First impressions are important in all aspects of life, so don’t let your resume give potential employers a bad first impression. Keep reading for some do’s and don’ts, examples and tips from a graphic designer for designing a resume that screams, “Hire me!”
Font size
For a nice, clean look, aim to fit all of the content on one page using fonts no smaller than 10 points and no larger than 14 points. When using all capital letters as a heading, adjust the space between the letters, otherwise known as the tracking.
Margins and columns
The most common margin size is one inch on each side. It is important to use grids when making your resume to help the reader move through the page. A good tip is to create guides of three to five columns and rows and aim to fit your text accordingly into the boxes, columns and rows.
Photos
Because a resume should represent experience and expertise alone, save the visuals for LinkedIn.
Stylize
To make your resume stand out, find a personal, simplistic style that works for you. Feel free to create a simple logo using your initials. All fonts in the resume should be clean and professional–including those in your name and headings.
Word spacing
Every graphic designer agrees that proper spacing is crucial. For example, there should always be a significant amount of space between each line. This is called the leading. When words are too pressed together, it makes it hard for the eyes to focus. Also, use bullet points when describing your job duties to avoid huge chunks of text. Be sure to start each bullet point with a strong action verb.
Branding
Having a cohesive brand is key to a successful business. The same rule applies to your personal brand: resume, cover letter, social media channels and portfolio. Use the same color scheme and font to bring together all of these aspects.
Take a look at these examples to get started ona new and improved resume. When lacking inspiration, check out Pinterest to get the creative juices flowing. Have some fun with it, within reason! And remember, employers want to hire a person so don’t forget your personality.
Creating when you’re uninspired happens to the best of us. At times, it’s not easy to get out of that mundane funk and you either let it get the best of you, or you try your hardest to combat it. Here are four simple ways to get the creative juices flowing again.
People go on vacation and take pictures. It’s what you do. It’s simply what vacationers do when they travel to exotic, never before seen places. Photography is an amazing phenomenon that we take for granted in the 21st century. The way we are able to harness a memory by simply capturing a blend of light and color with a machine is truly amazing.
However, there are instances when this miracle of capturing light, falls short of our desires and expectations. Follow me on a short magic carpet ride through some tips that I have gathered in my travels around the world.
Sunset over Budapest Bath House on Christmas Eve.
Traveling and shooting photos go hand in hand. Not only does it compliment your Hawaiian shirt and fanny pack, but it immediately pegs you as a tourist.
No. 1, accept the fact that you’re a tourist and embrace it with grace and intelligence. If someone throws you a skeptical eye, keep snapping on, but be smart and hold yourself with a certain level of discretion. You’re not going to buy the traditional garments of every nation to blend in, so you might as well avoid the headache trying enjoy documenting your experience. However there are some exceptions, which leads me to tip No. 2.
Tay Dayborg from Israel, at Mount Herzl, Jerusalem
This point segues to my next tip. It’s a simple one. Several years ago, I was on the beautiful island of Sicily, Italy taking photos around a rustic, dust filled neighborhood. On the corner were two men drinking coffee. Not thinking anything bad of the calm situation. I snapped a quick photo of one of the men who happened to be looking my way just as I took the photo. Instantly he got up and walked toward me. A bit startled, I quickly erased the photo before he arrived. When he approached me I saw he was holding out his hand, he wanted money for the photo. I explained that it was gone and that he had nothing to fear. Nonetheless, he watched me intently as I scrolled through every single photo I had on the camera. Tip No. 3, if you get caught taking a photo of someone you shouldn’t be, erase it or give the subject of the photograph what they want in order for them to be happy.
Tip No. 4, pay attention to your surroundings. Look everywhere from every angle, you never know what could be waiting for you in the distance just a few feet away you. Timing is crucial. A moment in time is lost forever if you are not actively looking for it. This goes for foreground and background as well. Understand the dynamics of your depth of field and move to the best spot within your environment. By positioning yourself at just the right place, you can truly have your picture follow speak a thousand words.
Abhi Sarkar from Santa Barbara, at Moab National Park.
