“What I Wish My New Employee Knew”
Keying off of Chris Brogan’s seminal list of “100 Blog Topics I Hope YOU Write,” the University of Georgia’s Karen Russell recently used her excellent “Teaching PR” blog to suggest “A dozen things I wish PR pros would blog about.”
On Karen’s list was this question: “What I Wish My New Employee Knew.” Since I’ve often insisted that our firm is “a talent agency, not a PR agency,” this topic resonated with me. The thing about hiring motivated, smart, creative young people is that motivated, smart, creative young people – while invaluable – can also be hard to manage sometimes.
I wish my new employee knew that we were genuinely psyched that they found us; that we were flattered by their interest and thrilled by their acceptance of our offer. (We tell them that, sure, but I worry it rings hollow sometimes.)
I wish my new employee knew that some clients are a-holes, and some clients are incredibly appreciative, but they must all be treated equally. That means that the level of effort can’t flag for the prickly client. That means that you shouldn’t use your water-cooler time to gossip or kvetch about the tough cases; it’s unhelpful and nothing good comes of it. (Along with this, it helps to know that the nice clients far outweigh the jerks, over time. Never let the turkeys get ya down.)
I wish my new employee knew that Quality Counts. A typo in an email might not seem like a big deal. But it doesn’t take long for the client to wonder if that sloppiness extends to the way the agency is cultivating their image to the outside world.
I wish my new employee knew that we absolutely and gladly fire clients who are truly abusive. We’re vigilant about this, but most new employees assume that the client is always right and stay quiet for too long.
I wish my new employee knew that when I say I’ve got an open-door policy, it means swing by anytime you have a question about anything. I don’t bite. It’s not hard for me to offer two cents: it’s my job. And I love my job.
I wish my new employee knew that the beginning part of a career is usually a slog. It’s not all Social Media fun & games, sorry. To be effective & accountable strategists, we need databases, research, detailed reports. That’s how everybody starts out, even the rockstars.
I wish my new employee knew that “eagerness is everything.” If you’re eager; if you’re leaning forward; motivated, I’ll lie on the train tracks for you. If you’ve got a dark cloud over your head, its shadow casts a pall over the entire office. That includes my office.
I wish my new employee knew that it’s all fun and games til you complain about working til 8 o’clock every night. Barring a huge project or crisis, we don’t want you working that late; it doesn’t impress us, it makes us question your efficiency. Following a string of late nights in our SF office, we began to require written permission from a manager if someone felt the need to work past 6:30pm. People began to leave on time. Productivity soared. So did morale.
I wish my new employee knew that it’s okay to screw-up sometimes. The sooner you tell your manager, the smaller the screw-up will look in retrospect. If you never fall down, how can you learn to pick yourself back up?
I could go on forever. Hopefully this is a good starting point. Meanwhile, other good responses to Karen Russell’s clarion call include:
- 5 Ways Not To Get An Entry-Level PR Job – David Reich
- The Cover Letter Pitch – Kevin Dugan
- Reasons a Student Should Get Involved in Social Media – Joe Thornley & Chris Clarke
- 3 Things Never to Say to Your Boss – Lauren Vargas
- Office Politics 101 – Colin McKay
- How to Get Promoted – Judy Gombita
- If I Knew Then What I Know Now – Donna Papacosta
- 5 Things All PR Students Should Know About Their Career Choice – Steven Silvers
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Posted on: January 11, 2008 at 1:31 pm By Todd Defren
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8:30pm? I wish! How about 10 or 11pm more often than not. Can I come & work for you?
Just to let you know that a coaching client of mine said my post riffing on yours was going to be very helpful for him in communicating with new employees. We never know where the ripples go, do we? Thank you
Thanks for all the tips!
Having just started out in the PR game, it’s really helpful to get the boss’ perspective on the new employee.
I’m collecting the best posts on this subject on my blog – both to remind myself and to help others who are starting out, or want to start, a career in PR.
It’s good to see in the above comments that plenty of more senior PR practitioners are applauding the post too, showing its value no matter what stage your PR career is at.
Todd… Steven Silvers here (the Scatterbox guy)…
Thanks for including my post on “Five things PR students should know about their choice of career.”
