The starting salary for a PR specialist is …

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A new report from the staffing firm Robert Half International says that starting salaries in the PR and marketing fields are expected to grow by 3.5 percent in 2012.
          By comparison, starting salaries in the legal field are expected to see a 1.9 percent bump, while IT professionals will likely see a 4.5 percent increase. The average increase for all office workers is 3.4 percent.The report also reveals average starting salaries for a number of positions in the PR and marketing fields.
          For instance, the starting salary for a PR specialist in a corporate environment, with one to five years of experience, ranges from $38,750 to $60,500. PR specialists with more than five years of experience can expect a starting salary of between $59,000 and $82,750, according to the report.

Hot Stovers add seven to its Hall of Fame

Below is the “actual” news release.To comment: larry@larrylitwin.com

 

Contact:

 

Bill Wagner

 

President

 

Hot Stovers Club of South Jersey

 

(856) 767-7170

 

Dave Townsend

 

(856) 424-8545

 

             or

 

Larry Litwin – 856-767-7730 – larry@larrylitwin.com

 

 

 

Today’s Date:  Oct. 16, 2011                                  Release:  Upon Receipt

 

 

 

MEDIA ALERT

(Full release/Pick up on next page)

 

 

          Event: Hot Stovers Baseball Club of South Jersey 52nd Anniversary Dinner

 

 

 

          DATE:  Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011

 

          TIME:   2 p.m.

 

          PLACE: Masso’s Columbus Manor, Black Horse Pike, Williamstown.

 

Details:  Seven inductees will have their names added to the South Jersey  Baseball Hall of Fame housed at Campbell Field in Camden. Tickets,  priced at $40, are now on sale and may be purchased by contacting banquet chair Dave Townsend at (856)424-8545 or Bill Wagner, Hot Stovers’ president, at (856)767-7170. This year’s inductees are former players: Elwood Bearint, of Camden’s semi-professional leagues and a Philadelphia A’s minor league player; Joe Cruz III, Overbrook High School ’95 and Camden County College; Ted Frett, Woodrow Wilson High School ’66 and Temple University; Chuck Ricci, Shawnee High School, ’87 and Philadelphia Phillies; Josh Schwartz, Gateway Regional ’00, Rowan University and Saint Louis Cardinals system; Steve Van Note, Atlantic City High School ‘99 and University of Delaware; and Larry Litwin, Pennsauken High School, ’63 and Parsons College, who enters as a contributor (current umpire, sports announcer).

 

In addition, the Hot Stovers will be honoring its 2011 High School All-Star team, South Jersey Coach of the Year, American Legion Most Valuable Player, and six scholarship recipients including winners of the Tom Heinkel, Bill Carty, and Robert Bobo Memorial Scholarship Awards.

 

### (See next page for full release)

 

 

Pick up Hot Stover honorees/Page 1 of 6 – October 16, 2011

 

 

 

Seven inductees will have their names added to the South Jersey                      Baseball Hall of Fame housed at Campbell Field in Camden.  The induction luncheon is set for Masso’s Columbus Manor, Black Horse Pike, Williamstown on Saturday, Nov. 26 at 2 p.m. Tickets, priced at $40, are now on sale and may be purchased by contacting banquet chair Dave Townsend at (856) 424-8545 or  Bill Wagner, Hot Stovers’ president, at (856) 767-7170.

 

In addition, the Hot Stovers will be honoring its 2011 High School All-Star team,

 

 

 

South Jersey Coach of the Year, American Legion Most Valuable Player, and six

 

 

 

scholarship recipients including winners of the Tom Heinkel, Bill Carty, and Robert

 

 

 

Bobo Memorial Scholarship Awards.

 

 

 

This year’s inductees are former players: Elwood Bearint, of Camden’s semi-professional leagues and a Philadelphia A’s minor league player; Joe Cruz III, Overbrook High School ’95 and Camden County College; Ted Frett, Woodrow Wilson High School ’66 and Temple University; Chuck Ricci, Shawnee High School, ’87 and Philadelphia Phillies; Josh Schwartz, Gateway Regional ’00, Rowan University and Saint Louis Cardinals system; Steve Van Note, Atlantic City High School ‘99 and University of Delaware; and Larry Litwin, Pennsauken High School, ’63 and Parsons College, who enters as a contributor (current umpire, sports announcer).

 

           

 

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Pick up Hot Stover honorees/Page 2 of 6 – October 16, 2011

 

Elwood Bearint is entering the Hall posthumously. He grew up in the Cramer Hill section of Camden where he was considered one of the top baseball players in the area.  He was a crafty left-handed pitcher. Newspaper stories and boxscores indicate he was an above average hitter and excellent defensive outfielder when not pitching.

 

He was signed by Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics in 1926 and played for the Chambersburg (Pa.) Maroons in the Blue Ridge League and York (Pa.) in the New York-Penn League in 1926 where he hit .256 with a 7-6 pitching record.