Tip No. 5, call a friend’s name at the right moment for a dynamic candid. People look their best when they are doing something that they love or truly inspires someone. See your friend staring out over a beautiful landscape? Get your camera ready, call their name and snap the photo before they realize what just happened. I find that catching people with their guard down produces some of the most engaging photos. Often, people lost in thought seem to stare right into the camera with such intensity that I feel as though they can see my very soul. The feeling is contagious, yet hard to pull off consistently. Keep practicing, who knows what you will find within the eyes of someone you thought you knew.
Marian Amira Jonjo hailing from London, England, “caught” at the Marin Headlands.
When traveling, be respectful and mindful of where you are to the best of your ability. Enjoy your privilege as a photographer; heft that clunky camera around with pride. Use this machine wisely, knowing that not everyone can have the same opportunity as you to document the beauty of life. Keep on snappin’.
*All photos taken by Trevor Raven Foster, All rights reserved*
Written by Trevor Foster, Videographer/Photographer
To cultivate is defined as “to encourage the growth of something.” An Austin public relations firm takes that idea so seriously that they define themselves by it. At Cultivate PR, a wide variety of clients ranging from hospitality, fashion, beauty, tech, and design companies are receiving professionally-crafted communication services to grow their businesses.
The firm specializes in PR strategy and outreach, social media planning and engagement, marketing, and special event planning. Each tactic they implement is cutting edge, establishes relevance and makes each message meaningful.
The Clients
So we are all aware that Texas knows a thing or two about food. Cultivate has a knack for getting the word out to the public about many diverse restaurants and hospitality companies—ranging from breweries to pizzerias, to even a Chinese-American sandwich shop.
One of their most well-known clients is a sushi restaurant called Uchi. Uchi has been featured in many publications, while also being named among the “Five best restaurants in the United States” by TripAdvisor. The restaurant started out in Austin and has branched out to form another in the city of Uchiko, along with several others outside the city such as Uchi Dallas and Uchi Houston.
Something else that adds to the uniqueness of Austin, TX is their diverse music scene. Another one of Cultivate’s high profile clients is a luxury hotel called the W Hotel Austin, which is located right next to the famous Austin City Limits music venue. This hotel is known for their top-notch food as well as a stunning pool. The W Hotel is so successful in the city that it has been featured in publications such as Esquire, Austin Woman and Time magazine.
Along with clients in the hospitality industry, Cultivate also works for a fitness studio, hotel and several design companies to provide the insight and strategy needed to get their name recognized in the trending Austin scene.
The Brand
The branding that a public relations firm places for itself sets the tone for their entire public image. Through their social media, website and collateral, Cultivate has created an image that their public can relate and associate with their name and business.
Cultivate’s brand is creating a fresh and consistent image throughout all of their channels of communication. Their logo is their company name inside of a speech bubble and is colored in a bright green. They incorporate grass in the background of some of their logo comps in order to incorporate the literal sense of the word cultivate with their brand.
Looking at their social media pages and website design, you can also tell that Cultivate is absolutely killing it with using consistency and clean, and simple visuals to catch their audience’s eye. Especially with their food photos, they let the aesthetics of the dish or drink be the main focus with the minimalism of the photos they incorporate to their brand.
What Cultivate PR brings to the table is their ability to grow and inform the publics of Austin about the latest and trendiest places. Through their PR and marketing strategies, they’ve allowed their clients access to be featured in media that extends far beyond Austin as well as the whole state of Texas. This firm exceeds an expectation for managing their client’s brands while at the same time, doing an incredible job maintaining and streamlining their own. This combination of work internally and externally is what makes Cultivate PR an extremely crush-worthy firm.
In the current day and age, social media is a frequently used method of self advertising and personal branding. In the music industry this is especially significant. Whether you want to be a performer, manager or music journalist, increasing your popularity through social media is a vital strategy.
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat are successful and common social media platforms. However, when it comes to the music industry, audio streaming applications should also be used to the musician and their team’s advantage.
Giving listeners the opportunity to stream music on multiple platforms allows for an increase in audience. Both of these platforms have their unique attributes.
Here’s how to keep your social media game rocking on the ones and twos.
Spotify currently has more than 100 million monthly active users, 30 million of those are paying subscribers. Spotify allows streaming for free, however there are a few minor setbacks. Every few songs the music will be interrupted by an advertisement, and when used on a mobile device, you can only shuffle playlists or albums and cannot choose specific songs.
Spotify’s most appealing characteristic is the plethora of listeners. When artists put their music on Spotify they are immensely increasing chances of reaching new listeners.
