The PRSSA members were invited to participate in PRSA’s first ever Shadow Day in Atlanta. The purpose of this day was to expose future PR professionals to a “day in the life” of a Georgia PR pro. Students were assigned to major PR agencies like Ketchum and Porter Novelli. Participants had the opportunity to meet employees around the office, listen in on conference calls, learn about different clients and projects, and network with other PR professionals. This was a huge success and an opportunity that should be taken advantage of in the future! The students that participated compiled advice and tips that benefited them the most from this experience:
De’Osha:
1. There will be a lot of on the job learning and training. It is important that you know the basics of public relations techniques but do not panic and don’t worry if you don’t know everything when you start your first job!
2. Ask questions: No one knows everything at first and people will always be there to help you. But you can’t have so much pride that you don’t ask for help and end up making huge mistakes!
3. You will make mistakes! You are going to be new to the profession as well as the company and it is just going to happen. It is inevitable, but it is all about what you take from those mistakes, what you learn, and how you improve in the future!
Ally:
1. Don’t limit your mind to certain topics you might be interested to work with within the PR field. Not a single one of the team members that spoke to us thought they would ever do work in agriculture, crisis management, or HP but they all love their jobs.
2. Experience, involvement, and writing skills stand out more in your resume and application more than anything else when it came to PR.
3. When working for a PR firm there is such a wide variety of clients that you can easily work with numerous different interests that may have. Ex: if you’re interested in sports, nonprofit, and corporate you can work with nonprofit campaign for child athletes funded by Coke or the Falcons etc.
Caroline:
1. Communication is key…go figure! The advice that stuck with me the most was to not take on more than you can handle. Always voice your opinion when you are ready for another project or be honest when you feel overloaded with work. Also, maintain every relationship you make with a client, you never know when you might need their assistance or support in the future.
2. I voiced a concern at Ketchum that I was so afraid I wouldn’t be prepared for a job and asked how I was supposed to prepare myself for a new career. Their response: “70% of your new job will be things that you do not know how to do, 20% will be from prior experience and knowledge, and 10% will be luck”.
3. Don’t be afraid to try something new! There are so many different avenues you can pursue in PR; you may think you know exactly what you want to do until you branch out and find something you have an even bigger passion for.
