8 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Class

In 24 hours, my Marist College class covering journalism, PR, social media and life will meet for the first time this semester. With the new academic year now underway, here are some thoughts for students on what makes for a great classroom experience.

First, show up. Yes, my class meets at 6:30 p.m. and continues until 9 p.m. and I do not take a break in the middle. However, in all likelihood, you won't be too tired to go out after my class lets out. Heck, at 9 p.m., your evening is barely getting started. I put a lot of effort into each of my class sessions and I expect students to do the same.

Second, pay attention. That means not checking your email, looking at Facebook, or drafting your next tweet, unless it's about something going on in class. It's easy for me to find out whether or not you're paying attention. Just one example. You ask me a question about something someone else just asked and for which I gave a five minute response. There are other ways I know you're not paying attention, but I won't divulge those.

Third, following up on the point above, ask questions or give an opinion. I do not necessarily have to agree with you. We can have an honest discussion and perhaps learn from each other's point of view. However, be prepared to back up whatever point you're making. Your future bosses will expect that, too.

Fourth, hand in assignments on time. Hundreds of students over the past 20 years will tell you that I do not accept an assignment even one second late. A deadline is a deadline. If your boss asks where your work product is and you say, “Oh, I went out last night and didn't get home until 4 a.m.,” have your resume updated. You'll need it.

Fifth, get to know me and allow me to get to know you. You cannot ask me for a reference and I cannot recommend you for an internship or job if you are just a name on the roster, sit in the back, never look up, never speak, never offer an opinion, never answer a question in class, never even say hello or goodnight, or in any other way show you care about what you're suppose to learn in class.

Sixth, do a little bit extra. Are you involved in a club or organization? Write a story for the school paper or write a news release to send to the media. Attend meetings of PRSSA and the student chapter of SPJ. It's not just to pad your résumé. It's an opportunity to give me something to talk about should I get a phone call from a former student to whom you have applied for a job...and whom you don't even know is my former student. And yes, she or he will call me if they even suspect you are or were in my class, whether you list me as a reference or not.

Seventh, when I bring in alumni or bring you to places where alumni work, dress appropriately, show interest, ask questions, network, say thank you at the end and follow up with a handwritten note or an email. I have brought my students to dozens of PR and ad agencies, corporations, newspapers and magazines, even the headquarters of Major League Baseball. When the presenters, nearly all of whom were my students, finish their presentations and ask you a question, please don't just sit there staring at the floor. I'll let you in on a secret. They're evaluating you as prospective new employees. One of them could offer you a job. Treat this as an opportunity to meet an advocate for your hiring and get the inside scoop on a possible employer.

Eighth, stay in touch. I have placed more than 200 students in internships and jobs over the years. I understand I may not be your favorite person. However, if I don't hear from you for three years and you send me an email that only says, "Can you review my résumé?" I will be less inclined to respond as quickly as I do to those who keep in touch with me on a regular basis and don't just write to me when they need a favor.

Are there other suggestions professionals in the field would recommend to current students? Please feel free to comment below.

One last thing...I am so grateful to my former students who approach me with job openings for current students or recent grads as a way of saying thank you for helping them. Students who graduated 5, 10, 15 years ago are now in positions where they can hire and they remember when someone helped them. Now they want to pay that back. I tweet those openings and put them up on LinkedIn and Facebook. Some draw a lot of attention while others are ignored. Whatever the result, I ask my former students to keep sending those openings to me. You know I will only send and recommend someone who has done the things I mention in this post, those whom I know will succeed and not disappoint you. Thanks for giving back to your alma mater and those who follow in your footsteps.

LinkedIn Etiquette: Woo Before You Pop the Question

It's again time for college seniors to send out résumés as part of the great job search. My most recent Marist PR class focused on branding oneself on social media. A student in the Marist PRSSA chapter, Tatiana Miranda, attended a talk I gave to the college's Emerging Leaders program a couple of months ago and asked me to expand on one of the areas I covered -- LinkedIn etiquette -- for the Marist PRSSA chapter's newsletter, "esPResso." Since I provided Tatiana more than she could include in her Real Advice column, I will share my thoughts on that topic here.

Think of LinkedIn as Facebook for professionals. That starts with your photo. It should be a head shot of you, professionally dressed. It should not be you at a party with your arm around a boyfriend or girlfriend, or worse, holding a beer. Your profile is your first impression upon a prospective employer. Think of yourself as a brand. What image do you want to project? Your name is your brand name. Your appearance, not just physical, but also written and photo representations, are your packaging. Always remain a professional.

