I was chatting the other day with a freshman, and she proceeded to drill me with questions about Public Relations and what it entails.
As I listened to her concerns and answered her questions, I realized just how many facets of PR there actually are.
Before I decided to pursue PR, I did some research to learn what all I could do with my degree. I intentionally chose PR because of all of the opportunities I will have to apply my degree.
Although I haven’t graduated yet, so I don’t know what’s out there for me in the real world yet, I have been able to utilize my education thus far to secure many wonderful and fulfilling positions.
This summer I was given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to intern at the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Marietta, Ga. I was able to work with wish kids and their family and worked in a position that matter: I literally was helping to grant a wish to a child suffering from a life-threatening medical condition. That’s the best job I could ever ask for.
But public service is only one aspect of PR. According to O*Net, with a PR degree, I could be anything from Account Executive to Media Outreach Coordinator. Personally, one of the biggest appeals of the major is how limitless my degree will be.
I don’t think most people know how broad PR is because when I tell most people what I am majoring in, I normally hear that I am going to be a professional spin-doctor, or my personal favorite is that I will be a B.S. professional.
I laugh now at the jokes, but hopefully one day my education and career won’t be laughing matter.
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5 comments:
hi ,
i am a MA student of PR at the university of westminster,london.
i have a debate next week on "does PR need to be taught or is it based on personal contacts?"
please tell me what you think.
also log on to www.mehakpuri.blogspot.com
and add your comments
cheers
i am impressed with your blogs. you put a good bit of effort into them. hopefully the things we are learning will get us somewhere. THEY BETTER!
As far as your debate, I think it's an interesting topic, and I see both sides.
I think PR is taught to the extent of understanding how to write press releases, media alerts, etc. Also, PR as damage control and crisis management needs to be taught to grasp how to cope with these situations. Like any profession, there needs to be some formal training to cover the basics and have a firm foundation for your career. However, I think that knowing who to contact and having those connections are very important, especially when pitching to the media.
I think a good PR practitioner will synthesize their education and knowing how to network to be as successful as possible.
As a graduating senior and having some experience with PR in the "real world," it is definitely about who you know in order to get a media alert in the paper; but, you have to know what you're doing before your work will be published.
In all honesty, I think it's a combination of both. However, when it comes to "people skills" those, in my opinion, cannot be taught. I think that's an innate ability that has to be possessed when practicing PR.
I hope this helps. Let me know if I can help you in any other way!
Yeah Make-A-Wish!! :)
Make-A-Wish is the best thing I've ever done in college--and I've done some GREAT things.
The great thing about that internship is that kids look at you like you're their hero because you grant their wish, but in reality, these kids are my heroes.
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