PRos in Training

Wow, heavy question and I know I risk appearing to be very Victorian in my answer, but for the sake of firing the first shot, here goes.

I believe the question is a valid one. As someone who would hire, I’d say it comes down to: “By hiring you am I risking our organization getting a black eye because of your character?” Obviously not everyone carries equal weight at organizations and higher profile positions obviously run a greater risk of embarassing the company. (Unfortunately character sometimes gives way to whether or not the offender is a Rainmaker for the organization.)

I know the retort is, “The company doesn’t own me, so what I do on my own time is my own business.” To an extent that’s true, but HR doesn’t always buy that line. If it did there wouldn’t be people who get dismissed from their jobs for the embarassment – real or perceived – their companies believe they’ve been exposed to as a result of someone’s “off time” behavior.

I guess in the end I really don’t really get the trend to reveal all about one’s self to the world in words or pictures. Unfortunately too many don’t take the Las Vegas Tourism Bureau’s advice and leave in Vegas what happens there. Instead they feel the need to blog it too.

Thanks, Chris! Great comment. I really tend to agree with you. We’re in the perception industry, so we (as PR people) should understand how to manage our “brand” or image, right? (while still being authentic!)

I think the idea that someone won’t want to work for a company that finds your online persona offensive/too wild is pretty naive and could potentially limit your options.

We take down the online personas just as we eventually take out the nose stud and figure out how to cover the tattoos.

I think that managing your reputation as a PR student or professional is extremely important. How can a person be responsible for managing the reputation of someone or something else if they can’t manage their own?

Of course and employer would rather have an upstanding member of the community working for them, and anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. The reputation you build outside work or school is as important as the one you create in a professional capacity. Who would want to hire someone that does not have a good reputation or has displayed the potential to ruin theirs? It’s definitely something to think about.

I have pretty conservative parents so I always tend to think, “If I don’t want my parents to see it either I shouldn’t do it, or if I do I shouldn’t make it public.” This has always seemed to work well for me. Both of my parents do the hiring for their company, and both look at myspace and facebook profiles. Not only the ones of potential hires but also profiles of current employees. So, it’s good to remember to continually manage your reputation because it doesn’t end when you get hired.

It’s also good to remember that it’s not just the PR industry that does this. The other day I was speaking with an engineer and he brought up the idea of writing a book for life based on business models. For example, marketing would transfer to marketing yourself. R&D would transfer to obtaining more knowledge and researching you competition. Then we discussed the issue of PR and managing your own reputation. He discussed these issues as pertaining to engineer interns. He said, “it’s too easy to ruin your reputation and too difficult to get it back to take it so lightly.” This is something that every person in every industry should be aware of.

Cassie, the quote from the engineer about reputation reminded me of an appropriate Bible verse: “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold” (Proverbs 22:1).

Your good name is the most valuable chip you have to play in the employment game.

Also, For the past three years I’ve been invited to be a panalist at the middle Tennessee student chapter of IABC and this question eventually comes up. I always tell the students that the way you dress, act, show respect, express a good attitude still very much matter. The hip boutique companies may allow jeans and nose rings, but there is still a formality and pecking order at most companies, especially those that deal in corp. comm. and PR. I tell them they can express their individuality all they want, they just won’t get a job at my company. I usually get an amen from the news director at Ch. 5 and the directors of comm. at CAT Financial, and a national healthcare company.