Make summer work for you

The keynote speaker at this year’s Golden Leaf Awards was Doane College Graduate Andy Pray; founder of Praytell Strategy, an independent public relations and digital media firm based in Brooklyn.

Pray offered a joint seminar titled “Get a Job,” with fellow Doane Alumnus Brandon Bell, program and music director for 104.3 MyFM in Los Angeles.

The insight and knowledge both gentlemen offered is too good not to share with Chadron State College’s soon to be graduating seniors, as well as anyone looking to get their foot in the door with an internship this summer.

When you compile your resume, it should be sleek and clean.  Pray suggests hiring a graphic designer to make your resume stick out against the rank and file Microsoft Word printouts.

If you want to catch an employer’s attention, you should focus on the intro to your cover letter.  Bell said that you should be brief and brilliant in the first paragraph, otherwise you’ll get passed over.

Clean up your social media.  If you Google yourself and the first thing that pops up in the results is a picture of you and friends doing keg-stands, it’s reasonable to expect that you will not get a call-back from a potential employer.

It’s a cliché, but you need to network.  Even if you’re striking up random conversations with receptionists, secretaries or anyone who works in the building, you make your face known and having those contacts will come in handy down the road.

Have an “elevator speech” prepared.  If some bigwig boss or supervisor steps into the elevator with you, you need to be ready to answer a few inevitable questions: who you are, where you’re from, what you do, and any short and long-term goals you might have.

Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty.  Any entry-level job, white collar or blue, is going to require some time in the trenches.  These jobs are the standard, but if you can stay after and show the that you want to do and learn more about a job, that persistence and initiative will speak volumes about you to your supervisor and lead you up the ladder.

You have to be passionate about what it is you do, and any job that is hiring today is starving for creative and dedicated people who are willing to learn and come to the table with new ideas.

The final piece of advice: become irreplaceable.  If you are constantly letting your supervisor know you’ve completed the task and asking what’s next it will signal that you are ready for more responsibility and, eventually, a higher paying position.