You are transitioning from your current brand as a Marist student to what you want it to be: an account coordinator for a NYC PR firm, a cyber criminologist, or a media relations professional representing a nonprofit organization. Use your summary for that. That summary doesn't have to be in great detail, but it should create that bridge from your studies and internship experiences to the job or career you want after your graduate.Stay away from jargon and buzzwords. Be yourself. Again, remain professional.

Don't treat your LinkedIn updates like Facebook updates. Share information that is valuable and informative, not that you went to a great party or ate a bagel for breakfast. Have you read a blog post about job searches that you found was very helpful? Share it. Was there an article in the NY Times online that is in your field of interest? Share it. Are you attending an event that allows you to network with others in your field, or are you speaking at a workshop? Share that info. Don't just mention things, share links. People look at posts that include links more than they do when you just write a short statement.

Follow companies, agencies or organizations that are of interest to you. There are many, many groups of interest to public relations students and professionals. Connect to them. There is a PRSSA group, a Marist PR alumni and student group, and groups that discuss areas of personal interest. There are "influencers" you can follow. They often post great tips for students and people working in their fields of interest. For your first post in any group, start with a very brief introduction so others get to know you.

Link to classmates and friends outside of Marist. Link to alumni in your field. Link to people at companies or agencies or organizations at which you'd like to work. For some of these, you can connect because you share a common connection. For others, explain who you are and why you'd like to link to someone. People like to be flattered, but don't go overboard. Explain to your prospective connection that you are about to graduate from Marist and would like to expand your network of professionals to learn from practitioners who have become successful in their careers. If you have no connection to a person but are friends with someone who does, ask that friend to offer an introduction on your behalf.

Once you follow someone or some group, don't jump in right away. Observe before you participate. Get a flavor for the conversation before you join it. Share and be helpful before you ask for something. I'm pretty liberal about accepting requests for connections. However, if after accepting you start pitching me business or asking me for a job, I will delete you immediately. You don't introduce yourself to someone by asking him or her to marry you. You have to get to know someone first before you take the relationship to the next level.

Your profile will be viewed. With each passing day, LinkedIn becomes an increasingly valuable form of networking and job searches, not just for individuals, but for companies that look to hire people. Remember that your digital footprint is forever, so think before you post. Make sure there are no typos or grammatical errors. Ask yourself, would my boss -- or my grandmother -- be OK with what I wrote? One bad tweet, Facebook post, or LinkedIn update can undo years of image building and personal branding or destroy a career. Don't believe me? Google Justine Sacco.

One last thing...My husband Pete and I thank all who made donations to the Alzheimer's Association in memory of his mother, who passed away Christmas Eve. The national organization and local chapters, particularly the one in the Hudson Valley, report receiving thousands of dollars to support their work. We also received many letters and emails from friends who told us how their families have been touched by Alzheimer's. Together, we carry on and support those who will one day find a better way to treat, or better yet, prevent this dreaded affliction. Again, a deeply heart-felt thank you!

A Catholic Cardinal's Lesson on Chutzpah

Here's a definition of chutzpah: during an interview on Meet The Press, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan claimed the Catholic Church has been“outmarketed” on marriage equality and the Church has been “caricatured as being anti-gay.” Cardinal Dolan, as he often does, tries to have the Church portrayed as “the martyr,” attacked by the evil forces of Hollywood, politicians and “some opinion-molders.” Dolan claims, “We’re pro-marriage, we’re pro-traditional marriage, we’re not anti-anybody.”

Dolan's attempt at spin is easily shot down with examples of anti-gay animus too numerous to mention in one blog post, though I will list a few.

Let's start with 1986 and the paternal-sounding “Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons.” It written by Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who 19 years later became Pope Benedict XVI. That document reaffirmed another from 1975 that called homosexual acts “intrinsically disorderd.” The 1986 Letter did not stop at sexual acts in and of themselves. “Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.” Ratzinger further declared that when “they engage in homosexual activity they confirm within them a disorderd sexual inclination which is essentially self-indulgent.” (emphases mine)

Ratzinger and the Church equation of LGBT people as being objectively disordered is an assertion as ancient and not based in fact as the Church's once-held belief that the sun revolved around the earth. His belief, and thus the Church's, is that the only purpose of marriage is procreation. The Ratzinger proclamation shockingly declared, “when homosexual activity is consequently condoned, or when civil legislation is introduced to protect behavior to which no one has any inconceivable right, neither the Church nor society at large should be surprised when other distorted notions and practices gain ground, and irrational and violent reactions increase.”

