Advice For The PR Grad – Final Thoughts and Additional Resources
Here it is…the last post of our Advice series! Just a few more helpful tidbits – then a few extra job hunting resources and more places to go if you aren’t completely overwhelmed by now 
“I’ve talked with many recent grads throughout the interview process. Many are missing solid and relevant writing samples for the position they are applying for – but not having gotten your first job yet should not be a excuse. Rather, grads need to find a way to use and sharpen their writing skills. They could volunteer to write news releases or even offer to write or produce an entire website for a local nonprofit. Or they could help a friend or relative get the word out about their business. The idea is to simultaneously grow your portfolio and find a great first job.” ~ Rachel Hunt DPR Group
“Stay current! The media landscape and consumer behaviors are rapidly changing so I always look for applicants who are up-to-date on the latest media news, familiar with the newest media outlets (both online and offline) and understand what consumers are reading, watching and talking about. My clients are very diverse but they all value us for being ahead of the curve with our expertise and so I look for people that can bring that same mind set to the team when I am hiring. Let potential employers know that even as a recent grad you bring value to the table as someone in the know and on top of trends. I personally subscribe to a large number of daily newsletters, alerts and feeds to stay on top and recommend it highly as way to ensure you’re always in the loop. “Embrace Digital! The digital media space is expanding by leaps and bounds and any recent grad will surely be spending a huge amount of their career working with digital so it is essential to get involved and get confident early on. With all of our clients we make sure digital is a part of the media-mix and with many we execute digital tactics that go well beyond the traditional digital campaign. An ideal candidate for me is someone who sees the value in digital and is willing to constantly learn, try new things and grow in their expertise. If you haven’t had the opportunity to work directly in digital yet there are excellent case studies, seminars, resources and information online to learn from – and the great thing about digital is that it is changing and evolving everyday and there are no hard and fast rules. I think recent grads actually have many advantages over more senior folks in PR because the industry is changing so much right now. They bring fresh perspective to traditional media and, more often than not, they have an innate knowledge and willingness to learn in digital media. Additionally, success is no longer guaranteed by how big someone’s rolodex of contacts is so recent grads have the opportunity to jump into a more level playing field to make new connections and possibly change the game for all of us! In the past 6 months I’ve interviewed and met numerous recent grads, hired several of them and watched them absolutely kill it for our clients with their hard work, fantastic ideas and willingness to always learn, try and grow.” ~Victoria Shaw VP, Integrated Public Relations | AMP Agency
The public relations professionals we reached out to also gave us several resources that grads can take advantage of during a job hunt:
PR Open Mic – An ad-free and nonprofit social network for PR students, faculty and practitioners worldwide. Kristin Maverick, Director of Communications at CarrotCreative says “It’s easy and free to join, they host events and offer a platform to promote yourself and your skills.” She also pointed us to Path101, a career discovery destination that offers an advice column to connect with PR pros and experts that answer questions directly.
Also check out the IABC Student Connection, specifically the article Adventures of a New PR Professional by Rebecca Armendariz, and Ned Lundquist’s weekly newsletter featuring jobs for communications professionals.
If all the advice we stock-piled still isn’t enough for you check out these blog posts from various PR pros:
What Young PR Pros can do NOW to Help Their Job Search – from Angela Moore of Starfish PR
10 Places to Find Jobs on Twitter – from Drew Gneiser via the Daily Axioms Blog
5 Tactics to Land a Job Using Social Media (Plus Tips to Do it Right) – from Kelly Rusk’s Web2.What?
Advice For Graduating College Students – from Amybeth Hale
Landing a Great Job – Tips for Success – from Vojtech Horna’s Blog CzechPR
Tags: blog, internships, jobs, networking, resources
February 11th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
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February 11th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Great post! My sister is actually job searching so I asked her for some of her tips:
- If you need a job, tell people. People want to help, ask for it
- If you want to be in PR but don’t have a PR job, contact a local non-profit or small business and volunteer your time. This allows you to build a PR resume after hours
- Create a resume kit! Including a resume (minus personal contact info!), examples of your work, recommendations and more and upload it to a highly optimized database like http://www.docstoc.com. This database is free and has such high natural SEO, that your information will appear top in search results within a matter of days. This helps you control your online reputation as well as provides you another place, other than your own blog, to promote yourself and your accomplishments
- Set google search results up for terms like “PR or Marcomm in (city name)”
- Network! Get out of the house and attend as many free local events as you can. Eventbrite is a great service to search for networking events in your city
- YoungPrPros is a Yahoo group where old timers provide newbies with advice and assistance.
February 11th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Thank you for this advice. I am a PR student in Toronto, Ontario (Canada), looking for an internship for the summer. I am also a member of PR Open Mic, which has given me access to a
variety of information and advice about the industry.
It is great to hear that growing up in a social media world will help level the playing field. I have heard of individuals recently getting jobs through social media sites, especially when an agency or organization is looking to expand into social media.
One area we have been learning about in school is personal branding and developing your brand through the resume, interview, portfolio and other contact with potential employers. Online branding within PR groups and social media such as Twitter is becoming increasingly important to new professionals.
Many of us about to graduate from PR programs are concerned about the economic crisis and the likelihood that we will find jobs. All of the advice from this post and the others in the series have been excellent and informative.
I really like the docstoc.com idea and I will be sharing it with other students in my program. We are all creating portfolios and they can be difficult to compile. Other advice I have read included posting a portfolio on a blog (from web2dotwhat.com), and I am unsure of whether this would leave a positive or a negative impression in the eyes of PR professionals. What do people think about this?
Thanks again for the career advice!
http://web2dotwhat.com/2008/11/24/5-tactics-to-use-social-media-to-land-a-job-plus-tips-to-do-it-right/