Code: A key to success in today’s workplace

In a recent Fast Company blog post, the co-founder of the website Codecademy.com says, “As we move towards a world where technology controls more and more of our lives, [programming is] a skill that’s virtually guaranteed to help you get a job.”

As someone who works with code on a weekly basis, I couldn’t agree with this statement more.

But let’s say you have no previous knowledge but want to learn the skill. I’d suggest giving Codecademy a try. Or go all out with their Code Year program. You also can use another online training tool such as Lynda.com. There are all sorts of opportunities to learn just a little or a whole lot about different types of coding, and you’d be surprised what you could pick up in a short amount of time.

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LinkedIn 101

I was at a recruiters’ breakfast event recently and was seated with a pair of very talented women who work in new business and sales positions. Imagine my surprise, however, when the topic of LinkedIn arose, and one of the women said, “So what’s with LinkedIn, anyway? Should I have my picture on there?”

As a recruiter, I spend a good portion of my day looking over the profiles of various LinkedIn users. To hear that these women weren’t using this tool was surprising. Talk about a lost opportunity.

While LinkedIn may not be as visually appealing as Facebook, it offers amazing potential for job seekers, recruiters and sales professionals alike. If you’re a little late to the game and haven’t made the most of LinkedIn, this little LinkedIn 101 tutorial should get you up to speed.

LinkedIn 101
1. Realize the importance of LinkedIn. Whatever your reason for putting it off, there’s no better time than now to start learning how to use this tool. You’ll benefit from greater exposure and simple networking. Additionally, filterable search capabilities will make finding the next sales opportunity/client/employee/employer easy.

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What's on YOUR LinkedIn profile?

Want to take a guess at what the most-used buzzword on people’s LinkedIn profiles is?

Creative.

And oddly enough, that word didn’t even make the top 10 list last year, according to a recent TechCrunch article. Last year’s top buzzwords list was topped by “extensive experience.”

I caught up with our recruitment director, Megan Rouleau, and she informed me that she often sees the following phrases on resumes coming in for all of Bader Rutter’s job openings:
• Proven strategic thinker
• Results-driven marketing professional
• Effective and organized project manager

One word she suggests avoiding at all costs? Guru.

“When candidates use the word guru, it seems a little egotistical. There are plenty of other ways to express your experience, such as ‘well-versed in social media,’ especially because everyone has room for improvement,” Megan says.

And she’s not alone in feeling that way. Plenty of articles have warned job applicants that using strange new titles like “fanthropologist” and “Creative Undertaker” decreases your credibility and may even cause confusion.

What buzzwords are on your LinkedIn profile?

Stand out from the crowd

There are thousands of public relations majors in the country, and it can be hard to stand out when you’re a “dime a dozen” to future employers. To get their attention, I was told I needed to do a few things: Know how to write, know how to speak and get a top-notch internship.

This past semester, I was lucky enough to land an educational internship at Bader Rutter & Associates. For all of you PR majors scanning internship websites, fixing your resumes and updating your cover letter, I would highly recommend an internship like this one.

Working at an agency that has both B2B and B2C clients offers new experiences and insights into the role of PR. I was assigned to mostly B2B clients — and I must say, I never thought I would know so much about dairy conferences or insurance policies at 21 years old!

Sure, the press releases and pitches looked the same when written for B2B businesses, but I found that the content and angles were vastly different. Therefore, my Bader Rutter internship made me better-rounded in my chosen field.

In my classes, I find that we discuss B2C markets about 90 percent of the time and hardly touch on B2B.  This means that, as writers, we’re learning how to sell products by focusing on emotion and imagery. But I’ve learned that with B2B, the sales cycles are longer, and you need to build relationships and offer rational reasons for buying that are based on business value. I’ve learned to tailor my messaging in a very different way.

Of course, an internship is about what you learn, but it is also about your experience. This is not one of those places where everyone keeps to themselves and always has their eyes on a computer screen. I have never seen so much camaraderie during the holidays in an office than I did here.

My time at Bader Rutter was short, but sweet. The skills that I took away from this will no doubt help me in my future career. To all other students looking to get an internship where you not only learn but you also get to enjoy yourself, Bader Rutter couldn’t be better.

Lend an ear – it works!

Recently I was at a neighborhood party and found myself cornered with someone I hadn’t met before. After about 10 minutes of listening to him talk about himself, I realized he had yet to even ask a single question of me. And I had a hell of a time even getting a few words in. Ugh – What a turn-off. 

We’ve all probably found ourselves in a similar situation before, and not always in a social setting.  Some years back, a wise man in this business provided me with a valuable piece of advice that I’ve never forgotten. If you have not talked about yourself in the first five minutes of meeting someone, bravo. You have mastered the art of discussion. On top of it, you can learn so much about a person that can help you from a business perspective.

Here are a few more tips to keep in mind during business meetings. They may seem like common sense but all too often they are forgotten.

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What Gets Me Fired Up

10 of the 20 newly hired Bader Rutter associates gathered together for a photo opp yesterday.

One of things I love about my job is the chance to meet and talk with folks from all walks of life.  When it comes to hiring new associates, I make it a point to talk with every candidate that we are seriously considering — and it’s been great to be back in the hiring mode after pretty much holding our ground last year. Just last week, our company reached 165 associates, which is an all time high in employment at Bader Rutter. Since November of last year, we’ve added 20 new associates to our team. And we are intending to hire at least five more in the next several weeks. Creating opportunities for all of our associates — old and new — and working with great clients … that’s what gets me fired up every day!