 

In 1927, Bearint hit .316 for the Maroons with a 1-4 pitching record. In an exhibition game for the York Roses, he pitched against the St. Louis Cardinals (facing Rogers Hornsby) losing 6-2.

 

Prior to signing with the A’s, Bearint pitched and hit for the successful Defiance team in Camden. In 1923, Defiance took the Camden City championship with a 33-8 record.  After injuring his elbow in 1927, he returned from the minors to lead Camden to championships in the South Jersey Police League and Strawbridge and Clothier in the Camden City League. For a time, he was a mechanic in the Camden Police garage.

 

He continued to play in the area during the ’30s and /’40s while running a roofing business. Bearint died in 1954 at 48. Both of his younger brothers, Paul and Chuck, played professional ball and are members of the SJ HOF.

 

Joe Cruz is a 1995 Overbrook (Pine Hill) graduate and an All American in ’96 and ’97 at Camden County College. In 1997, he was National Junior College Player of the Year, Region 19 Player of the Year and South Jersey Baseball Coaches Player of the Year and named to Team USA.

 

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Pick up Hot Stover honorees/Page 3 of 6 – October 16, 2011

 

At Overbrook, Cruz was an outstanding infielder and hitter batting .430, .419 and .469 respectively in ’93, ’94 and ’95. He had double digits in extra base hits and runs batted in all three years. He was All-Olympic Conference all three years, All-Group IV and All-South Jersey in ’94 and ’95 and All-State in ’95. In 1995, Cruz was honored by the Hot Stovers with the Billy Carty Memorial Scholarship. He was Most Valuable Player of the North-South New Jersey State All-Star game in ’95.

 

Cruz transferred to Mount Olive (N.C.) College where he was first team

 

All-Regional MVP and played with the 1998 Team USA in Toronto, Canada. Later he

 

signed with Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic Independent League.

 

Ted Frett is a 1966 Woodrow Wilson graduate. The left-handed pitcher and hitter

 

led the Tigers to the Camden City Series Championship, was his team’s MVP and was selected Camden City Player of the Year. In 1966, he tossed one no hitter, two one hitters, and two two hitters. A member of the Cramer Hill Boys Club, he was honored as the winner of the Boys Club of America Medallion emblematic of “Boy of the Year.”

 

Frett received a baseball scholarship to Temple University where he is still third all-time in strike outs averaging 9.44 per game and 11th in strike outs with 166. His four-year earned run average was 3.07. He was a First Team All-Star pitcher in NCAA District II in 1969 and caught the eye of professional scouts in May 1968 when he tossed a three hitter against Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) snapping the Profs’ 35-game winning streak.

 

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Pick up Hot Stover honorees/Page 4 of 6 – October 16, 2011

 

 

 

During the summer, he played in the South Dakota Basin League and named an All Star averaging 13 strike outs per game enroute to a 9-4 record.

 

After graduating from Temple, he signed with the Boston Red Sox playing for Greenville (S.C.) and Winter Haven (Fla.) – Class A. When his professional career ended, Frett returned to the area to play for another 10 years in the Philadelphia Penn-Del and other leagues in South Jersey and Philadelphia.

 

He is a life-long educator and retired principal living in West Deptford where he is proud to say, “I fly the flag in front of our home 24/7, 365 days a year.” He is the nephew of South Jersey Hall of Famer Fred “General” Frett, HOF ’91 also from the Cramer Hill section of Camden.

 

Chuck Ricci is a 1987 Shawnee High School graduate and former Phillies pitcher. Now a national cross checker for Cleveland Indians, he has spent 25 years in professional baseball.

 

At Shawnee, he earned four varsity letters being named All-Conference in ’85, ’86 and ’87, All-Group IV and All-South Jersey in ’86 and ’87 and All-State in 1987.  Ricci posted a career 31-6 record and 1.73 ERA for the Renegades.

 

During his 11 year professional career (1987-97), Ricci, a right hander, went

 

65-60 with 49 saves and a 3.94 ERA. He led the International (AAA) League with 25 saves in 1995 and was named Pitcher of the Year with the Scranton Red Barons. He had a short stint with the Phillies and went 1-0 with the Phillies in 1995 with nine strikeouts and a 1.80 ERA.

 

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Pick up Hot Stover honorees/Page 5 of 6 – October 16, 2011

 

 

 

Josh Schwartz had stellar careers at Gateway High School (’00) and Rowan University. He was taken by the Saint Louis Cardinals in the 42nd round of the Major League Baseball draft after graduating from Rowan in 2005.

 

At Rowan, Schwartz won 37 consecutive games, holds the Prof record for shutouts in a season with four and the career record with eight. He also holds the Profs’ career record for wins in a season, 13, career victories, 38, and a career ERA of 2.03. He is tied for the university record of 17 career complete games.

