Some advice for graduates looking to break into PR from Liz Cartwright, MD of Cartwright Communications

Call me old-fashioned, but there is a time and a place for emailing. And sending speculative CVs by email may not be one of them. I finally snapped last week when I got an email with no CV saying (I kid you not):

Hello,

I am graduating this year and would really like a job in PR. Do you have any vacancies?

Can you let me know one way or the other?

Yours,

xxxxx

Don’t get me wrong, at Cartwright we welcome messages and letters from our website but, graduates, if you are writing to us and other potential employers, I believe it’s best to get out a biro – and the Basildon Bond.

These days when the average inbox is rammed with hundreds of emails every day, I believe a hard copy letter will help you stand out from the crowd. I get more than 200 emails a day – but just a handful of letters a week. Your CV will be opened by hand and read.

Writing a one paragraph introduction with an attached CV is quick and easy to do. You can trot out a dozen applications in an afternoon and still get down to the pub for opening time, but if you want to stand out from the crowd, then type, or even handwrite, your letter.

Not just any old letter, mind you … a letter which features the actual name of the person you are writing to. I’m growing a little bored of “Dear Cartwright Communications” emails. If you can’t be bothered to find out my name, then I can’t be bothered to read your CV.

Sounds harsh? Maybe so. But here’s the thing. Thousands of graduates will leave university this summer in the toughest jobs market in years. There are already 2.67 million people unemployed and the number’s rising. The stark message is that people are going to have to work harder to get work – and go that extra mile to stand out from the crowd.

Not only that, but increasingly college and university students are seeking placements, work experience and internships. We get so many enquiries asking us to afford some time and a desk to keen PR and media students.

Let me just explain. We are a busy PR firm with a small, tight-knit team. We don’t take students all the time because we are short of time and space, so we only take the ones who show some initiative.

Do I sound fed up? I probably do. I feel so frustrated that we are contacted by some potentially really good people, but they don’t have a clue about how to make that all-important first contact. You will only get noticed by me (and other employers), if you take a few simple steps.

Here’s some tips:

• When you apply to a company, make sure you know what it does. We received an email the other day from someone who obviously didn’t have a clue what we did as she suggested that she would like to join our design team. I politely wrote back to tell her we don’t have one.
  
• When you write to a company and you have looked at the website, call up and find out a little more about them. Then tailor your CV accordingly.
  
• Find out the name of the MD or HR director and write to them personally. Also, make sure you have their name spelled correctly. An ex-editor of mine who was called Barrie, would put CVs straight in the bin if the letters were addressed “Barry”.
  
• As well as sending a letter, why not follow potential employers on Twitter to see what they are saying? Respond to their Tweets and show that you are interested in what they have to say.
  
• Don’t write round-robin letters. Not only is it obvious, but mistakes can so easily be made. I had a nice email from a very good PR candidate recently who addressed me as the MD of one of my competitor companies. Not only that, but the job seeker told me how much he admired my competitor company and wanted to work for it.
  
• Use your spell check. Sounds obvious, but given that we are copywriters, journalists and PROs in our organisation, we won’t overlook grammar and typos.
  
• We get so many emailed one-paragraph notes from graduates and students looking for placements. Sometimes we get one paragraph and no CV attached. Why even bother? Applying for jobs and placements takes time, and you need to get it right or you won’t get a look in.
  
• If you send your letter and CV, and you don’t hear anything, call the company. Find out if it received the letter and if it would like to meet you. It shows initiative – a very important quality in the world of journalism and PR.
  
• Yes, we’re communicators, but even we draw the line sometimes. When you get your work placement, there’s a very big rule. In the place of work, texting and twiddling on mobile phones is a big no-no. A placement student who came to us spent 80 per cent of her day on her mobile.
  
• One last thing. I will only ever see people who have a) researched Cartwright Communications b) found out my name and c) called to find out a little more about us. It’s easy to do. Just take the extra time – employers will be impressed.