15 Years or One week … and still no bull!

15 Years in business... and still no bull!*

This week, Taurus Marketing celebrates its 15th Birthday. RSVPs are flowing in, guest speakers are being confirmed and gift bags are being assembled. It seemed like weeks of planning and building of guest lists, but now all the loose ends are being tied up and we’re all looking forward to toasting our success at The Cruise Bar at the Rocks – like NYC’s Chelsea Piers of Sydney. I even bought a new dress and got new highlights because we're apparently being photographed by 4 society pages! I can’t be one to say that I’ve contributed to Taurus’ 15 years of success, but I will definitely be celebrating my personal success at landing a job with Taurus.

Although I’ve officially been at Taurus for a week now, it’s starting to really feel comfortable. I’ve been with the agency since the end of July, but after signing my contract on Monday, things are already changing and shaping up for the better.

Being on the job hunt for almost 2 months, I had to carefully look beyond company websites in seeking the right fit - co-workers, the work, and work load. I was fortunate enough to temp with them for a month before signing on. Most applicants and employers don’t get the luxury of ‘trying before you buy’. I got a taste of both the fun and tedious aspects of working at a PR and Marketing agency. Now, that I’m working as a full-time employee, I am no longer tasting, but am taking full bites in constructing my own projects and hopefully successes.

Within my first week, I wrote 2 articles respectively about the Australian election and what it means for small business and longevity in business. It felt like I was back in uni finishing a term paper having only started the night before.

‘Shadiyah, you need to write these 800 and 1200 word articles by Friday.’ – And it’s only Wednesday.

On top of those, I had to create a messaging and positioning document, a highly strategic document that companies use as the basis of their PR and Marketing campaigns, that again was due Friday. In between these 3 projects, coffees and teas had to be made, phones had to be answered and interns had to be managed.

Unsure of exactly what my role is besides doing supportive research for the Account Managers, I did anything and everything that was asked of me. Thankfully, that Friday, we had a constructive PR departmental meeting where all issues were laid on the table. With our new hire, namely me, we discussed where our department was heading, what kinds of clients we wanted to work with and how each of us contributes to the department. I was glad to voice that I didn’t want to just research and write all the time. I told them that I want to work with clients, pitch stories to journalists and create more opportunities for the agency.

That Friday, one article was published here and the other will be published later in the month. With my intern, I finished the messaging and positioning document with success…I received a lot of praise the following week from high-level executives via email of course.

Despite a bit of stress and having to sit across the room alone away from the PR team, I got all my projects done and my team was happy with my performance. My grievances were addressed and today, I walked into the office with a brand new setup – no more cubicle walls, a brand new computer and desk, and the entire PR team sitting together. I’ve already starting revamping the internship program and am handling new clients with confidence.

Although I’m not exactly part of Taurus’ 15 years of success, I’m excited to be part of its future. Here’s a toast to Taurus and me getting my very own business card!

*This is Taurus' slogan. Clever huh?

Sponsorship Woes

I’ve met with many recruiters, travellers and expats and they all agree. “Don’t get your hopes up. Sponsorship is nearly impossible.”

Today is my 2 month anniversary of moving to Sydney and starting the next chapter in my life. Today is also the day that I sign my contract with Taurus Marketing as an Account Executive. Most importantly, today is the day that I receive sponsorship by Taurus Marketing to not only work in Australia for longer than 6 months as my Working Holiday Visa outlines, but live here for up to 4 years until I renew.

I can and can’t believe I’ve gotten this opportunity. I can believe it because I have always been a hardworking person. Getting the job wasn’t the hard part. I could have settled to work at a call centre, temp office work or even manage a hostel. I decided to get back into PR; what I studied in Uni and what my work experience highlights. It was a tough road when I first got here. There were days where I marched to Visa First or the public library laptop in hand and head held high ready to blast my resume through Seek.com.au. There were also days where I cried thinking this move was a big mistake. Hearing from the people listed above that sponsorship hardly ever happens didn’t help my cause. The more I investigated the legalities of sponsorship, the more exasperating clauses I would find. True or false, my heart would sink knowing that these ideas floated around the Australian marketplace.

• 
  
  If sponsored, the employer has to give the government a reason why he or she couldn’t find an Australian to fulfill the role
• 
  
  You need to make a certain salary amount to be considered for sponsorship
• 
  
  Because of the GFC - Global Financial Crisis as Australian media as dubbed it – companies were reluctant to sponsor at all

Despite the rumours, I had to get realistic and start looking for jobs that would fit the Working Holiday Visa criteria i.e. work with 1 employer for up to 6 months before the visa expires.

