It’s crucial, therefore, to make the right first impression as soon as possible, not least to ensure you pass the probationary period (!)

Overall, you should have three key aims:

• build good relationships  - with your peers, managers and key stakeholders such as the media and clients. How you integrate into a new company is as important as job performance, particularly in the early days.
• establish ‘brand you’: communicate your past experience, knowledge, skills, strengths, contacts and personality to the people who matter.
• perform well and meet (or even surpass) expectations.

Sounds easy in theory but as we all know, the first few weeks of starting a new job can rank alongside moving house and divorce in the stress stakes.  Here are our top five tips to help ensure your transition to a new job is a smooth one.

Take a break: If it is at all possible, take a break before starting a new job. Whilst new employers are often keen for candidates to start asap, both parties will benefit if your batteries are fully charged and you’re given a small breathing space between debriefing from a former role and anticipating a new one. Not only are the first 100 days extremely challenging and demanding it’s also highly unlikely that you’ll be able to take leave in the first three months of a new role.

Watch and learn: As tempting as it may be to stamp your mark as early as possible, particularly in the competitive world of PR, try and make your first few weeks a ‘watch and learn’ exercise. By observing and learning how this new organisation or agency works, what its culture, methods and standards are, you’ll increase your chances of making the right decisions in your new role – and decrease your chances of ruffling feathers.  Many in-house corporate organisations actually specify that the first three months will predominantly be a learning exercise, although agencies tend to be faster paced, expecting new recruits to hit the ground running. As a way of getting new employees up to speed as quickly as possible, many agencies have a ‘buddy/mentor’ programme, where new recruits are supported and trained by a senior colleague, introduced to key people and given advice on everything from managing tricky clients to understanding internal politics.

Manage expectations: Yours – and your employers’.  Firstly, yours. Nobody puts themselves under more pressure than a new employee. The steep learning curve of the first three months is exhausting, so pacing yourself is important, as is being realistic. Be kind to yourself; nobody, not even your new employer, expects you to perform as well as your colleagues until you know as much about the business as they do.  That said you should be able to understand your new role and what is expected of you in order to satisfy a new employer. We suggest having a minimum of one meeting a month with your boss during the first 100 days to ensure that you are ‘on target’. If not, then at least you’ll have an opportunity to remedy the situation before the probationary period ends.

Do your own PR: Being proactive, actively throwing yourself into getting to know how the organisation works and who the people that matter are (not just the ones with the biggest personality or loudest voice) is the best advice we can offer when it comes to speeding up the integration process. If you don’t have a mentor then help yourself and get known for the skills, knowledge and experience you have.

Trust us: You ARE the right person for the job. As challenging and stressful as a new job is remember that you have been employed after a rigorous recruitment process! We only recommend those candidates who have the right skills, experience and cultural fit for client interview and clients only employ successful candidates.  For four consecutive years we have experienced a 98% success rate of candidates who are still employed not only after the probationary period, but at least 12 months after commencing employment. We’re sure you’ll be one of them!

And return it has! Four months ago, counter offers were most likely to occur between legal communications teams but with more private sector agencies winning business, the phenomenon has now spread across the board to include corporate PR, particularly in the financial services sector.

We’re not just talking counter offers between a current employer (understandably wanting to retain talented staff they’ve trained and invested in) and another potential employer, but bidding wars between three or four employers all keen to secure the best hire.

Without doubt, the main driving force behind this round of counter offers is money. Talented individuals, frustrated by the recession-enforced career inertia of the past two years are now chancing their arm at interview(s) primarily to boost their salary.

Arguably, some of the candidates we’ve seen who have ‘won big’ at counter offer are those who were genuinely underpaid. One agency candidate even doubled their salary whilst eventually staying with the original employer. Doubling salaries may be exceptional, but it’s been our candidates’ recent experience that significant pay hikes are a factor again.

However, as flattering as a counter offer is employers and candidates should proceed with caution.

National surveys of employees consistently show that of those who accept counter offers, 50 to 80% voluntarily leave their employer within six months of accepting the deal largely because of un-kept promises and the reasons other than salary why they were looking to leave haven’t gone away.

To ensure you don’t become one of those statistics, it’s worth asking yourself the following questions: “Will your loyalty be in question by remaining in the job, especially if future redundancies are likely?” “Is the counter offer just a stalling tactic to avoid short-term inconvenience or a genuine desire to progress you career?” “Will this preclude next year’s bonus?” and “Do the proposed improvements eliminate the reason you went for a new job in the first place?”

But perhaps the most important factor when considering counter offers is the longer term professional consequences. PR careers and professional reputations aren’t made in a moment, whilst a counter offer may be. Just remember that making the wrong choice could leave a potential employer with a lasting negative impression of you long after the bidding war boxing gloves have been removed.