I’ve gotten a lot of notes from students and newbies since I wrote this. Most of them acknowledge that battle-savvy veterans like you and me are empathetic to their challenges.
But amazingly – and this business does not amaze me easily anymore – I’ve also heard from many young folks who take heated issue with our advice.
They complain that we’re not doing enough for them, that employers and clients should be more understanding of their tenderfeet. They argue that they should be given unlimited opportunities to discover themselves, that they should have a big say in how they spend their day so they can get the experience they think they want. They want us to appreciate that they don’t view the concept of work they way we do, that they aren’t going to take reading material home or invest their own time in making themselves indispensable. They want us to accommodate the fact that they may still be deciding what they want to be when they grow up, even years after committing to an employer.
They seem surprised and agitated that they are being held accountable for their knowledge, their maturity, their performance and even the gossipy stuff they post on their social networking page when they go home at night.
And they seem genuinely surprised to find out that a probation period is a probation period – that their boss really does have God-like discretion to fire them for not fitting in, for not adding value, for being a screw-up.
Some of these young folks even have enablers – parents, friends, other interns and junior account executives who reinforce their entitlement mentality. I know of a recent situation where a doctor dad wrote a scathing letter to the president of a prominent firm insisting that had not given his new graduate daughter enough attention or proper training, and that he was an idiot for letting her go. In 25 years, I’ve never seen anything like that before.
I try to respond to newbies who have these ideas about the world. I tell them that they’re setting themselves up for disappointment, that they’re at a self-created disadvantage against the go-getters who want it more than they do.
Then I tell them to add one more rule to the many that old guys like me are suggesting they keep in mind as they launch their career:
“Nobody owes you anything. Nobody.”
Steve
9 Things Todd Defren Wishes His New Employee Knew
When was the last time you read a newspaper or journal article on the challenge of managing Gen Y employees? My totally subjective impression is that I come across one of these at least every couple of weeks. The articles I’m thinking of tend to …
I think the principles behind this list are fantastic and should guide the ethos of every modern PR agency. Especially the point about abusive clients. All too often junior staff keep quiet, whereas a quiet word from the MD to the client is all that is usually needed.
Great stuff, even for those of us who have been around the block more times than we like to admit . . .
This post is required reading for all newbies and for those of us that have been around for a while. Especially the comment about quality. Why can’t people get this fundamental truth?
Thanks so much for this post. As a PR student, it is helpful to know what our future bosses want. I loved the advice about not working late every night and that seeming eager is not bad. At times, I feel like being excited about PR will make me look young and unintelligent. It makes me feel good to know employers want that. Very helpful post and thanks for the advice!
Brilliant post.
I may have been in the industry for seven years, but this week I had to revisit treating all clients with equal service despite my disagreements. Above, I would add that one must learn to temper eagerness with respect.
I will share this with my new class next week.
I just recently stumbled across your blog, and I love this post. It’s great to hear these tips, especially when you’re still fairly new in the industry. Getting into PR is hard enough – staying on top of your game takes information like this. Thanks!
This is an excellent post, especially the point about making the new employees understand your gratitude in their acceptance of the offer, and their overall importance to the success of the business. Too often new employees are governed by ‘mushroom management’, i.e.kept in the dark and fed bullshit. This tactic obviates any words of delight you may have uttered about their presence. The best way to make new employees of any level feel empowered and wanted is to allow them to understand exactly how what they are doing will add to the bottom line. This takes more than a few words, rather a committment to communications…something often lost in the day-to-day rock and roll of working in the communications industry.
I wish someone had told me all of this before I had graduated! It would have kept me from worrying so much!
This post will probably turn into my version of the serenity prayer.
Excellent post!
Great post! Very refreshing to hear you talk about how staying super-late doesn’t show dedication, it shows inefficiency. While I’m fortunate to work in an office with a healthy respect for work-life balance, some of my colleagues at other firms aren’t so lucky…
Thanks for contributing, Todd — you probably just saved a bunch of young careers.
Excellent post — especially the points about not kvetching about clients and not working until 8:30 every night.
This should be required reading for agency people and those who want to work in agencies.