Arts and PR Job Search Tips From a PR Ninja

A defining aspect of my personality that I learned about at the inaugural Oregon LeaderShape is that I tend to be too thorough. My professor Tiffany Derville wrote a post on Idealist‘s recruitment that ended with “Graduating seniors, which resources are you using to find jobs?”. I wrote what soon became a four-paragraph comment. I remember her words of wisdom from the beginning of the term: If you want to write a comment that’s more than a couple of paragraphs, then you might as well write your own blog post. So that’s what I’m doing now. And now that I have a job, I can reveal my job-hunting secrets.

As an Idealist user, I got the email about Idealist’s recruitment drive, and was planning on forwarding it to my non-profit contacts. I went on Idealist nearly every day while looking for a job, and I highly recommend it to friends looking for internships and jobs in the non-profit field. I’ve never held an internship or job that I found on an online job board, though; I get the sense that many people apply for these postings. I got a good lead for an Americorps position I found on Idealist, though.

Other online job resources for arts and communications:
Online Public Relations, Council of Public Relations Firms, PROpenMic, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Job Classifieds [not just New York], Opportunity Knocks, Playbill, ArtsLynx, Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia

Online and in-person (as in you should go to their meetings and conferences, too):
Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), American Marketing Association (AMA), International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP), Southern Arts Federation, service organizations such as Americorps

Facebook groups I’m in with public relations job listings:
PR Job Watch, The PR and Communications Network, The Official Facebook Public Relations Group, Graduate Job Watch, Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), PR Jobs, PRSSA, CPRS – The Canadian Public Relations Society

Some other tips:
It’s all about networking, and you probably aren’t doing enough. I know I’m not. At the 2008 Portland Communicators Conference, Joel Stein brought up that an employer will always pick an applicant who knows a current employee over someone with a stronger application who doesn’t. When it came down to it, I got my job because my randomly assigned roommate has a friend who works at Beijing’s largest art gallery. However, he had to know that I wanted to work in the arts in Beijing, and my resume had to be good.

Also, if you’re a graduating PRSSA member, pay the $60 to join PRSA and receive access to the membership directory. One afternoon a few weeks ago, I mined the directory with my friend Anna Osgoodby. That night, after just one email, she secured her top choice of summer internship – her first internship.

Lastly, try not to let the stress get to you. It’s easy for graduating seniors to base all of their self worth on their perceived job search successes; I know that my classmates positively peer pressure each other. I suggest whining to friends and family who don’t share your career goals.

Any other suggestions? I’d love to hear them.

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