Even though most SoundCloud users do not register, there are still 40 million registered users on the site. The website reaches 200 million unique listeners around the globe through the Web, mobile devices and social-media sites.
Similar to Spotify, SoundCloud’s most appealing characteristic is their massive audience. However, SoundCloud is more beneficial for electronic dance music. When searching on SoundCloud for music that isn’t electronic, you are likely to come across remixes rather than the original song.
So get your music out there, and maybe we can stop listening to “Closer” by The Chainsmokers every 10 minutes.
“Chico PD has alerted campus to be on the lookout for a male who may be approaching campus with a gun. Please call 911 if you see this person we will send further information as available. Thank you.”
Thousands of Chico State students received that exact message on Sept. 7, 2016. These types of emergency situations happen all the time, but until it occurs in your personal life, you will never be sure how to deal with it. At Chico State, many students did what they normally do, they picked up their phones and hopped on social media.
Social media is one of the biggest pieces of our daily lives, we reach for our phones and computers in any and all situations. As a global society we face crisis on a daily basis.
Our ability to connect with a greater network of people has changed the way we handle these situations, we are not only able to quickly alert a mass amount of people, we can get live updates as the situation unfolds, and even check in to let our loved ones know we are safe. Take a look at how social media has changed the way that we handle a large scale crisis.
Facebook:
On Oct. 15, 2014 Facebook released its Safety Check tool, it was inspired by people turning to Facebook in times of global and domestic crisis to check on their friends and loved ones.
The tool well asses if you are in an area of risk when something like an earthquake, tsunami or a shooting occurs. Safety Check was activated for the first time in the USA, soon after the Orlando Night Club shooting occurred June, 2016. Residents of the area, or even those who had indicated that they were in the Orlando area could check in to let their friends and family know that they were safe.
Safety Check can also pick up local crisis, for example a shooting occurred in Chicago on July 28th of this year, because so many people posted about the incident Facebook created a local Safety Check so that residents of the smaller area could check in with each other.
Twitter has become one of the fastest news sources in the world. In the 2011 earthquake in Virginia, Tweets that an earthquake occurred reached New York City before the aftershocks did.Twitter literally moved and reported faster than an earthquake.
Keeping in line with the quickness of reporting is the Moments feature where users are able to stay up to date with the continuous stream of news. Moments compiles news and content relating to the event into one place.
In addition to Moments, Twitter has become a tool that allows people like scientists, insurance companies, etc., to track the severity of the damage that a natural disaster has caused. Twitter has been able to help with this in a cheaper and more effective way than even some FEMA models.
Emergency Preparedness:
Emergency Personnel have taken notice of the effect and convenience of social media during a crisis and have began to include it in their emergency preparedness plans.
Using Facebook to update which roads are closed during snow storms, warning people to stay away from certain areas in the event of an active shooter situation or getting any type of information out quickly and effectively to a large number of people. Social media has become a crucial tool on the belt of those we look to in times of emergency.
Though we joke about social media taking over our lives slowly, there is the argument that in a lot of ways it can make our lives better. These tools and features are just a few of the many ways social media has become an integral part of our lives, and simply serve as a helpful aid to a future of emergency and disaster management.
Written by Cheyenne Cameron-Pruitt, General Manager
When thinking about public relations and marketing, most people relate these types of businesses to big cities such as San Francisco, Seattle or New York. When in reality, public relations and marketing firms exist in smaller towns all across the US, in cities such as Chico as well. Many graduating seniors will be looking for jobs in this field all over the US, forgetting that there are places of employment right here in town.
The world is packed with public relations and marketing opportunities for graduating seniors, here are a few available in Chico for those who don’t want to leave:
Social High Rise is a local marketing and public relations firm that focusses on restaurant social media management. They take on all aspects of social media for these restaurants including Yelp, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Trip Advisor and Linkedin. With a generally young staff, Social High Rise stays up to date with current social trends to ensure the clients’ needs are met.
With the quirky name locked down, Half a BubbleOut has been providing public relations and marketing services to the Chico area since they opened shop in their guest bedroom back in 2002. Founded by Michael Redman and his wife Kathryn, Half a Bubble Out focuses on business consulting, web design, internet marketing, traditional marketing and advertising. They refer to themselves as a one stop shop for your small business needs.