1. Prepare for the meeting. We’re not just talking about doing your homework about the role and company you’re being interviewed for, but anticipating tricky interview questions such as ‘what is your weak spot?”. By rehearsing your game plan pre-interview (why not practice in front of friends?), your interview performance will be much enhanced and you’re less likely to be floored by killer questions designed to trip you up.
2. Think of yourself as a brand – how are you going to position yourself? With so much competition for each post, how you define and project yourself, skills, dress and personality,  is all important. Interviewers are more likely to remember the ‘troubleshooter with a demonstrable track record in communications success’ or the ‘team player who has increased profitability by X% over a two year period’ than the person who is unsure of what their successes actually are.
3. Talk about your input and your results, rather than hiding behind the smokescreen of ‘we’.
4. Be specific and have details/examples to hand. What are you proud of? What have you achieved? How have you contributed? Interviewers love facts, figures and statistics so they can be confident they’ve hired someone who’ll positively influence the wider company’s profitablity and bottom line.
5. Remember that there is a balance between modesty and being overly confident. You’re being interviewed for cultural fit, being part of a wider team and organisation, not world domination.
6. Be genuine. If you don’t know the answer to something, say so, perhaps turning a negative into a positive by saying “I  don’t have the experience to answer that question but what I do know is….”. Honesty is always the best policy no matter how great your acting ability.
7. Be aware that social media is desired – even if you don’t do it, make sure you understand it.
8. Be mindful. An hour is usually allocated for a meeting. Refrain from telling them your life story.  Instead, be succinct, to the point and use that hour to your best advantage.  If you don’t, someone else will…
9. Have questions prepared – there is always something you can ask. What are the company plans for the future? What is the office culture like?. Questions are a good way of demonstrating a real interest in the business. Remember, you’re interviewing them / the company almost as much as they are interviewing you.
10. Be aware of the skills that employers are interested in now, such as new business, emerging trends or markets or digital skills.  If you’re not sure of what they are – do your homework!

No so former Brunswick and now College Hill Partner, James Hogan who, having just released his book, The Art Upstart’ (an autobiographical look at his life in PR and how his hobby, art, has become his passion) is now receiving critical acclaim for his creative talents outside the office.

With plaudits from the likes of Sir David Frost, Greg Dyke and Adam Boulton, it’s clear that James is not only an accomplished PR, but a talented artist, too. So much so that the first 28 pictures from what will be an eventual portfolio of 225 works is set to go on show in a one-man-artistic-exhibition on 7^th June at Cork Street, with a proportion of the sales being donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

It’s also clear that in overcoming the reputedly snobbish art establishment, James is using his PR skills to great effect courtesy of a viral marketing campaign. The Art Upstart, a beautiful book in itself, also has its own website (www.theartupstart.com), Facebook and Twitter pages and is generating deserved media interest.

Anyway, can’t tell you any more because we really must get cracking on that novel, but feel free peruse this at your leisure: http://bit.ly/bxfu6e

After careful planning and preliminary research, Kate Boyle explains why her career move was not a leap of faith against the odds but a much safer, considered one.

Name: Kate Boyle

Position: Independent Consultant, Financial Services PR

Company: Kate Boyle PR, Media and Events. For more information, click on www.kateboyle-pr.co.uk or e-mail her at kate@kateboyle-pr.co.uk

Can you summarise your career path to date? In the 10 years I’ve been working in the City, I’ve gained experience in a variety of fields including finance, advertising and recruitment. For the last six years though, I’ve specialised in financial services PR, specifically pensions and investments which I’m passionate about, firstly as an account manager for GR Communications and now as an independent consultant.

Describe your role: As anyone who has started their own company knows, my role includes everything from pitching, making presentations and networking, to photocopying and making the coffee.

What’s been your career highlight to date? Winning my first client as an independent consultant. I was recommended to pitch by a journalist contact and, even though the tender process was at a fairly advanced stage at that point, I got it. It was before I had a website or had done any marketing, but I knew it was too good an opportunity to miss. To think that I won entirely on my own merits was – is – a fantastic feeling.

And your greatest challenge? Jumping ship! Without wanting to sound repetitious, turning a hope and idea into a reality by setting up my own company has been challenging, yes, but incredibly rewarding. I still wake up and wonder whether I was crazy to take such a leap, especially with the volatility of the financial markets over the past year, but without tempting fate, so far, so good.

And ambition? In some ways, I’ve already achieved my ambition in as much as I’m now my own boss but developing long-standing relationships and having a solid book of clients is an ultimate goal.

What advice can you offer to other comms professionals who want to get ahead in the current climate? Knowing your market and knowing where you fit is an important part of succeeding at any time. I know many people had their reservations about my timing when it came to setting up my business but I’d done my research and knew there was a gap in the market for boutique financial services PR agencies who could offer great service for organizations with smaller budgets, specifically because of current market challenges. Be careful to target the right people and make sure that your USPs meet their requirements. Lastly, have a personality!

How do you feel about what you have achieved so far in your career? I’m pleased that I’m ticking many of the boxes I wanted to achieve but it’s not a case of resting on laurels – I’ve many targets and lots of work still to do.

What recent current affairs issue are you most interested in, and why? What’s going on in the pensions market – everything from solvency management and governance to legislation and personal accounts.

What challenges are you facing in your current position? I think helping people understand the benefits of working with a smaller provider, knowing that smaller does not mean less capable, will be an ongoing challenge, as will keeping up to date with everything and being an ambassador for your business. The day you stop believing in your business is the day it will go down the tubes.

Do you have an unusual, impressive or inspirational career path? Are you able to offer sage career advice to other communications professionals? If so, we’d love to hear from you! To nominate a colleague or be featured as the next ‘rising star’ yourself, contact us at: sarah@the-works.co.uk or tel. 020 7559 6690. Alternatively, click on our website at: www.the-works.co.uk