 

He was a three-time New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) and New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association (NJCBA) Division II/III Pitcher of the Year. He earned NJAC All-Conference honors and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)

 

All-Region First Team honors three times. In 2004 and 2005, he was named to the ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division III Baseball All-America First Team. Schwartz is a member of the All-2000 Decade team – Division III.

 

The lefthander went 9-2 in his senior year at Gateway where he was

 

All-Conference, All-Group and All-South Jersey. He is now the pitching coach at Gloucester County College, 2009 national champions and the 2010 runners up.

 

Steve Van Note, a 1999 graduate of Atlantic City High School, earned four varsity letters in baseball. He led the Cape Atlantic League his senior year, batting .556. He was All-Group IV, All-Conference and All-South Jersey in 1998 and ’99.

 

 

 

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Pick up Hot Stover honorees/Page 6 of 6 – October 16, 2011

 

 

 

At the University of Delaware, Van Note was team captain and MVP batting .333 with 14 home runs and 56 RBI and a team-leading 19 stolen bases He is 10th all-time among Blue Hen home run hitters with 31.

 

Van Note spent three seasons with the Lancaster Barnstormers in the Atlantic Independent League leading them to the league title. He has taken his baseball prowess to the All-Star Baseball Academy in West Chester, Pa. where he serves as director of special events.

 

Larry Litwin is being inducted as the 2011 contributor. He played his high school baseball at Pennsauken (’63), summer ball in the Delaware Valley League where he was All-Star Game MVP in ’62 and Garden State League leading the league in hitting in 1963 with a .429 average. He went onto Parsons (Iowa) College (’67) where he became a sports announcer after suffering a career-ending injury.

 

Since 1965, Litwin has covered and announced hundreds of high school, college and professional baseball, football and basketball games. He is a 35-year member of the New Jersey Baseball Umpires Association – officiating nearly 1,500 college, independent and high school games including New Jersey State finals, semi-finals and several North-South All-Star Games.

 

As an announcer, Litwin called games for WJJZ (Mount Holly), WKDN and WCAM (Camden), ABC’s World of Sports (New York), and KYW Newsradio (Philadelphia). On Aug. 11, 1981, Litwin was behind the microphone at Veterans Stadium for the Westinghouse Broadcasting Network and called the Pete Rose hit that broke Stan Musial’s National League hit record. He became a member of the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association in 1968 and has served as secretary since 1977.

 

In addition to his involvement in amateur and professional sports, Litwin has been a full- and part-time faculty member at Rowan University for 41 years.

 

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Skype interview – Another case of ‘The Future is Now’

My
Rowan University students have been asking me about skype interview prep. Here
are some tips compiled from a variety of sources that should help. To comment: larry@larrylitwin.com.

First: a summary

1) Do
wear the same attire you would wear for an on-campus interview. Business dress
is recommended.

2) Do
situate your camera or laptop in a quiet room where you will not be interrupted
by other people coming or leaving during your interview.

3) Do
make sure your camera/laptop is charged or plugged in so you do not have to
interrupt your interview to plug it in.

4) Be
aware of how you appear on camera. Test your camera before the interview to
ensure that the lighting is not too bright or too dim and that your distance
from the camera is appropriate – we do want to see more of you than your face,
but we do not need to see the entire room behind you.

Happy
Skyping!

——————————

10 must-dos for Skype interviews

Master video
skills, etiquette ahead of time

 

Oct. 1, 2011 from The Philadelphia Inquirer – Career Builder

 

If you are a job seeker and never used
Skype – the software program that lets you video chat on the Internet – then
you might want to get familiar with it. Skype interviews are becoming
increasingly common during the hiring process. They’re more personal than phone
interviews since they allow recruiters to meet candidates face-to-face. They’re
also great for job seekers conducting long-distance searches, especially these
days when budget-conscious companies might be unwilling to cover travel costs
for interviewees.

If Skype interviews still are uncharted
territory in your job search, here are 10 must-do tips for this up-and-coming
hiring practice.

1. Do a tech check. A successful Skype interview will require a high-speed
Internet connection and a webcam, so make sure you’ll have both of these
available and in working order before scheduling your interview.

2. Practice. If you’re new to Skype, set up a time to chat with a family
member or friend to work out any technical kinks. You also can use this
practice call to play around with Skype’s file-sharing capability, in case your
interviewer requests to see samples of your work, a résumé, reference letters,
etc.

3. Dress appropriately. A Skype interview should be taken just as seriously
as an in-person interview. If you’d wear a suit for an in-office interview,
wear one for the video interview, too.

“Even though you are not interviewing for the position in person,
appearance still matters,” said Cheryl Palmer, owner of Call to Career, a
career coaching firm in Ohio. Dressing your best will help you feel confident,
qualified and professional.

