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Columbia College Chicago – Portfolio Center

Talent Pool Project: Public Relations Campaign

TALENT POOL Connect. Collaborate. Create.

Overview:

This is a media relations/publicity program designed to raise awareness of the

functions and benefits of Talent Pool, a new online networking and collaborative

initiative open to the Columbia community.

Situational Analysis:

The Career Initiative department of Columbia College Chicago is launching a

new college-wide website that allows students to showcase themselves and their work.

The idea of Talent Pool is to allow employers looking for student workers to browse

through the immense talent Columbia College Chicago has to offer and locate students

for jobs. The site also allows students to network and collaborate with other students in

both similar and different fields of study.

Students design their own Talent Pool profiles by creating a professional

biography, specifying the type of work they are interested in, indicating specific words

to define their professional and career interests, and uploading up to five professional

creative works that visually defines who they are to the public. A Launch Party will be

held to promote and explain Talent Pool to the public, as well as to allow users to

receive one-on-one assistance with developing their personal pages.

Goals / Objectives:

- To increase awareness of Talent Pool to Columbia students. - To optimize channels of communication between students of all different majors

at Columbia College Chicago. - To promote the usefulness of Talent Pool to past, present, and future students of

Columbia College Chicago. - To promote the Talent Pool event launch party; Wednesday March 30, 2011 at

618 S. Michigan Ave – Stage Two from 12:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. - To encourage students, staff, and faculty to create their own profiles.

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Publics:

The targeted audience for this plan includes members of the Columbia College

Chicago community, specifically those who could contribute to and would benefit from

having Talent Pool’s profiles. This would include:

o Students

Year (Freshman, Sophomore, Juniors, Seniors, At-Large, Graduate)

Major/concentration

o Faculty – Utilize Talent Pool for more networking aspects.

Full-time

Adjunct

o Potential Employers – Utilize Talent Pool to find volunteers, interns and

potential employees.

Messages:

Talent Pool is an initiative of Columbia College Chicago’s Career Initiatives and

Portfolio Center. We want the public to learn and understand a few important details

about Talent Pool.

- Talent Pool is a free new service aimed at assisting students, emerging and more established professionals find work.

- An online database designed to showcase student skills and works to potential employers.

- Talent Pool allows you to promote your work through social media outlets. - Open to all students of all majors: past, present, and future. - Creating a Talent Pool profile makes you and your work more visible to the

work.

Strategies /Tactics:

Explaining Talent Pool and promoting its launch using:

- Portfolio Center Blog, Career Initiative and Portfolio Center webpages

o Official Columbia College Chicago webpages:

www.colum.edu/Students/Career/

www.colum.edu/Students/Career/portfolio_center/

o Social Media outlets

https://www.facebook.com/columbiacollegechicago

https://www.facebook.com/pcenter

http://twitter.com/#!/columcareer

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We can use these websites to reach out to students. Using the blog and the Columbia

websites, we can post information about what Talent Pool is weeks before the launch party. It

would have general questions and answers about what Talent Pool does and how it works, along

with how to create effective biographies and portfolios. The blog could update weekly or bi-

weekly with posts about important tips to creating a portfolio and networking. The Facebook

sites would update catchy statuses reminding students to come to the event. They could be

things like, “Jump in the Pool, the water is warm”, “Don’t get lost as sea, Talent Pool’s here to

the rescue”, and “Drowning in the sea of job searching? Talent Pool will help you stay afloat!”.

Once the launch party happens, we can continue using the websites as online sources for

students who didn’t attend the event to learn how to create their own profiles. There would be

an instructions video and how-to screen shots with step-by-step information.

- Columbia Student News site:

o http://students.colum.edu/ews/category/career-initiatives/

- Columbia Radio Station: WCRX 88.1

- Columbia Television Programming:

o Frequency TV o Metro Minutes

- Columbia Chronicle

To effectively reach students on Columbia’s campus, it’s very important to have

media coverage. Before the launch party, we could pitch stories to campus print, radio,

and television news outlets. For radio, we could contact a student DJ at WCRX 88.1 to

do an on air interview about what Talent Pool is and the actual launch party. It could

be as long as a full interview or as short as a quick 30 second reminder for students to

come. For television, we could contact Frequency TV Metro Minutes to pitch a feature

story for one of their segments. Similar to radio, it could be a full interview on camera

or just having the anchor remind students about the event. For the Chronicle, we

would pitch a press release and pitch letter to get full featured story. We would contact

a campus reporter/editor and see if they would want to do an interview to get more

into or if they would just want a written document entailing everything about Talent

Pool and the launch party.

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Overview:

This is a public relations program designed to raise awareness of the different

functions and benefits of the programs, events, and features that encompasses the

Portfolio Center.

Situational Analysis:

Columbia College Chicago Career Initiatives is a student-oriented program that

assists with the student short and long-term employment, job searching and connecting,

career exploring, and portfolio development. Career Initiatives embodies three separate

independent programs that have their own specific functions in helping students

prepare for their future: Student Employment, Career Development, and the Portfolio

Center.

