PRovoke Media is stepping up efforts to support the PR community during Covid-19, opening up its popular global jobs board to allow freelancers and unemployed PR professionals to post their details and connect with potential opportunities.

We will also promote these listings via regular emails to our entire global marketing/events readership. In addition, we are offering our editorial platform to enable those seeking work to post thought leadership content. If you would like to learn more and post your details, please contact us here. 

We are also actively seeking partners who can donate training to help jobseekers use this period to hone their skills. If you can think you can help with this, please let us know at the email above. 

Meanwhile, in Asia-Pacific — in-house communications execs that have been made unemployed by Covid-19 can benefit from six months free membership of APACD by emailing us. We are also supporting APACD's Sustainable Communications Programme in Hong Kong and other Asian markets, which creates virtual groups of students, early career comms execs and experienced mentors to help solve communications problems for charities, NGOs and social enterprises. For more details, please email APACD.

In addition, we are happy to promote a new networking and career advisory group set up by communications industry veteran Marian Salzman and her sister Jane Zemba, an adjunct professor at Fashion Institute of Technology.

The initiative is a response to the unique needs of the college and university classes of 2018-2022, who are facing the extraordinary challenge of seeking internships, work experience, and professional employment at a time when millions of people globally have been furloughed, laid off, or face uncertain job security.

The project kicked off on 17 April with an introductory Zoom session on 'What We Know About Work c. April 2020' and 'Things to Start Doing.' This has now been formalized into weekly Friday evening Zooms (6:30 p.m. EST) featuring presentations by leaders of business and NGOs, complemented by insights drawn from the organizers’ networks, news reports, and expert forecasts. Each participant—currently numbering nearly 100—is paired with both an advisor, based on areas of interest, and a fellow networker (job-search buddy), for continued motivation and support. Advisers have committed to providing a minimum of six hours of one-to-one mentoring over the next several weeks.

Salzman and Zemba have enlisted considerable support from across the communications, retail, and branding sectors. Upcoming sessions will feature NBC Boston anchor Jackie Bruno Finley and Stagwell vice-chair Ray Day, with each session drilling into practical steps young people can take while practicing social distancing. "No one is being paid for this, and there is no fee to join," said Salzman. "It is simply a goodwill effort on the part of industry pros to give the next generation a boost."

Aside from the US, the project has attracted participants from Australia, Switzerland, the UK, Ukraine and beyond. If you would like to join the group—as a new graduate (classes of 2018-2022 only), advisor, or session presenter—or would like more information, please email here.