Burghardt+Dore is an award winning marketing, advertising and design firm who impacts multiple brands throughout California. Based in Chico and with over 40 years of combined experience, Burghardt+Dore is a key player in the resort niche of the business. Some of their clients include The Downtown Chico Business Association, Visit Napa Valley and the Seascape Beach Resort.
Some students fall in love with Chico and never want to leave after graduation, others can’t wait to move away. If you’re one of those graduating seniors who loves Chico and can’t imagine leaving, take a look at these companies and see if they would be a good match for you!
Written by Nick Bragg, Public Relations Director Assistant
As PR professionals, journalists and citizens of a nation with a free press – it is vital to consume news on a regular basis. It is a common habit to read only one or two publications that you, as a reader, are comfortable with. But, a variety of news topics and viewpoints will help you build a rounded view of what’s going on in the world.
The internet is flooded with options for news content, so here are a few places to get you started:
Industry Specific
Entrepreneur
If you are an individual interested in starting a business, this news site is one to check out. Entrepreneur Magazine offers insight and advice and is valuable for budding and established entrepreneurs.
Alternative Press
Alternative Press is a publication that has been reporting on music news, concerts and everything in between for 30 years – so, its name and quality are well established. Their online version has sections such as APTV (video-based news) and Audio (stream newly released singles and the AP Podcast).
Niche Commentary
Bitch Media
Bitch Media is a nonprofit feminist online publication that’s purpose is to provide a commentary on mainstream news and popular culture. It is not bound by language or content restrictions – so approach it with that in mind.
The Root
Commentary to the mainstream message, again, is key. The Root is an online publication that provides opinion, culture and news from and for African-American influencers. It also doesn’t follow the boxed-in news rules.
Quick Fix
The Skimm
Hey, we’re all busy. All the sources listed above may be interesting but are too much to visit regularly. An email newsletter could be the answer for your general news needs. The Skimm is a fresh-voiced brief report on the major stories of the week that comes directly to your email. And, if you have an iPhone, there’s an app for that.
Written by Britney Witherspoon, Public Relations Director
There are a few components to the job-hunting process that everyone knows: resumé, cover letter, networking, follow-up emails or cards, etc. So, how can you stand out in a crowd of applicants that all submit the same amount of information and seem to have the similar skills? Instead of simply describing your work, you can now show your work with an online portfolio.
If you’re unfamiliar with building websites, there are free builders to help you start the process, like Wix, Weebly and WordPress, and every option gives you the freedom to create a customizable site. Using my minimalist personal portfolio as an example, here are some ways to avoid making a cluttered or confusing site:
Consistency
This relates to the navigation and organization of your website, like always having the site tabs in the same spot on every page or creating subcategories for your work.
In the example above, you can see that the tabs are directly under my name header, and this is true for every page on my site.
The “Work” tab is highlighted so that people know what page they are on, and the body of the page is broken up into three categories: journalism, public relations and photography.
The titles of each section, along with the pictures, are clickable, and they take the user to a page that gives specific examples to demonstrate the work I’ve done for those categories; there is no confusion and all of the links work.
Personalization
Your portfolio is about you and your work, so it’s OK to show some of your personality to demonstrate that you are a well-rounded person. This can include making a video or infographic to showcase your creative side or interesting facts about you (obviously make sure they’re appropriate).
On my “About” page, I have a “pitch” video where I talk about my skills and have accompanying B-Roll of me working and examples of my work, so it’s not just me talking to the camera for 90 seconds. I also made a small personal infographic in Photoshop, and you, too, can easily make one using sites like Canva or Piktochart.
Visuals
Interesting and relevant visuals are basically the point of a portfolio, so find your best work and display it. If your work isn’t normally very visual, get creative with the way you present it. If you have some statistics to represent your achievements (which are essential to show employers that your work has real results), create some graphs. If you have published work, take a screenshot and link it to the post. Use your own pictures so you don’t have to rely on cheesy stock photos or use icons to symbolize the work you’re showcasing.
In the example above, I simply made those icons in Illustrator or used logos and compiled them in Photoshop to make sure they were all the same color to match my website. If you can’t make your own icons, find some copyright-free ones and adjust them with any image-editing software.
