Image by add1sun via Flickr

I’m confused.  Not too long ago during the never-ending November elections I heard a couple recurring themes. These themes crossed party lines and echoed true from candidates and constituents alike; the economy and education.  In fact, it seems to me that education is a priority for almost every candidate in every election. Why? Because candidates are smart enough to know that during election season they should talk about priorities that matter to people, and providing a quality education matters to people.

So when the Texas House released a budget draft calling for $10 billion in reductions to public school funding, I was more than perplexed.  Don’t get me wrong, I understand that the State is facing a budget shortfall of epic proportions and that the Legislature is charged with balancing the budget.  I won’t pretend to understand how difficult that is since the only thing I balance is my family checkbook, and it is miles away from the billion dollar level.  But then again, I do balance my family checkbook, so maybe I am qualified to make some judgments after all.

About 18 months ago our family faced a substantial budget shortfall when I had to resign from my job due to health issues. All of the sudden our monthly income was cut in half and medical bills were quickly piling up causing a budget deficit in the Escovedo household. My husband and I formed our own budget committee.  The first order of business was to explore new revenue sources. My current health status meant new revenue sources were not an option at the time, which meant it was time to start making cuts. So, we prioritized our spending. Those items at the top of the list stayed. The items at the bottom got slashed with the big red pen. Even after making deep cuts, our monthly expenses still exceeded our income.  Thankfully we had our own equivalent of a rainy day fund to pay off a few outstanding items and balance the budget.

And I guess that is why I’m so confused by our friends in Austin. Everyone keeps saying education is their priority, so why isn’t it at the top of the list during budget talks? Some may say it’s because the economy is also a priority, but that excuse doesn’t ring true.  If the Legislature makes massive cuts to public education, school officials could be forced to cut 100,000 jobs state-wide. According to a January 25 article by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), “The combined total of all these public and private-sector job losses would be more than 260,000. By killing so many jobs, the proposed budget would send the Texas unemployment rate soaring above 10 percent (from the current 8.3 percent) and would pitch the state back into severe recession.”

Strong public schools are essential to a strong economy. Communities with high performing school districts continue to maintain high property values and attract business growth. According to the National Education Association, “A high school dropout earns $260,000 less over a lifetime than a high school graduate and is 72 percent more likely to be unemployed.”  I think we can all agree that a lower unemployment rate and a more educated public are beneficial to all of us.

So what is the answer? I don’t think there is just one answer, and I think that is the problem. Currently, the House, Senate and Governor are all determined to put out a budget without investigating any new revenue sources or tapping into the rainy day fund. That only leaves one solution; cuts. When only one option is on the table, it’s hard to keep your priorities a priority.

Please join me in contacting your local representative and let them know that education is your priority and encourage them to look at all available options, including new revenue sources, the rainy day fund, and overhauling the school finance system to provide an equitable way to adequately fund public schools.

For more information on how your community or school district can get involved, visit Make Education a Priority at www.schoolpriority.com.

Of all the lessons learned, both in the classroom and the real world, the one that stands out as the most important is, “You can not not communicate.”  Everything you do or say, and often times more importantly what you don’t do or say, communicates something.

Over two decades later, communication professionals still look to the Exxon Valdez spill as a textbook example of how saying nothing communicates everything.  On April 21, 1989 the Exxon Valdez hit the shore off Alaska and dumped 250,000 barrels of oil into Prince William Sound. Certainly that is a crisis by any standards.  However, next to the pictures of baby water fowl covered in oil, what people remember most about Exxon is the deafening silence emerging from their corporate office in the days after crash. Exxon executives failed to issue a statement for almost a week, which they might have seen as effectively closing the communication lines to the media and the public. However, their silence communicated many things.

• It communicated a sense of indifference about the environment, the clean up efforts, and the community affected by the spill.
• To the media;  it communicated a refusal to cooperate on a story that portrayed the company in a negative light.
• To their stockholders; it communicated a lack of leadership during crisis as the media reported that Exxon’s chairman, Lawrence G. Rawl, did not visit the spill site until April 14, three weeks after the event.

But we don’t need to examine a national case study to see this principle at work. How we approach our spouse, our co-workers or our children often provides an equally powerful example.  When someone walks into your office and you continue to type and don’t look up from your computer screen, without saying a word, you are communicating that what you are doing is more important than they are.  Failure to respond to an e-mail in a timely manner communicates a message to the sender that they are not a high enough priority to merit your time.  Answering work phone calls during a family dinner time may tell your spouse or your children that work is a higher priority than your family.

And I’m sure you’ve had at least one of these conversations with your spouse or significant other.

“Are you mad at me?”

“No. Why would you think that? I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to say anything. You just seem mad.”