In other words, LGBT people who seek to achieve any form of dignity, human rights or equality should not be surprised by violence toward them because they bring it on themselves. Such an assertion is despicable and encourages attacks, including physical ones, against LGBT people.

By opposing marriage equality, the Catholic Church seeks to impose its narrow definition of such unions on all human beings, regardless of one's belief or no belief at all. Yet, not all religions share that narrow definition of marriage. In the United States and many other countries, marriage is a civil institution, a legal contract providing protections for and placing responsibilities on two people committing to one another with absolutely no requirement or promise of bearing children.

The hierarchy of the Catholic Church has spent millions of dollars and exerted significant pressure on political bodies in state capitals, Washington, DC and the United Nations to halt any advance in LGBT rights, believing any LGBT right relates back to marriage.

Five years ago, the Vatican vehemently opposed a UN resolution endorsing a universal declaration to decriminalize homosexuality. The Church, through its UN envoy, claimed discrimination – not against LGBT people, but toward the Church and countries that do not allow same-sex marriage. The Vatican was particularly opposed to any mention of “gender identity.” To the Catholic Church, punishment for being gay in 76 countries, five of which include the death penalty, is preferable to any attempt to decriminalize homosexuality because such decriminalization could be used to push for marriage equality and threatens "religious freedom," which has become code for the ability to discriminate on the basis of personal religious belief. The UN eventually adopted its first resolution in support of LGBT rights in 2011, but without Vatican support.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is opposed to any immigration reform that includes legally-married gay couples. For the Catholic Church, the inhumanity of keeping a binational gay or lesbian couple separated or living outside the United States is morally acceptable.

Millions have been spent by the Catholic Church and Catholic organizations like the Knights of Columbus in attempts to halt civil legislation in every state that has had a ballot measure on marriage equality. In 2009, the Diocese of Portland, Maine took up a second collection that raised $80,000 in what was then a successful attempt to overturn the state's marriage equality law. In 2012, another collection was taken up by parishes and congregations across Maine – on Father's Day no less – to oppose a ballot measure legalizing same-sex marriage. That attempt failed and Maine was one of three states to approve marriage equality last year.

Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin forbade Catholic family and friends from attending any same-sex marriage ceremony. “Catholics should examine their consciences very carefully before deciding whether or not to endorse same-sex relationships or attend same-sex ceremonies, realizing that to do so might harm their relationship with God and cause significant scandal to others.” In other words, going to your son's or daughter's or classmate's wedding will bring you a step closer to hell.

Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt mailed 400,000 anti-gay DVDs to Minnesota Catholics in 2010 and went so far as to tell a mother that she had to reject her gay son or risk going to hell. “I urge you to reconsider the position that you expressed in your letter. Your eternal salvation may well depend upon a conversation (sic) of heart on this topic.”

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, IL, conducted an exorcism at his cathedral, not far from the state capitol, “in reparation” for the legislature passing a marriage equality law. He also went the eternal fire and damnation route, telling a reporter, “If you're voting for someone because you have the intention of trying to promote something that is gravely sinful then you are putting your salvation in jeopardy.”

Dolan's list of anti-gay actions and rhetoric could fill a book. He was co-host of an anti-gay, anti-same-sex-marriage forum in my city of Poughkeepsie in September 2011, shortly New York State's marriage equality law took effect. This past September, Dolan emceed a conference at Columbia University on The Manhattan Declaration, which calls upon “people of faith” to oppose all laws that offer marriage equality, likening same-sex marriage to “polyamorous partnerships, polygamous households, even adult brothers, sisters, or brothers and sisters living in incestuous relationships.” (pages 4-7 of link)

Dolan refused to speak up during last summer's LGBT bashings in his city and the death of Mark Carson, murdered solely because he was gay. Rather, as violence was being perpetrated against gay residents, Dolan, in his role as president of USCCB, was instrumental is providing anti-gay-marriage prayers and bulletin inserts to every Catholic parish in the country in advance of the U.S. Supreme Court rulings on the Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8.

There are many examples of Catholic and non-Catholic employees of parochial schools and programs who were fired, providing them with no income or health benefits, solely because they are gay, or supported or sought the protection of civil marriage for their long-term, loving relationships. Some of these dismissals followed cowardly acts of unsigned complaints, including one that led to the firing of a beloved teacher whose mother's obituary listed her daughter's partner.