The Portfolio Center does several key things to help shape the work students have

done in their classes into a highly effective portfolios. First, the Portfolio Center has a lot

of information about portfolio strategies; such as what employers need to see from job-

seekers and a plethora of portfolio samples to look at. Second, they can help with

documenting, recording or packaging the work that will go into a final portfolio to make

a presentation looks very professional. Third, they can help get individuals in touch with

professionals in their field of study to gain insights, practice presenting works, and begin

networking.

Goals / Objectives:

The main focus of this plan is to raise awareness to the publics of the different

services, events, and programs the Portfolio Center offers. Overall, we want key publics

to learn and understand that the Portfolio Center helps to professionally organize your

body of work, as well as know about and use the different facility services.

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Publics:

The targeted audience for this strategical include members of the Columbia

College Chicago community, specifically those who need assistance with creating and

developing their portfolios.

This would include:

o Students

Year (Freshman, Sophomore, Juniors, Seniors, At-Large, Graduate)

Although students from all years will be included in our

planning, we want to make note to really promote and explain

to freshman, sophomores, and juniors that it is equally

important for them to start working on their portfolio’s early.

Major/concentration – All Majors and All Concentrations

Due to many misconceptions a large number of students have

regarding the necessity and importance of having a portfolio,

we want to especially target students in majors that wouldn’t

typically find it important to have a portfolio – Marketing

Communications, Radio Broadcasting, Dance, Education, and

AEMM.

o Faculty

Full-time

Adjunct

o Potential employers

Messages:

- It is very important for all students to have a portfolio.

- Talent Pool is new service to showcase student skills/works

- Start early, build body of work

- Networking is a very important aspect of making connections, gaining

information and contacts, and finding work. The Portfolio Center will make

sure you that when you network, you have the portfolio and materials to make

a great impression and network effectively.

- The Portfolio Center is well-versed in the mechanicals of making an effective

portfolio.

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Strategies:

Explaining and promoting the Portfolio Center, its services and events.

Media Relations

Connecting with and pitching to Columbia College and local South Loop Chicago

news outlets about what the Portfolio Center is, some highlights of their past success

and information about upcoming plans and events.

Outlets include:

- Loop

- Columbia Chronicle

- Red Eye

- Columbia College Chicago Television Programming:

o Frequency TV o Metro Minutes

Special Events

Representatives of the Portfolio Center would attend Career Initiative, Portfolio

Center, and other career oriented events to promote Portfolio Center. While at these

events, the representatives could provide information about what the portfolio

center does and upcoming planned event. Attending these events will provide

tangible examples of how the Portfolio Center and having a portfolio will help with

students futures’.

- Talent Pool Launch – Wed., March 30th- 618 S. Michigan-Stage Two: 12pm.

- CNN Event – Tues., April 12th - 623 S. Wabash Suite307: 5pm.

- Networking and educational events

o The C Marketing Event - Fri., April 1st - 1104 S. Wabash - Conway Center

Social Media

Utilizing the internet and Social Media to reach students about Portfolio Center

events.

- Using Career Initiative and Portfolio Center webpages

o Official Columbia College Chicago webpages:

www.colum.edu/Students/Career/

www.colum.edu/Students/Career/portfolio_center/

o Social Media outlets

https://www.facebook.com/pcenter

http://twitter.com/#!/columcareer

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TALENT POOL Connect. Collaborate. Create.

For Immediate Release Collier Rowe

February 21, 2011 Phone: 301/905-8101

Collier.Rowe@loop.colum.edu

Columbia College Chicago Career Initiatives Launches

Innovative Website to Link Students and Employment

CHICAGO -- Columbia College Chicago’s Career Initiative department is launching a

brand new online initiative webpage program, Talent Pool, aimed at allowing students to share

their creative and find work.

Talent Pool is an online directory where both emerging and established Columbia

College Chicago professionals can feature their information, skills, and creative works. The first

of its kind for any college or university in the United States, Talent Pool allows potential

employers to browse through the immense talent Columbia College Chicago has to offer and

locate students for work.

Different from Web Agent and other sites for mostly visual creative based works, Talent

Pool is open to students of all class standings and all concentrations, both alumni and current.

The program allows Columbia Professionals to differentiate their works and skills from

generality by specifying and structuring themselves under ‘tags’ and ‘filters’ in which their work

and skill set specialize. Talent Pool also allows students to connect with students in other

concentrations that they normally wouldn’t be able to.

“Talent Pool is a great networking and collaborating tool for Columbia students,” saed

Columbia College Portfolio Center Assistant Director and Talent Pool co-creator Caroline

Juhlin. “We created this site with the mindset and understanding that when it comes to employers

looking for potential employees, talent finds talent. The site should prove to be an effective tool

for our schools rising professionals to jumpstart their careers - a benefit to students and

employers.”

The kick-off event for Talent Pool will be held Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 618 S.

Michigan Ave in Stage Two from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

To create an account or register for the kick-off event, please visit www.talent.colum.edu.

For more information on Talent Pool or the kick-off event, please visit www.talent.colum.edu or

contact Collier Rowe at (301) 905-8101.

Founded in 1890, Columbia College Chicago is the largest and most diverse private arts

and media college in the nation with more than 120 academic programs and nearly 12,500

students. It offers an unparalleled array of courses with exceptional technological resources in

the heart of one of America's greatest cities.

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