Since I’ve arrived I’ve had 6 interviews, all with PR. Some were first round, some were second round, and some were ready for me to start- but wanted to ‘try before they buy’ by getting me to come in for a couple days unpaid. One was successful.

Because Taurus Marketing was impressed with my first and second round interviews, they were ready to hire me, but weren’t sure if they could sponsor me because they are a small firm of about a dozen already sponsoring two others. They were lacking staff due to holiday, so they opted for the ‘try before you buy’ option. In return, they would get my foot in the door of the Australian market complete with references. I worked for 3 and a half weeks doing anything from answering the phone to creating media and marketing campaigns. During the entire process, I was still interviewing with others getting more attention now that my resume reflected Australian work experience. At the end of my time at Taurus, their staff had returned from holiday and they found out from their lawyers and immigration that they could sponsor me even though they were already sponsoring a French guy and a British girl.

Although this is the first place that offered me sponsorship, this wasn’t a hasty decision. I know the people and I know the work. More importantly, I enjoy the people and I enjoy the work. This is going to be a great learning experience which will lead to ‘greater things’ as my Mom put it.

I might miss out on some other really great jobs with some really great companies or some really bad ones, but I’m now done with the job searching and it can’t be any sweeter. I can’t always think about the grass being greener on the other side. This is a leap of faith I’m ready to take. I want to say that I’m lucky, but I should really insert some mystical quote about luck and hard work producing success.

Thank you everyone for your support. You know who you are.

*I will begin writing in British English as it is used here in Australia or at least I will try to.

If There's a Free Ferry...Take It!

Free Ferry from Darling Harbour to Cockatoo IslandThousands of British Prisoners Live Here When Colonization Began

Sydney truly is a beautiful city and I couldn't have picked a better place to live. It offers something to do every weekend. If it's not a city or corporate sponsored event, then the city becomes a great event in itself. Below are some of my photos one weekend strolling through The Rocks at Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, The Domain (like NYC's Central Park) and Hyde Park.

Mrs. Macquaries Chair in The Domain at Sydney Harbour

The Domain's View of Sydney Harbour Bridge & Sydney Opera House

Fierce Chess Competition at Hyde Park

Whirlpool Fountain at Darling Harbour

 

The Rocks at Happy Hour & Sydney Harbour Bridge

 

Darling Harbour & The Domain's City View

 

'Grabbing the bull by its horns' Statue at Hyde Park & Sydney Opera House

Rounding the Domain with an Exceptional City View

Jumping Pic at Darling Harbour

My Favorite Kind of Photo

What A Lousy Girlfriend

Coral Carnations & Vase

Happy Anniversary Dave! 1.5 years together and going strong.

Not knowing today was our anniversary because I wear a $5 Casio watch that has a delayed calendar. I felt really awful that I didn’t’ know today August 10th is our 1.5 year anniversary.

I called Dave to plan our dinner menu and he suggested we go out for dinner. I said sure since I just found out today that Taurus is offering me a job with sponsorship! Ben, my French co-worker, rode the train with me back to Kings Cross and offered to go out to Fringe Bar in Paddington for after-work drinks. Feeling unstoppable, I agreed. Dave met us on the street with a flower in his lapel. “Cute Dave.”

We finally enjoyed some drinks and met some of Ben’s friends. As normal as it seems, this is new for us. Dave and I have been living on a strict budget, therefore restricting our social activities. Finally, with both of us working we can enjoy the reason we work. Waiting for a pub grub and sipping on some well-deserved cocktails, Dave turns to me smiling and says, “Happy Anniversary.”

With only each other on our minds, we left to go home and there he turned off the lights. Shuffling around, he made me close my eyes until he presented me with a bouquet of flowers that matched the one in his lapel. The entire time I thought he stole it from Hyde Park! Also, around the room were lit lavender candles. We laid in bed with my last present, a large block of Cadbury Hazelnut Chocolate. Happy anniversary indeed.

*I failed to get him anything since I thought today was the 9th the entire day. I've already got something brewing for the 2 year anniversary February 10th.

Twitter & Social Media

How do we keep up with them all?
Social Media Landscape

 

Working at a growing mid-size PR agency, I’ve learned a lot about the demands of the PR industry. At Taurus, I’ve been confronted with the challenge of how to not only market our clients but ourselves as a business. Our weekly meetings are constantly bringing up what we need to do to expand our brand awareness and how to use our content. The answer is social media.