So what is the take away?  Is it to never answer the phone during diner, always stop typing when people walk in your office, and answer e-mails in a timely manner? Maybe. But you and I know that those life happens and there is a good chance both of us will do one of those things before the week is out. The more practical advice is to remember that you are always communicating something, so be intentional and communicate the message that you want your receiver to hear.  Remember that silence is often more powerful than words.

The comments are yours.  How have you seen attempts to not communicate communicate a bigger message in the end?

Along with letting you try your hand at farming and becoming the world champion Farkle player (whatever that is), Facebook has reunited families and friends from years (and dare I say lives) gone by, allowing them to interact on a daily basis crossing national, political, and generational boundaries. It has also become a viable marketing tool industries ranging from international for profit corporations to small public school districts and everything in between.

Logging on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to find you have 356 friends or 1489 followers can do a lot for your self esteem, especially on those days when your skinny jeans won’t button and your significant other forgot your anniversary. But every once in a while don’t you just have to ask yourself, “Who the heck are these people?”

Looking at my profile, I’m definitely an average Facebook user, not an excessive amount of friends, and as Facebook predicts, I probably get about eight friend requests a month.  Of those, I’d guess that five people legitimately want to be my friend. The other three were likely suggested by Facebook’s super smart computer predictor program (called a feed algorithm), suggested by a well meaning mutual friend, or is someone looking to boost their numbers or stir up some business.

If you are one of the people in those last three categories, here are four reasons you don’t have to be my Facebook friend.

1. You have no idea who I am.

I know where you’re coming from. Your cousin Barry suggested me as a friend, you clicked on my profile and saw that we both love NCIS, and you are worried about what you’ll tell Barry if he asks about it at Thanksgiving, so you send me a friend request even though you don’t have a clue who I am.  Let me put your mind at ease; Barry doesn’t actually care if we’re friends. He suggested me as a friend because Facebook prompted him to. And although it’s true that I’m delightful and mildly witty on occasion, our mutual love of Agent Gibbs will likely not be enough to carry our relationship to fruition and you will probably end up hiding me from your wall when you get tired of hearing me talk about potty training some little kid you will never meet in a state you will never visit.

2. I stole your boyfriend

. . . Or stuffed you in a locker, ignored you at lunch every day, laughed at you in front of the girl you were in love with,  etc. I officially plead “Not Guilty” to all of the above, but the truth is most of us did things in high school and college that we aren’t particularly proud of. I mean, who knew that 20 years after graduation we would all be connected via the Internet? Who knew there would be an Internet?

Nevertheless, I am also a believer that most of us are not the people we were in high school or college and sometimes we want to make amends and connect with people from our past. Surprisingly, we may want to connect with the very people we weren’t so nice to. If this is the case, instead of sending a blank friend request (the Facebook default) how about adding a little personal note. Nothing earth shattering, just something like, “Hey Kristen, I know we haven’t talked since seventh grade – and during that class we didn’t so much talk as I put gum in your hair and cheated off your algebra test, but I’m married and have a family and see that you do too. What do you say we put the past and the parachute pants behind us and be Facebook friends?”

3. I am trying to sell you something

Social media is all about relationships and if I haven’t developed a relationship with you then you have every right to delete my friend request if the only thing I’m after is the sale. (Unless you are offering me a free bag of Oreos. Then I’m in).  I joke about the Oreos, but it brings up a good point. If someone is offering you something of value, whether it is delicious cream filled cookie sandwiches, information, reward points, or the best seats at the little league tee ball game, then you have to decide if the benefits are worth your loyalty. I know it seems just as easy to hit “become a fan” to every request that comes along, but you have the right to be a fan only when you are a fan.

4. I dated you or you dated my husband.

This is a tricky and some what controversial topic.  Earlier this week my husband asked me how many ex-boyfriends I was friends with on Facebook. There are three, which means I can’t in good conscience tell you that you should absolutely never friend an ex. However, I will tell you that before I friend anyone whom I believe could cause a riff in my marriage (those three included), I tell my husband who they are, the nature and seriousness of our relationship, and ask if he is comfortable with me accepting their request. And while he was comfortable with these particular friends, there are other people from my past (some whom I dated, and others with whom I was simply associated) that he would not be comfortable with me friending.

As with anything in marriage (or a committed relationship), communication is the key. Realize that accepting a friend request from an ex gives that person a great deal of access into your life, which makes it a valid topic of discussion for you and your significant other before accepting (or making) a request.

In social media, as in life,  bigger is not always better and the quality of our friends is much more important than the quantity.

