1. Think win-win-win
This is the hardest step of them all, so let’s begin here. There’s often a way for you to benefit at the same time as two other concerned parties benefits as well. When answering why you should be hired, answer for yourself, your potential employer and the clients that you’d be working with. Always seeing benefits from three perspectives at once is key to PR.

2. Know stuff
You have an expensive and impressive education, right? Unfortunately you and twenty other applicants do as well. And knowledge is to be found on internet these days, anyway. So if you should know something, make sure it’s useful stuff. Like who’s BryanBoy or what makes the cool kids cool these days? You know, stuff.

3. Be presentable
Details matters and everything communicates. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the time for fashion statements, but it’s the time for making sure that the details are right. Expensive shoes and shirts will get you a long way. I dress like a slob these days, but that’s me, not you. Ok?

4. Listen
The trademark of a good communicator. Talking the talk doesn’t impress anyone who actually do talk the talk. Listen, listen carefully. Listen to people in the industry, listen to people in the streets. Listen at the job interview. Everything you need to know is all around you, you just need to pick it up. See also advice number 2.

5. Be passionate
Don’t pretend to be interested, be interested. And make sure you have at least some knowledge to validate your passion. A good hiring manager can taste authenticity in the air, so don’t try to fake this. And if possible, be extra passionate about advice number 1.

6. Know someone
You don’t have to know more than one person, just as long as it’s the right one.

7. Mission, vision, values
Make sure you know what your mission is. If it’s making a lot of money, maybe you’d better be a stock broker, then. Make sure you have a vision. What’s your idea of a better world? And get your values in order. What wouldn’t you do for money? This will help you answer the most impossible of questions.

8. Perform
Be prepared to show off your skills on the fly. Because it happens all the time in business life. All of a sudden a potential client wants you to show your magic. You could say you need some time, but what if your competitor doesn’t - and shines?

9. Learn to write
Few people can write, let me tell you. If you don’t write well you become an embarrassment to the firm with every e-mail you send, at the very least.

10. Googlify yourself
You will be Googled, so take matters into your own hands. Take control over what people find. Oh, and don’t forget about Facebook, people will look you up there as well.

11. Mingle
The media business has a lot of events flying around. Go to them. And remember step number 6.

12. Spin(n) your CV
The secret to a good CV is about showing a forward motion in your life. Order your stuff in such a way that there’s a logic to it, so it speaks on behalf of your character. It beats all the fancy stuff hands down. I’ve written a lot of them for my friends, so I know this works.

13. Get people to talk about themselves
The art of self-promotion is strangely tied to getting others to talk about themselves. And if you’re in an interview, make sure to ask about the company before you leave. Just don’t ask stuff that anyone could find on Google. Ask if they have fun together at work.

14. Get it
Some people “get it”. You don’t have to spell it out for them. I made an intern work last Christmas Eve. She understood that this was a sacrifice on her part, but more importantly, she understood that I understood that, too. So, she didn’t make a big deal about it because she understood that it was an emergency solution and a chance for her to shine. And she did.

15. Ask me
I like to answer questions, it gives me that glorious sense of power and authority. How to ask a good question? See step number 1.

photo © 2008 Jerry Silfwer | more info (via: Wylio)