4. Watch your back(ground). Set up your computer where you plan to conduct
the interview and turn on your camera. What do you see? Chances are, you’ll be
doing the interview from home, but your surroundings should be free of mess,
clutter and overly personal touches. In other words, your pile of dirty dishes
and your toddler’s high chair should not be visible in the background. A neat
home office, well-organized bookshelf or blank wall will make the best backdrop.

5. Pay attention to lighting. Like in any other setting, lighting will help
set the mood for the call. You’ll want to make sure your face is well lit and
free of shadows.

“Since you are clearly trying to put your best foot forward, you don’t
want shadows over your face,” Palmer said. “It is advisable to put a
light behind the computer so that there is enough light to illuminate your
face. You should also keep in mind that the lighting can make your face shiny,
so make sure that you powder your face lightly (even if you’re a man).”

6. Minimize the chance of interruptions. “Lock dogs, cats and other
pets in another room, preferably out of earshot, and turn off the ringer on
your land and cell phones to avoid an awkward interruption,” said Laurie
Berenson, a certified professional résumé writer and owner of New Jersey-based
Sterling Career Concepts. “Or, if there’s any chance that someone might
ring your doorbell or knock on your door, place a sign on the door that says
‘Interview in process. Do not disturb.'”

To avoid distracting background noise, turn off radios, televisions and
loud appliances.

7. Look at the camera. “Practice looking at the camera,” said
Steve Langerud, director of professional opportunities at DePauw University.
“Most candidates look at the screen but that means they are not looking at
the interviewer. It feels odd but looks a lot better on the other side.”

Looking at the camera will give the interviewer the impression that you’re
making eye contact.

8. Sit still. Hand-talkers, take note: “Don’t gesture too much.
Depending on the connection on the other end you will present a jerky and
distracting picture,” Langerud said.

9. Jot down notes. Have points you want to make or ideas you don’t want to
forget? Write notes down on an easel pad or type them up in a large font and
print them out. Then, mount your notes behind your camera. That way, you can
glance up at it if you need to jog your memory.

10. Hang up. Once the call is over, make sure you actually hang up.
Accidentally leaving the connection open provides endless potential for
embarrassment.

Kaitlin Madden is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com and its job
blog,
www.TheWorkBuzz.com.

Standing out from among the best

I was recently asked what a student must do to stand out from among the best. Some of my comments will appear in PRomo, the Rowan University PRSSA publication (Public Relations Student Society of America). To comment: larry@larrylitwin.com.

They must be the total package:

  • When meeting a professional, a student must give an outstanding first impression. That would include a businesslike appearance, firm handshake while looking the person in the eye, being an articulate and eloquent oral communicator and a strategic planner with outstanding writing skills.
  • In addition to crafting an effective resume, students should develop a compelling personal elevator speech, which summarizes who they are, what professors and other professionals think about them, their ambitions and why they should get the internship or the job.

It is important that the Rowan student conclude the elevator speech with another firm handshake as he/she hands the person being addressed a business card containing their name and contact information.

A student’s goal is not only making an outstanding first impression, but also a lasting impression – one that a prospective employer won’t soon forget – particularly if the “right fit” position opens.

SEE BELOW from Prof. Litwin’s book The ABCs of Strategic Communication:

An elevator speech is a strategic message delivered quickly and simply

(no more than 30 seconds – about the duration of an elevator ride) that

communicates a brand promise, mission or other main element about

you or your organization. The elevator speech or “pitch” must be clear

and concise and communicate the core aspects of your business – touch

briefly on the products or services you sell, what market you serve, and

your competitive advantage. It must be brief and clear. Employees and

stakeholders should know their organization’s elevator speech.

 

If the elevator speech is about you, identify your personal attributes and

quickly explain their benefits – benefits that might just get you a job or promotion.

According to author and business coach, Rhonda Abrams, it takes quite

a bit of thinking and practicing to decide what to mention in an elevator

speech. Because it must be short, you have to decide what must be left out.

“Often,” she says, “these can be the things you are most excited about.”

 

You’ll find you use your elevator speech more than just in elevators. Says

Abrams, “You will turn that 30-second speech into e-mails to prospective

customers and investors, to introduce yourself at organizational meetings

or when running into an old friend at a ballgame. Who knows? You may

even use it if you meet a potential customer in an elevator.

 

“So,” she advises, “go out and find a three-story building with an elevator,

ride up and down and practice your pitch. That way, you’ll be prepared

the next time someone asks you, ‘What do you do?’”

                                                            Sample Elevator Speech

Rowan University is a dynamic Top Tier regional university serving

high-achieving students through a combination of teaching,

research and project-based learning. The school’s reputation for

academic distinction is aided by its small class size, focus on interdisciplinary work and technologically advanced facilities.

To comment: larry@larrylitwin.com.