Public Relations Jobs
 

Ok, I'll be the first to admit I'm a bit flighty when it comes to careers (I think it's genetic as my mother has had a bajillion careers). My new interest since the student affairs thing isn't quite working out, is public relations/publicity/marketing type stuff. I actually got an interview for a small local publishing company to do their publicity.

My experience: account executive for a radio cluster and my recent commercial real estate venture, plus sorority PR experience. BA in English.

Any advice?

Any GCers in a similar position want to share info?

Kthxby. :D

I work in the biz. The best move for you is to get an internship, preferably at a PR agency. You need to learn the basic tools and skills specific to PR since you didn't major in that or journalism/communications. For instance, media writing is very different from literary style typical of most college courses. You will need to learn how to write in Associated Press style and how to whip out an interesting press release in 15 minutes (with enough practice, you'll get there). And you'll need someone to teach you who to pitch different stories to, and how to sell them a story on the phone. A person starting out in PR really should start at an agency; you will have mentors to give you guidance and the experience you need to work on your own at someplace like a publishing company, non profit, or corporate environment. It will also give you (ideally) experience in working with several clients in different subject areas, which will set you up for a greater variety of opportunities in the future.

Feel free to PM me if you have some more questions!

I would say be very very careful. Do as MUCH research as you can with these companies before you go to interviews. I say that because Im very similar to you. I have a BA in Speech Communication/PR and I am registered on monster jobs and career builder and a lot of public relations companies have been jumping out at me contacting me about them seeing my resume and because its such a prominent websites, you know I trust these companies. But at least in Philadelphia, and surrounding cities, a lot of these companies I have been coming aross have been either illegal or scam companies that feed off of each other. One company may have ONE name and come to find out there are brances and little small companies and you have to be very careful. Because I know they ar e preying on recent college graduates or people looking for employment with not that much experiene. I must say however their marketing tactics are on point lol. But nonetheless, I would just say do plenty of research!!! If you can at every cost google the name of the company. If they dont have a national website or if its a small company and you cant verify its credentials, I would beware... but keep up the good look :)

This is why I suggested PR agencies. The companies brownsugar is talking about are marketing/promotion companies, many of which do not even require a college degree. They're looking for people to help sell stuff. That's WAY different from PR (they're just using PR as a buzz word), and brownsugar is right that these marketing companies with sales tactics are way shady...they'll probably give off a shady vibe even in their job descriptions and when you call to schedule an interview...some of them do group interviews, which should also be a red flag. PR firms are professional, white collar places that require a college degree. What could be hard for you is that major PR agencies tend to be in big cities; if you're not in a big city, though, there are still probably some boutique agencies around. Do some research on the PR firms in your area (tip: some ad agencies also have PR departments), and be proactive - send them a well-written cover letter and your resume even if they haven't posted a job...most agencies don't need to post job openings. PR is not as easy to get into as some people seem to think it is, and I think that's because a lot of people don't really understand what PR people do.

Yeah, I know the difference between the two as I almost got caught up in one of "those" companies a few years ago. As it turned out, they had hired someone on Friday but saw that I had done radio advertising sales and wanted to interview me for that without calling me first, thereby wasting my time. I declined the offer but he did say they may have the need to put a second person in their PR dept later this summer and really really wanted to hold on to my resume. So I guess we'll see if he ever calls back. I sent a nice thank you note so hopefully I wont' be forgotten. In the meantime, I've been offered the head tech of emergency at the vet clinic I work at, and though I don't plan on making vet med my career, at least I will have longevity at one job (three years as of Feb) but also management experience.

I worked in public/media relations for a little over a year for a legal non-profit. My boss, who has worked in the industry for about 20-30 years, always said that the ability to write was the major thing for her. She and her friends would get resumes from people with PR degrees who couldn't put together a cover letter, let alone a news release. If you can write, and write well, I'd make that clear.

I found my past experience in journalism helpful, if for no other reason than it gave me perspective when pitching a story or even to local news outlets.

Yes, a PR pro MUST be a good writer. And not just any kind of writing, but news writing...see my note above about AP style. Unfortunately, I wouldn't believe it just because someone tells me he/she is a good writer...everyone seems to think he/she is a good writer!

Exactly - it's very hard for people to be critical of their own writing. I helped my boss screen candidates for my replacement, and some of the writing samples that we received were absolutely horrid.

When I got my job in the industry, I had no PR experience at all. The main reason that my boss hired me is because I had experience as a reporter, and a pretty good one at that (I'd won a few national and regional awards). I think that you can learn a lot of the other things that go with the job, but if you can't write, it's a fatal flaw.

Now, unfortunately, I fear that law school has killed my ability to write...haha.

Amen, brother. I feel like I used to be a good writer... now I just feel like I had a partial lobotomy...

And for the record, AP style is sooo much better than the Blue Book!!!!

Absolutely. I'm on a journal now, so I've become very friendly with the Bluebook. I've become really good at remembering most of it, but it's still a huge pain in the neck. Plus, it's sad when you realize you remember which part of the book has the rules on Id. and supra...

I'd gladly go back to the AP style anyday.

You know, I felt the exact same way about stupid grad school. A few weeks ago, I had cause to review my undergraduate thesis, which is Munchkin at the height of her intellectual powers, love of architecture, and all that good stuff. 5 years later, it's still a kick-ass paper. My Master's thesis, however, was practically phoned in. It sucks. I was one of the better writers in the class, so I can't imagine how craptacular the others are. :(

After my first writing assignment when I was a 1L, the professor met with each student individually (it was a small legal writing class). When she met with me, she said something along the lines of "You're an excellent writer, but you need to change the way you write."

Over the past year I've become much better at the legal writing, between class and law journal work, but when I look back at some of the pieces I wrote before law school, I wonder if I could sit down and still put out quality non-legal writing.

I fell for this type of ad when I was a fresh college grad. Part of my "interview" included trying to sell phone service at strip clubs.

I really wish I had done an internship at an agency. I'm in non-profit now and wish I had more intense experience.

A kind of funny story on those companies: I had a college friend who went for an interview with a company in the Boston area. It advertised itself as a marketing and communications firm, and talked about having big corporate clients, including some pro sports teams in the area. He went for the 1st interview and was told he did well, and he was asked back for a 2nd interview. They told him to reserve the whole day, which seemed a bit strange.

When he got to the company, he was told he was going on a job shadowing run with one of the associates. It turned out they were selling copy paper door to door, in some not-so-nice sections of a neighboring city. About halfway through the day he said that he wasn't interested in the job anymore; the guy he was with told him that he couldn't drive him back to the office, and essentially left him in the middle of the city to catch a cab back to Boston. The friend ended up calling me, I looked up a phone number for a cab company for him, and he ended up with a big cab bill.

He didn't find it so funny at the time, but now it's become a pretty funny story, a few years later.

When I was fresh out of school I went on a similar interview. I showed up at the office, and there were probably 10 of us there, all young. They had us fill out an application, and then told us what we'd be doing for the day - each of us was being paired up with an employee to go out an spend the day shadowing him/her. Well, one by one they called us to come up to the desk and one by one people were walking out the door with these total strangers. But not me! I knew this was waaaaaay shady and I was not going to get in a car with a guy I didn't know. I walked up to the desk, gave them back my blank application, and left. When I got home and told my family what had gone on, they were proud of me for leaving. Then I called the state dept. of labor and told them about a shady business I had just interviewed at and that I thought they were using interviews as a front for unpaid labor.