Public Relations Jobs

[jess_pom]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

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.

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.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by jess_pom

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.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

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.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by jess_pom

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.

See, working in a non-profit was very beneficial for me. I had no agency experience previously, only print journalism experience, but at the non-profit I got to do a whole lot of different things, deal with both small and large media outlets, and do press/media releases of differing complexity. I think that, if I had stuck with PR, I would have been set up quite nicely to make the transition to an agency.

A big part of it may have been that my boss was great, in that she got me a lot of exposure, and gave me some really interesting projects.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

See, working in a non-profit was very beneficial for me. I had no agency experience previously, only print journalism experience, but at the non-profit I got to do a whole lot of different things, deal with both small and large media outlets, and do press/media releases of differing complexity. I think that, if I had stuck with PR, I would have been set up quite nicely to make the transition to an agency.

A big part of it may have been that my boss was great, in that she got me a lot of exposure, and gave me some really interesting projects.

Also, being that you had a journalism background, you understood what the media wanted, which is a key piece of the PR puzzle. For someone just out of college, though, a nonprofit in most cases won't be the best place to start just because at most (small/typical) nonprofits you only have one or two people that handle PR/marketing/fundraising/events and therefore don't have a lot of people to teach you a variety of things. Also I've found that most PR folks at nonprofits wear many hats and end up doing all kinds of things completely non-PR related. They often get overwhelmed with fundraisers, and though so many people think it would be fun to be an event planner, I find it to be the most miserable job imaginable...lol. My second job out of college was at a nonprofit, and my friend was in a "PR" position at another nonprofit at the same time, so I've seen how it works.