Photo Credit: Mr. Topf – http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrtopf/3086953409/sizes/o/

]]> http://kristenescovedo.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/four-reasons-you-dont-have-to-be-my-facebook-friend/feed/ 0 kristenescovedo Facebook http://kristenescovedo.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/five-ways-to-lose-a-job-before-you-get-it/ http://kristenescovedo.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/five-ways-to-lose-a-job-before-you-get-it/#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 04:26:46 +0000 kristenescovedo http://kristenescovedo.com/?p=150 ]]>

Last week I had the opportunity to sit on a selection panel for a candidate at the organization where I used to work. We interviewed four candidates in five hours, offering an unique opportunity to quickly and directly compare candidates’ strengths and weaknesses. And although each candidate was highly qualified with an impressive resume, each made errors that were easily avoidable and could have set them apart from the pack.

With that in mind, here are five ways to lose a job before you get it.

1. Be Unorganized – Walking into an interview with a half-full portfolio, unable to find a copy of your resume, with no copies of your references, or a scattered pile of papers flowing from your laptop case, you project an image of an employee who may not be able to stay on task, that is if you can find the task in the first place. Even if the interview is scheduled on short notice, take the time to get not only your thoughts, but your paperwork organized before you walk into the room.  Ask the person setting up the interview how many people you will be interviewing with so that you can have the appropriate number of copies of any materials you plan to hand out, and then bring a few extra copies for good measure.

2. Know Nothing About the Organization -  You want to work for an organization. You want them to give you an office, a desk, a laptop, and most importantly a paycheck. The least you can do is take the time to learn about the organization. What does it do? What are its mission and goals? Who is the CEO? Is there a board? Read the latest news releases on the website both on the public section and the employee section (if available).

3. Know Nothing About the Position You’re Applying For – Maybe it’s the excitement of the job title or the salary range. Maybe they are just terribly unhappy in their current position, but I have read cover letters for people who were applying for positions for which I don’t think they actually read the entire job description. Certainly the job description should be your first stop, but it shouldn’t be your last. If possible, talk to the person who currently holds the position you are applying for. If that isn’t possible, talk to other people in that industry. If you are currently in a similar position, determine similarities and differences in the position you’re applying for.

At the end of almost any interview you are going to be asked, “What questions do you have for us?” Let me give you a hint; You should have some. Unless you are being promoted from an interim position to a full-time position, you will be entering into uncharted territory.  If there isn’t at least one “what, when, where, when, why or how” running through your mind, you don’t have a thorough understanding of the position you are applying for and I guarantee a rude awakening if you are selected for the position.

4. Be Bitter About Your Current or Former Employer – You’re looking to separate with your current employer for one reason or another. Maybe it’s better pay, better hours or a better commute, or maybe you just don’t get along with your boss. If your reason is the later, leave those feelings at the door when you walk into the interview.  If you were let go from a position because of a “change in leadership” or “difference of opinion,” answer those questions honestly and briefly, and then move on.  The last thing a potential boss wants to hear is you complaining about how horribly you have been treated by your other bosses, even if it’s true.

5. Sell Yourself Short – This is your chance to set yourself apart.  Make yourself stand out above the crowd. Be the shining star. Insert cliche here. Most of us are uncomfortable with this, having been taught that humility is preferred over arrogance. But the truth is, you are probably more talented, capable, educated, and fabulous than you think you are, and now is the time to let that shine through. Unfortunately, instead of exuding confidence we answer questions with, “I’m kind of good at blank,” or “People tell me I’m good at such and such.”

To avoid this mistake, try these tips. Before your interview, enlist a trusted peer or friend to help you review your resume and portfolio. Conduct a mock interview and let them help you find answers to questions like, “What is your greatest strength and weakness?” You may be surprised that they see strengths in you that you don’t see in yourself. Have them help you craft an answer to, “Why you are the best candidate for this position?” Even if the question isn’t asked directly in the interview, just having the answer formulated before you walk in the door will give you the confidence you need to be successful.

What do you think? What other mistakes can cost people the job of their dreams?

It’s no secret that PR pros sometimes get a kind of a bad rap. And by sometimes, I mean all the time, and by kind of, I mean terrible. People think we get paid obscene amounts of money to sit in corner offices and drive our sports cars to three hour martini lunches. If we do somehow find time to work it is only to spin lies and make ax murders look like Mother Teresa, after which we down another martini, write a couple of press releases and head to our McMansion for a good night’s sleep on the bed of lies we spin all day.

It’s no wonder we stuff our mouth with cranberries  at Thanksgiving when our cousin’s new girlfriend asks us what we do for a living. That way it comes out sounding more like Pumpkin Mutation, which elicits far less judgment.

Maybe it’s because my mother raised me to be proud of who I am, or maybe it’s because I figure if I made it through middle school I never have anything to be embarrassed about again. But  I suspect it is because after 16 years of education and experience, I developed a deep understanding about what public relations is and what it definitely is not. And because of this understanding I have always been proud to be a PR professional.