I have said it before, but it bears repeating. Cardinal's Dolan's claim of religious liberty does not trump an LGBT individual's or family's claim to civil rights and common human decency, including the protections offered by civil marriage. To say you are against my marriage and the protections it offers, solely on the basis of my sexual orientation, IS anti-gay, despite any spin by the Cardinal that denies it. Fortunately, the people in the pews ignore his protestations, as a majority of Catholics support marriage equality.

One last thing...While Pope Francis told his hierarchy a few months ago to stop obsessing on gays, abortion and contraception, last week he came out with his “Apostolic Exhortation” “Evangelii Gaudium.” While much of the media focus has been on Francis' call for greater social and economic equality, the document also reiterated the Church's stance that marriage's chief purpose is procreation. Those hoping for change in this area are in for a tremendous disappointment. The fight for LGBT rights must continue, without – and often against – the leadership of the Catholic Church. Dolan's assertion that the battle is not over, comparing the ongoing fight against the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision, shows that the Cardinal and others in the Catholic hierarchy are in this for the long haul. So are we, the people on the right side of history.

Networking Redux

Commencement season is over for the Class of 2013. Time for grads to find a job.

It was a good semester at Marist, with a number of guest speakers agreeing to come up for a visit:  Jake Tapper from CNN; Ryan Davis, then of Blue State Digital and now VP at Vocativ; Matt Soriano from the Council of PR Firms; Adrienne Sabilia of IBM, who brought a famed Big Blue researcher and a PR maven to discuss the results of a study of CEOs’ expectations of graduating college seniors and seniors’ expectations of the marketplace; Stu Shinske, executive editor of the Poughkeepsie Journal; and my husband, Pete Clark, a real estate agent now and formerly one of the top radio sales people anywhere.

As I do each semester, I also brought my class to Manhattan to visit two PR firms where my former students are doing great things. This year, it was Hill & Knowlton, home to David Barton, and Allison + Partners, to visit with Charles Leone.  David and Charles also had human resources execs and newly hired employees join our conversations.

In addition, my former student Andy Clinkman and his girlfriend Caroline Hughes came to hear Ryan Davis’s talk. Andy, at the time, had two entry-level job openings at Kel & Partners, the PR company at which he works in Boston.

These were all great networking opportunities for my students. 

If the concept is understood correctly, networking can provide great value when it comes to landing jobs, and ultimately help you take giant leaps forward in your career.

Networking is nothing more than building a relationship. Done well, networking benefits both parties. How can students network with guest speakers or during visits with alums? First, simply go up to the person, say hello, introduce yourself, thank the speaker or hosts for the taking time to meet with you, and ask for a business card. A thank you email the day after meeting someone reminds the person with whom you’re networking who you are. It also shows you are interested in maintaining contact.

Several speakers, including David and Charles and their co-workers, offered to review student resumes and cover letters. If someone offers to do this for you, take advantage of their generosity. It’s free career advice from professionals in your field. Just make sure what you send is perfect, no typos, grammatical errors, and in proper form.

Follow the person you just met on twitter and ask to connect on LinkedIn. Hold off on Facebook friending. That’s more of a personal social network. Stay professional. Let the relationship develop. You also may not want your new contact to see everything you post on Facebook.

Is there something you saw about your new contact’s company? Send a note to say you caught coverage of the firm in the news. Does your contact have a blog? Read it, Comment on posts.

All relationships require work to be maintained. What do you do with friends? You write, call, visit, go out for a meal or a drink. Networking is no different.

What should you NOT do? Don’t ask for something the first moment you meet, unless you’re invited to do so. When someone connects to me on LinkedIn and his or her first message tries to sell me something, I drop that link. Get to know me and what I do first before you go in for the sales pitch.

We all know the adage, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” That is particularly true in today’s competitive job market. You need an advocate within the company at which you would like to work, someone who will raise your resume to the top of the pile, remind someone in the hiring process of your personal and professional qualities, and fill you in on company culture before you go for the interview. You still need the talent and passion to succeed at the job, but when you’re competing with 50, 100, 200 applicants for a single position, you need more than what’s written on paper to advance through the process.

Someday, you will become the person with whom someone wants to network. You may know of a job opening that is not of interest to you but would be of interest to someone else. I tweet many openings like that. They come from friends who asked me to help identify prospective candidates for the job. In other words, there’s a contact there for you. If the opening isn’t of interest to you, perhaps you have a friend, colleague, or former associate who may be. Pass the info along. Give before your receive.

I am a strong believer in karma. You help someone today and that good deed will be repaid to you down the line.

