PR consulting is the best life there is. In fact, just today the Wall Street Journal stated 
we’re in the “Age of Going Solo.”
But this month, I’m issuing a call to Solo PR Pros to participate in an upcoming Twitter event called “Help a PR Pro Out” day. (#HAPPO for short), designed to help PR job seekers locate the growing number of PR jobs that are finally becoming available.
So, why is an independent gal like me participating in this “real job” event? First, it’s being organized by Arik Hanson and Valerie Simon, two great people who have recruited HAPPO champions for all regions of the U.S.
Second, and most importantly, we solos tend to have a full rolodex of contacts at agencies and in-house PR/marketing departments – often many more than our traditionally employed brethren. Many times, we’re the first to hear about open positions and it’s not unusual for us to refer qualified folks to fill them. We’ll just be doing what we’ve always done, but on a grander scale!
On Friday, February 19, from 11 am – 3 pm Eastern time, PR pros nationwide will be tweeting both job openings and their status as job seekers. Job seekers are encouraged to write a blog post pitching themselves to potential employers and share it on Twitter during the event on Feb. 19 using the hashtag #HAPPO.
“HAPPO Champions” are available in different regions to retweet info and help hook people up – be sure you’re following these folks, so you can know what’s available in each area:
- Jeremy Porter (Atlanta)
- Kellye Crane (Atlanta)
- Doug Haslam (Boston)
- Jennifer Wilbur (Southern CA)
- Gini Dietrich (Chicago)
- Lauren Fernandez (Dallas/Fort Worth)
- Richie Escovedo (Dallas/Fort Worth)
- Justin Goldsborough (Kansas City)
- Arik Hanson (Minneapolis/ St. Paul)
- PR Cog (New York Metro)
- Deidre Breakenridge (New York Metro)
- Valerie Simon (New York Metro)
- Heather Whaling (Ohio)
- Adrienne Biggs (San Francisco)
- Danny Brown (Toronto)
- Mike Shaffer (Washington, DC)
Also, if you’re secretly seeking employment, or if you’re an employer who doesn’t want to be inundated with job seekers, feel free to use Twitter Direct Messaging to contact any of these champions for confidential handling of your information.
What do you think of this idea? Can we, as independents, play a special role in helping play job matchmaker?
Image credit: Andrew and Hobbes
Kellye:
You make a great point about solos being the first to hear about openings. I've only been at this for four months now, but already I'm starting to see that.
Thanks for much for your time and hard work on this event. Hope you and Jeremy can make some connections in ATL!
@arikhanson
Independent PR pros tend to network on a regular basis as part of our new business efforts, so we have our “ears to the ground” for sure. Thanks to you and Valerie for organizing!