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Big dreams, small town:

Creating a long-lasting, fuifiiling career in an undersized market
By Sarah Fuller
At various times in my career, I have considered relocating to a major metropoiitan area because of the number of PR positions available. However, my desire to move has been short-lived as ! realize that I have been able to build a solid, fulfilling PR career in a small town. Whether you live in a small city by choice or out of necessity, it is possible to construct a long-lasting and enjoyable P R career by using strategies that will pay dividends in undersized markets. locate other students who went to your school.These people are often willing to help fellow alumni with their job search. Also, make sure that you get to know your neighbors, the other parents at your child's school, local service providers, and. of course, PR professionals in the community. While face-toface networking should be your top priority, online social s networks such as * Facebook, Linkedin and MySpace also can be useful for gaining professional contacts. Just make sure that your profile pages on these sites contain suitable tontent for potential employers to view. Save the pictures of your social life for another forum. I continue to hear about more employers who surf the Web and look at someone's social networking profile, immediately ruling out that person as a potential employee because of something distasteful found online. All of this networking may take a lot ot effort, but it is well worth it when it helps people tliink of you first when a PR position becomes available. remotely, such as fi"eelance writing and copyediting. You may be offered smaller PR consulting jobs atfirst,but as you build your reputation, you will have more work opportunities.The key is to keep pusiiing forward until you build a sustain;ible career.

Stick together
Despite how few people work in public relations in small communities, strength comes from sticking together. Do everything that you can to foster camaraderie between the professionals in your community. Start an informal gathering, such as a quarterly lunch at a restaurant or travel together to a PRSA Chapter meeting in a larger city.Work with fellow PR practitioners to offer workshops on PR tools and techniques at your local library and promote awareness of the value of public relationsUse networking, flexibility and teamwork to enjoy a satisfying PR career while reaping the benefits of the slower pace of life you can find outside of an urban setting. O

Lifelong networking
Networking is a great way to grow your career and it is critically important in small markets. In less populated communities, individuals are able to get to know many other people who live and work around them-Therefore, employers are more inclined to hire people that they have previously met or that a friend recommends. Successful PR career growth requires consistent, sustained networking. Try to become an active participant in a variety of groups. And trade associations are a great place to start as they offer industry contacts.To find a trade association relevant to your interests, check the Encyclopedia ofAssociations, which lists more than 135,000 nonprofit member organizations worldwide. Look into volunteering with your local chamber of commerce and business-related civic organizations such as the Rotar>' club. Charitable and social organizations also offer the opportunity to meet new people while benefiting the community at the same time. Contact your alumni association to

way to do this is to show a business owner how valuable your services can be to the bottom line. Start by consulting on a particular project or issue and expand from there. By demonstrating to the business owner how you can help the company grow its market share,you illustrate your worth.

Be fiexibie
Flexibility is key in these markets. Instead of only holding a single PR position with one oi^nization, it may be possible to make a career out of combining several different jobs. For exaniple, you can work part-time for one company and also do consulting projects for several other businesses.To fill up your workday, offer to hold seminars on topics in which you have some expertise, such as working with the media or building a business using public relations. Also, consider teacliing courses for a local college or taking on work that you can do

Create opportunity
In small markets, there are only a handful of PR jobs and people often remain in these same positions for the duration of their careers. If you do not fall into this category, then create your own coveted position .The most effective

Sarah Fuller j.> a PRSA memha .mil iiitlnir ol tlie Ihwk ''Job Searches Beyond the Big Cities: l-inding F-mphymait in Medium to Smalt-Sized Markets. "B-tttail: ii.com.

Bulleted iists
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Up or down?
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Don't make this mistake

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Correct
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By the numbers
If items in a list are numbered, a period should follow the numeral and * each item should begin with a capital

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Joseph PrteSt i.* editor oftwlitK ivniiuniciition it Kctchum 'i .\eii'York office, wliere he co-wri a monthly style-aud-usage newsletter. He can lie rearhi-d at