I have to say, this is my first day working after Christmas and it feels odd. The office is dead, which is disturbing yet relaxing at the same time since I can catch up on my 200+ emails from the past week. Any PR professional knows it’s not hard to find work to do when there’s little to do. Here’s what’s on my list this week.

• Monitoring – get all of your charting done before the New Year
• Google Alerts – sort through them and delete those you don’t need
• Blog Catch-up – my favorite, look at recent post from your favorite and most relevant blogs
• Year End Report – most clients have these, get started now!
• Research – whether it’s for a spokesperson or event space, this is time consuming so great for downtime
• 2013 Planning – there’s plenty of this to get started on
• New Years Pitching – though it may be a little late, New Years coverage lasts through January

It can be hard to unwind from the holidays! What’s on your list of to do’s this week?

Only two more work days until the holiday (counting today)…yay! Before you jump for joy and head out of the office, it’s important to double check your list of things to do and make sure everyone is up to speed on where you stand. One of the biggest mistakes interns and new hires make is not informing their teammates on where projects stand.

While many managers may ask you on their own, be proactive and shoot a note today about how far along you are on all of your projects. This will leave ample amount of time to complete an assignment you might be missing before heading out. Also include what you have on your list of things to do once you return and remind them of your vacation time. This will ensure that nothing slips through the cracks for your teammates and client.

Since I’ve been on vacation this week, I’ll be in the office between Christmas and New Year. If you find yourself in this position, you know the office will be dead. Set aside projects that can be completed during this time so you’re still being proactive. It could be catching up on monitoring, charting…anything that will keep you busy.

Is anyone else working between Christmas and New Year, or am I the only one?

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As the year comes to an end, planning for clients begins for the next fiscal year. Before diving into a new PR plan, it’s important to reflect back on the year you just had in order to make an informative recommendation.

• Review your results – Look at the goals you set for the past year and see how well you achieved them.
• What worked – Think about what gave you the resulted you wanted and what made the client happy. Was it a Twitter Party you planned? Your blogger relations? Take note and incorporate these ideas into next years plan.
• What didn’t work – What didn’t help you in attaining your goal? Was the media uninterested in your spokesperson? Don’t be afraid to be realistic – it will help you pull together a more rational recommendation.
• Set realistic goals – Unless there are severe budget cuts, you can’t lower your goals for the New Year, but don’t overestimate. You don’t want to give yourself unrealistic goals that will just cheat you and the client.
• Target audience - How effectively did you reach your target audience in the past year? What new ways can you reach them this year? Maybe there’s a new form of social media they’re using or a celebrity they’re into.
• Develop your plan – Now that you’ve reflected, what communication tools will be the most effective in the coming year? Reflect on how you answered the above bullets to better inform you.

How do you go about planning for the New Year?

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As the weekend draws closer, all I can think about is the holiday vacation I’m taking next week. I haven’t taken a full week vacation to travel somewhere in…let’s just say, three years. This getaway is long overdue and as any hardworking professional, we tend to get caught up in work, commuting and all the hassle in-between.  A lot of us don’t take what we need – some time to unwind and get away, especially from holiday mayhem.

Leaving on Sunday, I’m traveling to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic for the first time as a birthday/holiday gift from the bf. There are three things I’m looking forward to the most:

• Kicking back, relaxing and soaking up the sun (which I definitely didn’t do this summer)
• Getting to see a new foreign country
• Spending quality time away from the computer, cell phone and any other distractions that tend to get in our way

Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Tumblr or Twitter to see photos. I’m sure I’ll be taking a million!

Did you take a holiday this year? Where did you go?

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I went to college where I graduated with a BA in communication studies majored in public relations and minored in marketing. I graduated in ’05 and between getting not so wonderful jobs (cold calling for a marketing firm) I decided to go back to what I did in college to pay the bills – bartend. I worked for this restaurant from ’09-current and I made amazing money, received award after award there, but I finally realized it’s time to GROW UP!   

This is my burning question: Do you think that since I have been out of the industry, I should take a really good internship for a couple of months to freshen me up, possibly result in a job or at the least build my resume? Or, I do know several friends who have companies that told me that they would vouch for me and I could put work experience from them on my resume. I do feel like the second is a great option and I will probably do that, but don’t you think if I get a great internship that might lead to better results than just frustratingly searching for my dream job with little to no job qualifications?

Please help! I would love to hear what you think!

This is a great question that’s extremely relevant to our times. It’s so difficult for our generation to graduate and find a dream job…in fact, it’s near impossible! So many of us end up in the situation you are in now where you had to turn away from pursuing our major to make sure the bills are paid. The reality of your situation is that a good internship on your resume will aid you in all of the ways you outlined above. It will freshen up what you learned in college, build your resume, be a great learning experience and potentially lead to a job.

I remember when I first graduated college I already had two relevant PR internships at other agencies under my belt, so I immediately thought that I was qualified to be hired as an Assistant Account Executive. In actuality, I wasn’t. Full-time internships are a completely different learning experience from part-time internships while you’re still in school. When I wasn’t offered the job as an AAE, I was hired as an intern (yet again) which eventually lead to a job.

Pursue a full-time internship opportunity you’re really interested in at a firm you’d love to work for. Otherwise, you’ll most likely be banging your head against the wall searching for a dream job with no qualifications and a time-lapse between your prior relevant experiences.

Even if you do land the dream job, you would probably struggle in the position without having the prior necessary experience. Though it won’t be the pay you’re used to, an internship is the necessary step anyone has to take, no matter what age, to break into the PR industry.

P.S. Have you considered building a PR position at your restaurant? Another resume builder, you can manage the restaurants social networks, event planning and pitching local media to get coverage for the restaurant.

Hope that this help, and best of luck!

Xo, A

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As I was running to the subway this morning with gifts for my co-workers in one hand and an umbrella in the other, I noticed someone reading an article on “A Not So Merry Holiday”. While it’s the most wonderful time of the year (to some) it can still be extremely stressful making sure everything goes smoothly between work, gifting and planning. We all know it’s important to stay focused this month, so here are some tips on how to beat holiday stress.

• Try to eat well and make time to exercise. You’ll feel better about yourself and can relieve some stress while exercising.
• Plan ahead. I’ve mentioned this before, but can’t stress it enough (pun intended).
• Get extra sleep. 10pm is now my weekly bedtime.
• Take time for yourself. Take your lunch break, decorate your apartment, wrap gifts or bake cookies.
• Be realistic. If you’re overloaded with assignments, speak up at work. If you can’t afford extravagant gifts, look up some DIY ideas. It’s the thought that counts.
• Remember what the holidays are really about. The three F’s: family, friends and food.
• Still have fun! Get into the spirit and knock some items on your bucket list before it’s too late.

How do you beat the stress of the holidays?

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