper. One of the colleagues – I wish I had caught her name – saw our glazed “can’t find the pepper” look and approached us. Not only did she help us – and lightning fast – she was HAPPY to help us. In fact, she was jolly. How refreshing indeed. She made it super easy, with a smile on top.

Sometimes, the life of a company gets so complicated with crunching numbers, evaluating this and evaluating that. It can be dizzying, and with no tangible results. Sometimes, we just need to ask ourselves the most simple of questions to reach the most profound of solutions.    
Are you easy to do business with?

Which comes first?

Courtney Ellett

I was ironing the kids’ school clothes recently and had Casino Royale on in the background. Usually, I tune out commercials pretty well, but all of a sudden, I heard one that heartily touted a company’s two-hour service window. No, it was more than that. The entire commercial laser-focused on this company’s ability to meet service times with their high-tech command center, a deep commitment to punctuality and a stealthy team of colleagues that talk to each other constantly like military forces.

I actually snickered out loud and thought a certain cable company could definitely learn from this business. But my smugness was quickly extinguished and transitioned into awe when I realized it WAS this certain cable company being highlighted in the commercial. Now, that is some audacity.

If you asked me which brand failed me most on a regular basis in terms of customer service, punctuality, communication and service recovery, it would be this company. Yet, on a Sunday afternoon, I am smacked in the face with the irony of this commercial. And that just made me mad.

Why? It’s bad enough when a behemoth of a company can’t get customer service right. Shame on them. But it’s unforgiveable for this company to then think they can trick consumers into believing a brand promise that absolutely isn’t delivered operationally.

I’ve worked with a few companies in the past that were eager to make a big and bad brand promise before they were ready to deliver. It’s not that they had ill intentions at all; there were many things in motion to help them get there and deliver. But our team cautioned them: They just weren’t ready yet. Thank goodness, they listened.

If you make a brand promise – whether it’s “leading-edge,” “luxurious,” “easy,” or “family-oriented,” you have to be ready at that moment to ensure that’s what customers get every single time. If your customers don’t get that, you’ll most likely lose them forever. Plus, they’ll feel tricked and be mad enough to tell other folks about it (like me on this blog about a certain cable company – except they’ll use the company’s name).

So the next time you’re ready to send out a news release, produce a commercial or share something via social media, please take pause and ask yourself if you’re ready to deliver on that brand promise.