Believe me, an entire blog post could be dedicated to the reason our field is crucial to the success of almost any organization, how we strive to uphold a strict standard of ethics, how my peers are leaders not only in their industries, but in their communities, and how public relations helps successfully foster two way communication with internal and external audiences again and again.

And someday I will write that post, but today I want to focus my PR pride on another facet of my industry; its heart.

Communication professionals have a heart unlike anything I’ve come across in any other industry. Often it’s shown in their desire to effectively communicate, mitigate or mediate a crisis, build a team, celebrate success or mourn a tragedy.  But sometimes it’s shown in things that aren’t on the job description.

This month a community of PR pros from across the country has united to help  those seeking jobs in the Public Relations industry. The effort is lovingly titled Help A Pr Pro Out (HAPPO).

Now, I don’t know about you, but generally speaking when I hear about the job market the word that comes to mind is competitive not cooperative. Yet, thanks to the coordinating efforts of Arik Hanson and Valerie Simon, almost 30 people from across the U.S. have signed on to champion an event that will take place on Friday, February 19 where people will dedicate a block of four hours in the middle of their day to helping their peers find a job because they know the job market is a rough place to be and the best way to find a job is through your network.

Wanna know know more about HAPPO?  Go here and find out how to get involved by letting someone know you have a job opening, letting someone know you are looking for a job, or spreading the news on your blog, facebook page or Twitter profile.

Still caught up in the spin doctor hype? Let me throw one more thing at you. During the Minnesota vs. Cowboys playoff game my husband informed me that we would be participating in a tweetup rivalry hosted by some of our PR friends. Seeing as the Cowboys got schooled and ultimately knocked out of the playoffs, you may be wondering why I would relive the humiliation. As it turns out, the benefactor of this tweetup was 12for12k, an on-line network that organizes events each month to support different non-profits in communities around the world. 12for12k was founded by PR pro and social media rockstar Danny Brown.  Danny, along with other PR pros, social media rockstars, and people just like you and me, come together to raise funds to change their communities for the better. The play-off game tweetup was an effort to raise funds for Haiti, which had just been devastated by an earthquake.  According to Danny’s blog, 12for12k raised a total of $91,275 in 2009.

Seriously, how do you not love these guys!

So spit out the cranberries, hold your head high and say it, “I work in public relations with some of the finest people on the planet.”  Be proud. I am.

Cheers!

After I sat in ninth-grade social studies and more than my fair share of these workshops, I decided there had to be a better way.

I won’t talk at you. My workshops are filled with discussions of topics and interactive learning that allows you to walk out feeling confident in your new skills.

Workshops deliver tailored interactive content in an educational, classroom-type session. They can be designed for varying numbers of participants, ranging from small groups of 5-10 to larger groups of up to 50+. Participants usually receive some kind of handouts or workbooks at the conclusion of the workshop to allow for follow up and additional resources.

The length of the workshop is customized depending on the content and may range from a few hours to several days.

Walk out the door with:
1.A personal evaluation of your team members’ commitment to their mission, organization, and life long learning.

2. An understanding of what teams are, what an effective team looks like and how it operates.

3. A mission statement, created by your team, for whatever purpose you decide (will be determined prior to the workshop).

4. An understanding of Dr. Gottman’s four toxic communication behaviors and how to identify and neutralize them.

Target Audience

Any type of team members, team leaders, all age ranges from teens to adults. Any size team is welcome. This workshop is successful with one large team or multiple teams.

Walk out the door with:
1.A thorough understanding of your role as a spokesperson, even if that is not your official title.

2.Strategies to deal with the media during both crisis and non-crisis situations.

3. Bridging techniques.

4. A list of what to do and what not to do during an interview.

Target Audience
Organization spokesperson, CEO’s, managers, administrators, building supervisors

Walk out the door with:
1.An understanding of why communicating with school boards is different than communicating with other audiences.

2.Strategies to adequately prepare for effectively communicating in the board room.

3. A list of classic traps and how to avoid them.

4. A list of what to do and what not to do when you communicate with school board members.

Target Audience
School district vendors, CEO’s, managers, salespeople, anyone in the organization who may need to communicate with the school board

*Don’t see the workshop you are looking for? E-mail me at kristenescovedo[at]gmail.com or call me at 817.716.3160 and let’s discuss creating a workshop tailored specifically to meet your organization’s needs.

Walk out the door with:
1.Increased interpersonal and public speaking skills.

2.Strategies to deal with angry people.

3. An understanding of the importance of non-verbal communication and the roll it plays in our society.

4. A guide to digital communication etiquette.

Target Audience
Great for everyone!