One last thing…I titled this post Networking Redux because I gave an example a year ago of a Marist student who mastered this art and turned a series of internships into maintained relationships that led him to land his first job. That Marist grad, Bryan Terry, recently celebrated his first anniversary with his employer, YNN, Time Warner’s all-news channel, and has been promoted for the second time. He is now video producer for CapitalTonight, a great job for Bryan, who eats, sleeps and breathes news and politics. Remember, networking gets you to a certain point in the process. You then have to prove your value. Bryan understands this. He epitomizes the 12 Rules for New Grads. The results speak for themselves.

How (Not) to Communicate During a Crisis

Eight days ago, a snowstorm wreaked havoc on a wide swath of the Northeast. It reminded anyone in the Hudson Valley over age 35 of the infamous Snowleaf storm of October 4, 1987.  During this recent storm, more than 1.5 million people lost power. More than 140,000 customers (that means billing accounts, so the people affected are more than double that number) in Connecticut still have no electricity.  Heavy, wet snow on trees still leaf-laden led to the crack and snap of limbs falling, bringing power lines down with them.

It was because of Snowleaf that I got my job at Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation 24 years ago. But that's not the purpose of this post.  Rather, I want to reflect on the changing communication landscape and how it impacts the ability to keep people informed during a time of crisis.

About ten days ago, Clear Channel, the mega-owner of many radio stations across the U.S., laid off its last newsperson in the 14-station cluster it controls in Poughkeepsie and the Hudson Valley.  They also let go other on-air staff, some of whom had been at the stations for up to 20 years. Cumulus, which owns another 11 regional radio stations, had already decimated its news staff. That leaves four stations run by Pamal Broadcasting as having the only newsperson on air.  There are a couple of independents, Poughkeepsie's WHVW on AM (which has fewer listeners than some college radio stations) and Woodstock's WDST on FM (whose Web site is down as I write this).

Radio conglomerates have shirked their responsibility to serve their local public. These mega-companies will reduce costs and cut staffs until, in Big Brother fashion, one location will feed programming throughout the country with nothing to differentiate Poughkeepsie from Portland from Paducah. We're pretty much already there, and a toothless FCC that has allowed ownership consolidation has forgotten broadcasters' responsibility to serve in the public's interest.

During one particular devastating storm about 20 years ago, I went on the air on WKIP for hours with Mary Kaye Dolan and Joe Ryan to take calls from customers who had trouble getting through to Central Hudson's overrun phone lines.  It was an opportunity to communicate directly with customers to find out when their power may be restored.  It's a format used now by the Poughkeepsie Journal, which is fine as long as you have an Internet connection and either electricity or some battery life left in your laptop.  It is another sign of how newspapers have become multimedia news outlets, taking over from radio and in some cases TV, which may have local news, but it may be a recorded loop that runs the same broadcast for a few hours-in-a-row.

Many local officials still have not learned that during an emergency, you need to stop using Web sites for campaigning and use them for governing.  Part of governing is communicating.  No one does that better than Newark Mayor Cory Booker (@CoryBooker).  He runs a city of more than 270,000 people, but makes the effort to speak directly to his constituents to learn where trees are down, streets that need to be plowed, or other problems.  It's no wonder he has more than 1.1 million Twitter followers.

Compare that with our little city of Poughkeepsie, population 32,000.  During the storm and an earlier emergency when the city's southside lost water because of a large main break, there was no real effort to let people know what was going on.  No tweets from the city's account, and the latest news update on the city's Web site was a change in the meeting date of the city's zoning board of appeals.  One update was finally placed online later in the day on October 30, to announce a warming center being set up at the Salvation Army.

When the water main broke in September, only one city official, Councilman Paul (Pee Wee) Herman, gave a timely update on the cause of the break via his Facebook page.  Eventually, the city's Web page began providing substantive information.

As I mentioned in my post about Hurricane Irene, you have to use the social media available -- Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, your home page -- to keep people informed and to quash rumors.  Cory Booker gets it. Other elected and appointed officials at all levels should follow his lead.

One last thing...for the first time in more than 34 years (with the exception of the two years I lived in Rome), I will not be providing election results and commentary on either radio or TV.  The last several years I was a commentator (on a volunteer basis, not for pay) for Clear Channel, at the request of the news director (of a one-person news shop), who was among those laid off ten days ago.  I'm such a newsaholic that I can recall election results dating back to the early 1970s, but this year, I'll be home.  At least my husband will be happy about that.