Contact information
Your portfolio should have multiple ways to contact you and it should be in a really obvious place, whether it’s at the bottom of every page with email and social media buttons or a whole contact page with a form submission and your email in case something on the form doesn’t work. Even your resumé (which should definitely be somewhere in the portfolio) should have your phone number.
My resumé has appropriate hyperlinks that direct people to the places I’ve worked, my social media and my email. This is the whole point of your portfolio, so make sure the people who like your work are able to conveniently contact you.
Proof-read
Like any other item you submit when applying for jobs, your portfolio should have multiple people looking for even the smallest of errors before a potential employer sees it. Your credibility will be compromised with every misspelled word or incorrect punctuation mark.
Lastly, keep in mind that this portfolio represents you, and once it’s live, anyone can see it. Keep true to your “brand,” and remember to update it with new work. Good luck on your next job hunt!
Written by Christine Zuniga, Online Communications Director
It seems like everyone has some sort of social media channel today, whether it be a person, a company, a brand, or even a dog (seriously!).
Social media has allowed companies to interact with their customers in a different way. This has brought around some wins and, of course, some fails.
Overall social media has been beneficial to many industries and some have simply flourished with the growth of each channel. Perhaps one of the most successful in implementing social media into their identity is the beauty industry.
The beauty industry is a visual one. So many companies have really taken the visual aspect and worked it together beautifully with the personality of their companies. One has really set itself apart in the eyes of the beauty world and its followers: Benefit Cosmetics.
Benefit has been around since 1976, the company was started by Jean and Jane Ford and has thrived ever since. Benefit is known for their colorful and often times sassy packaging and products.
How are they killing the game?
Benefit has effectively blended the sassy personality of their brand, the colorful charisma of their products and the behind the scenes looks at their company. Not only is their personal content on their channels amazing, but the relationships that they build with their fans and followers is something that all brands should strive for.
Benefit makes it a habit to interact with their followers. It is rare to send a tweet or tag a picture on Instagram that doesn’t garner some sort of response from this huge global brand. Benefit also makes a practice of displaying and promoting great work that their followers have created with their products. Whether it is a great wing using their innovative liner, or a set of eyebrows that is totally on “fleek” after a visit to the Brow Bar, they will let you know and sometimes even share your photo on their channels.
Twitter
Benefit “slays” the Twitterscape by bringing their bold personality into each tweet! Check out of a few of their most recent. Benefit isn’t afraid to color outside the lines when it comes to their brand and voice!
Not only are they winning at Twitter on daily basis, Benefit’s most visual channel, Instagram, is a beautiful representation of the words aesthetically pleasing. The photos are bright, high resolution, simple and beautiful. The entirety of Benefit’s Instagram embodies the colorful charisma of their brand. Benefit embraces the different side of the beauty world, whether it is guys wearing makeup or cutting-edge products, they are not afraid to be different and encourage their followers to do the same.
YouTube:
One of the biggest social media channels in the beauty world is YouTube. YouTube has quickly become a haven for professionals and enthusiasts in the beauty realm. There are billions of beauty related YouTube videos, and the amazing thing is most of them are not created by brands. Beauty “gurus” have quickly taken over YouTube as a channel. Benefit has done a great job of not only competing with brands that are trying to make their mark on YouTube, but they have worked to integrate these gurus (who have millions of followers) into their own channel and hold their own in the world of YouTube.
Check out Benefit’s new campaign featuring beauty gurus Dulce Candy (2,116, 131 followers) , Nyc Dragun (112, 717 followers), Nicol Concilio (193, 152 followers) , and Tess Holliday a well know plus-size model.
Snapchat
Finally, Benefit has made the leap that many companies are making to Snapchat (BenefitBeauty), which provides an even deeper look inside the world of Benefit. Behind-the-scenes looks, chatting with beauty gurus, contests and daily office life. Their story is a must follow for all the beauty lovers and social media enthusiasts.
While Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat seem to be the fan favorites. Benefit has completely covered their bases in the social media game and have amazing accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook and Pinterest!
Benefit is a great display of what a dynamic social media strategy looks like for not only a beauty company but all companies and industries. They have created a strong brand and compelling voice that has been successfully applied and appropriate for each for channel they utilize.
Written by Cheyenne Cameron-Pruitt, Digital Media Director
are well established. Their online version has sections such as 
