Comm superwoman gives her two cents

Holly McFall is a public relations professional on hiatus to be a stay at home mom. She is also the founder of the fabulous football blog for women, Girls on Football. She has some advice for any ladies out there in the field of Communication:

1) The main thing I wish I had known before starting my first job was: Nobody knows the difference between Public Relations and Marketing. Most companies figure they go hand in hand and consider both jobs a function of the "Marketing Department". I studied PR. In my college curriculum, Marketing was a completely different major. Different classes, projects, and requirements. I feel that either businesses should start understanding that these two functions are separate or colleges should recognize that the business world is grouping them together and start a major that incorporates both so the graduate is prepared to step into a role as both PR and Marketing Expert. Because in the situations I have witnessed, Marketing Departments are not very big and one person is required to do Marketing, PR, MultiMedia, etc.

2) One "Do" for young professional women: Do attack your job with a positive attitude. Even if you are overqualified or in a temporary job, a positive attitude is noticed and admired.

One "Don't": Don't get discouraged at managements lack of inspiration or resistance to brilliant ideas. Your creativity will be appreciated someday.

Another "Don't": Be friendly with all your co-workers but don't get locked into any one clique as management will sart to judge you based on aquaintances and not your performance.

Can we second that one about being judged based on your office clique? Amen!

Know thyself

Annie, whose field is healthcare, understands a thing or two about the importance of knowing yourself as it relates to the workplace. She had this great advice to share with women starting out in their careers:

1) What do you wish you had known when you started working?

I wish I would have known what I truly wanted to do with my life! Beginning a career is exciting stuff, but 5 years down the road, if it's not exactly what your heart is in, you will regret that you never determined what your calling was.

2) List one "do" and one "don't" for young women at work

DO play the part. Act as if....in other words, have confidence in yourself and your work. If you have confidence in yourself, others respect you more. If you went to college and earned a degree, flaunt it! you earned it! Personally, I have a doctorate, but don't have ANYONE call me doctor...but I should!

DON'T allow yourself to be taken advantage of, as many women do. Stand your ground and know your role and be sure that your superiors know that you are a force to be reckoned with!!

Our New Year's Wish

We polled a group of friends to see what they were hoping for, work-wise, in the New Year. Here's what they said:

"To finally prove to my boss that I get more done when I telecommute than when I'm in the office!" - Susan R.

"This year I'm finally going to use the task function on my Blackberry instead of writing myself a bunch of notes that get lost." - Pat M.

"I want to find a way to work with another manager on our team who constantly bends the rules, or ignores them totally, to get his way. I'm sick of being mad about it and am going to learn how to deal." - Pamela K.

"I'm going to go back to working full time after being a stay at home mom for four years. I want to do something in my kid's school but am not sure what." - Nikki N.

Hearing these made us wonder what we should be resolving to do ourselves...check out this great article on business resolutions for the New Year for a jump start.