Take some advice – Become a team player

With graduation just a month away and the hunt for a job in full swing, I, along with many other students, listened intently for some words of wisdom and encouragement from the professionals during the recent PRSSA National Conference in San Diego. With thoughts of the economy and unemployment on our minds, getting advice from the pros in the PR industry concerning taking the next steps in the profession seemed fitting.

The consensus of student attendees was that, overall, we have a lot of questions (and concerns) about entering the PR world.

• How do we show commitment without being fanatical?
• How do we celebrate our successes without being cocky?
• How do we ask for help without admitting defeat?
• Essentially, how can we stand out while fitting in?

Helping us young professionals with these tough questions were Ketchum’s Kevin Saghy and Ron Culp, sharing the views of senior and junior level professionals on succeeding in the workplace. Learning the keys to success, as seen by seasoned professionals in addition to those new to the industry, not only gave me a better idea of the do’s and don’ts of “fitting in” in the work place, but also gave me a whole new mindset.

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Future of ag looks bright

As a recruiter for Bader Rutter I am always looking for opportunities to meet and mingle with young, talented students who are passionate and interested in pursuing careers in agribusiness. To that end, I recently attended the Agriculture Future of America Leaders Conference Opportunity Fair in Kansas City, Mo., which is a unique event that gives professionals and student leaders from more than 70 colleges and universities the chance to network with one another.

Needless to say, I was more than impressed with the level of talent and ambition these students have for the agricultural industry. As I discussed the kind of work we do at Bader Rutter it gave me the chance to talk with these students one-on-one and learn firsthand about their passion for ag. I was astounded by the desire they have to share their experiences with others as they pursue their own career ambitions. I am encouraged to see the talent pool continue to grow in the ag industry. Who knows, down the road that might even make my job a little bit easier.

Likeminded in Milwaukee

This morning, Bader Rutter brought our local social media relationships into “real life.” As with any blind date, we did what any modern gal would do — we brought a friend.

Your fearless social media mavens Colleen Grams and I headed to Milwaukee’s East Side for coffee at Rochambo where we met with other professionals for a lively discussion. Likemind is exactly what it sounds like — a group of like-minded people having coffee and talking. There are 35 Likemind groups in cities across the United States as well as groups in Europe, South America, Asia and Australia.

In today’s Milwaukee’s Likemind session, we discussed how to best navigate the increasingly tricky waters of personal versus professional social media. Some highlights:

• The featured speaker, Phil Gerbyshak, shared his experience balancing his day job in technology with his career as an author and blogger.
• Of course, Jeff Larche, gave us all some great advice and examples of how it can all work together for one, honest experience. He recommended Penelope Trunk’s blog for good and over-the-top examples in one place.
• Jamey Shiels’ own blog is a great experiment in personal/professional balance where you can read about how and why he moved to Wordpress, another topic we discussed over coffee today.

What was it like to meet our online friends offline? We found that the people we follow virtually actually look and sound exactly the same in real life — any good brand should aim for that type of consistency.

Intern’s perspective — What to look for in an employer

As I’m wrapping up my summer internship at Bader Rutter, I’ve had some thoughts on what I’ll be looking for in an employer once I enter the job market. And I’m not alone. College graduates have a lot on their minds when it comes to looking for jobs. Taking into consideration things like industry, company culture, location not to mention finding a company that fits their skills and needs.

Even in the communications field it is sometimes hard to understand what recent graduates might be looking for from an employer. While it is easy to understand why most graduates these days might be thinking “any position is good enough,” that attitude doesn’t have much staying power. And isn’t that the goal, to hire inspired employees that have a long-term commitment to making to your company or organization the best it can be?

From experiences with internships at various organizations and companies (like Bader Rutter), here are a few qualities this soon-to-be graduate, and other graduates like me, should be looking for:

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What peeling potatoes taught me about leadership

Basic training, Fort Knox, Ky., 1980I was going through some old photos recently and found one from my time in the Wisconsin Army National Guard. It reminded me of how much I learned. Not just about the fastest way to peel a potato from KP duty, but also about leadership.

Solid, dependable leadership is crucial to the success of any organization, whether that’s in the armed services, in the corporate world, or a marketing agency. In the army, a sergeant’s job is to ensure the proper communications between subordinates and superiors. It is at this leadership level that almost all unit operations merge.

Here is an excerpt from an Army National Guard career listing for a senior sergeant:

Skills
Being a leader in the Army requires certain qualities. A leader exhibits self-discipline, initiative, confidence and intelligence. They are physically fit and can perform under physical and mental pressures.

Leaders make decisions quickly, always focusing on completing the mission successfully, and showing respect for their subordinates and other military officers. Leaders lead from the front and adjust to environments that are always changing. They are judged by their ability to make decisions on their own and bear ultimate moral responsibility for those decisions.

How many businesses could use leaders with these skills? I would contend all of them. You can bet I’ll be reinforcing the importance of these skills the next time I have roll call with my team leaders.

If you don’t measure, you can’t manage

I’ve had several mentors in my career and they’ve all provided me with many memorable quotes. But the one that I’ve used more than any other is, “If you don’t measure, you can’t manage.”

If you don’t measure the impact of your marketing program, how will you ever know that it is accomplishing what it has set out to do? If you don’t measure it, how will you know what you need to do to improve it in the future? If you don’t measure it, how will you know that you are making the most out of your resource investment?

Measurement comes in many forms and the best measurement approach will depend upon the initiative. But in general, it requires a commitment to establishing measurable objectives and outlining a plan that includes evaluation as the final step.

Whether it’s executing a large-scale brand tracking research project or simply evaluating the performance of a single communications tactic, without measuring the impact of our work, we’re not finishing the job. Even though my mentor, Frank Siebrecht, has retired, his passion for marketing communications lives on through his lessons. That’s why I always make sure to include measurement as part of the process.