One huge trend is the push for social media. Social media is any media where the content is produced by consumers where they in turn become content producers as opposed to content consumers. Some big names are YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia and blogging. Being of the Generation Y persuasion, society expects that I should be a major social media consumer/producer. After all, I was part of the first class of Facebook users back in the fall semester of my freshman year at university in 2004. I remember not knowing why people were rushing back to their dorm rooms to see who added them or who ‘poked’ them. Catching on like wildfire, the Facebook phenomenon consumed not just college campuses, but the world. Even my technophobic mother has an account! I can proudly say that I have over 1,500 ‘friends’ on Facebook ranging from my besties to people I unknowingly walked past in high school or university.

As you are reading, blogging and YouTube have become part of my social media universe as well. I started blogging back in 2006 when I set sail on Semester at Sea but failed to keep up due to ‘too much fun at sea’. Revived in 2008, I took blogging seriously since I actually have a readership and then added YouTube clips to keep that readership growing.

I’ve tried to avoid Twitter at all costs. I just felt like it was an extension of the ‘Status Update’ on Facebook. With my 1,500 friends, why do they need to see the same update on a different platform? Wouldn’t it be easier if all these things were on one medium? Well, they are – on Facebook, but it’s not enough when businesses and even job applicants are trying to differentiate themselves. One question I keep getting at interviews is, ‘So what do you know about social media?’ Marketing myself as a PR professional, I have to be on top of what’s hot. What is hot is social media and all the little ornaments hanging off of it.

Today, I had to look up a reporter who had nothing on a Google search except a Twitter account. I couldn’t view her profile unless I registered with Twitter. Once again, the demands of the PR profession win again and so I am now part of the Twitterverse.

Follow Me:

@ShadiyahLim

My first taste of corporate Australia

It took me about a month to find my first job in Australia. I’m currently working with Taurus Marketing, a full-service PR and Marketing agency. But it didn’t happen overnight…

In an attempt to take your money, VisaFirst lured us in by saying that on average, it takes working holiday visa holders 3 weeks to get a job. What most people don’t realize is that working holiday visa holders are often tourists arriving in Australia looking for casual employment to supplement their ongoing travels. Dave and I are a different case. We’re here to jump-start our career. The problem for us is that we’re doing this the hardest way you can – blindly sending our resumes to company websites, Seek.com.au (Australia’s largest job bank) and Gumtree.com.au (Australia’s largest classifieds website much like craigslist.com. It’s a numbers game for us. We send out as many resumes and cover letters in hopes for a phone call, an interview, or better yet, a short listing. Thankfully, we arrived with over $10,000 each, but even that much is dwindling each day as we are unemployed. After all, we are budgeting for $280/week on rent, various bills (mobiles, electricity and Internet), food, transportation, and a bit on miscellaneous entertainment (movie tickets, beer etc). Despite the money worries, each week is a new week where we find many more jobs to apply for and get the occasional call back.

I’ve applied to 100 jobs at least ranging from casual admin to PR coordinator - what I really want. I’ve only had 3 interviews. For this particular job, I applied to their headline PR Graduate. Hoping for sponsorship, but realistically just wanting Australia PR experience, I took whatever they could give me. Thankfully, we made a deal that I would work as a paid casual employee for a month to gain more exposure and get a reference for other jobs that could sponsor me.

I’ve been working there for over a week now and have learned so much. I’ve had many other communications internships, but this is very different. At the other places, I worked in-house where we were primarily re-active with media where no comment was acceptable. Working here at an agency, we are quite pro-active constantly pitching ideas. I’ve gotten to know more about Australian media outlets and corporations that are big players in the ASX. I’ve seen how we take in prospective clients, develop their PR, and finally invoice our work never realizing how much PR exposure really costs or how much PR professionals are really paid! I’m excited about the campaigns I’m working on and really look forward to the day where I am in an interview and can tell them all about my PR experience in Sydney.

I have about 2 weeks left at this job. I’m already sad to leave because I feel like I’ve grown so much professionally in such a short time. I do have to face the music though and swallow the fact that I’ll be back to the drawing board again.

Some things I didn’t know about the Australian job market:

l  The 1-page resume is not enough. Most have 3-5 pages easily

l  ‘Graduate’ positions exist somewhere between interning and entry-level

l  You probably won’t get a call back or an email unless you’ve been short-listed

l  Most full-time positions require permanent residency or citizenship, thus excluding working holiday visa owners

l  Sponsorship is nearly impossible unless your trade is something really needed such as doctors and nurses

l  Unemployment rate is 5.0% compared to the U.S. 9.5%

l  Over 170,000 foreigners are granted work-ready visas each year

l  Australia is growing at 1.9% compared to U.S. 1.0% and the world average at 1.2%