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%