media update’s Adam Wakefield spoke to Renate Albrecht, brand strategist at the Brand Cartel agency, about how those wanting to enter the communications and PR industry can get noticed when applying for a position.

Looking at the PR and communications job market, if I am a candidate, what am I up against?

The biggest challenge candidates are faced with today is that there is an abundance of talent, but minimal roles to fill. You have stiff competition out there. You really need to make yourself stand out. You can't afford to have your CV forgotten in a sea of others. When we put out a job post, within minutes, we are inundated with CVs – we are spoiled for choice. 

What elements should a prospective candidate include in their CV to make them stand out?

Three things come to mind:
  • Creativity. You're applying for a job in a creative industry, so you need to creatively communicate your skillset. We work in advertising, so you need to think of yourself as a product and market yourself to us. Tell us what your USPs are. Get us excited to meet you. 
  • Consistency. A good CV is one that includes a series of job roles that are consistent with one another. When you jump from extremities, we immediately think ‘Oh dear. This one doesn't know what they want’. No one wants to hire a millennial that still needs to find themselves. We are looking for candidates that have a natural-born passion for this incredibly fast-paced industry, and a love for creativity.
  • Good writing. If I spot a typo or a spelling error, it screams ‘sloppy’. Don't be sloppy. Take pride in your CV by delivering us with a masterpiece document that will make us want to brew some fresh coffee and welcome you in for an interview. 
When a candidate sends you a CV, what mistakes immediately stop you from reading further?

The following mistakes will stop me from reading a CV any further:
  • Silly typos and grammatical errors. As mentioned earlier, it screams ‘sloppy’. In this industry, the smallest details matter. Your attention to detail is everything. Imagine a billboard going up with a typo.
  • Job hoppers. Candidates that hop from one job to the next within a space of months with a poor explanation. It makes us think that you don't know what you want, it's hard for you to settle, and we assume that ‘when the going gets tough, you hop to another job’; and
  • Weird references. When you put ‘receptionist’ down as a reference, or a manager within another department, that leads to the question of ‘Why didn't you put your direct senior down as a reference?’ That rings alarm bells.

Once your CV has been noticed, how do you get ready for that interview?

First, research the company beforehand. Go onto their website, have a look at their clients, research some of their campaigns, and ask us questions about this in the interview. Or, tell us which of the campaigns you loved the most, and why. Tell us why you sent your CV to us. We all want to know this. Ask lots of questions. Questions show that you're interested and that you came prepared.

Additionally, dress well and be confident. In being confident, also remember to be yourself. It's important that you make the right impression, but it's also important that you stay true to who you are.

This is a two-way street. While we are trying to 'suss' you out to see if you'd be a fit within our team, you need to 'suss' us out too, to see if we mesh well with your goals and values.

There's no point in going to an interview and saying things we want to hear. You'll end up in an agency you actually don't want to be in. Just be you. There's an agency out there that wants the exact version of you. 

For more information, visit www.brandcartel.co.za.

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Working in PR requires a distinctive set of skills, but what are they? Read more in our article, Four skills PR practitioners need today.
*Image courtesy of Amtec.us.com, under this license