Goodbye

This will be the last post regarding out wonderful PR107 class. Although senioritis set in early for me this year i learned more about PR then ever before. My internship allowed get me a huge confidence boost as i saw and experienced first hand some of the work PR professional do day to day. Id like to take this time to talk about the school of comm and all that it has been doing to help PR students move on to the real world. I actually got a meeting with Dean Oppenheim and spoke to him about my future plans.He recomended that i pursue a masters degree in the field of communications. You see im not sure im ready to get a good employee at a PR firm not do i feel my skills are developed enough to stand out in a company's eyes. Isnt that the point. To set yourself apart from everyone else so you have a better chance of moving up the PR ladder. Well that what i want to do and i figure more schooling will equal more skills. Ive been considering doing the masters program for speech communication to develop my verbal skills more. I just want to build myself to education and experience instead of just throwing myself into a job and hoping for the best. Im a pessimist who does believe in the whole work hard and you will be rewarded idea. I believe that you must bring something new and original to the table and use PR as a stepping stone to bigger better things. PR gives you such great skills and connections to utilize in any way you can imagine. Why not give yourself a head start by getting a masters degree to show off to an employee and at the same time use knowledge of what you learned from the masters program to be innovative in the field. As much as we all try to be different we end up in the same places(entry level positions). So make sure that your next step goes beyond being a good employee. You have to figure out ways to be the best at what you do without the company you work for as well.

importance of employee communications

This past week i was writing a short paper about the importane of employee relations and the value in creating a comfortable and inspiring working environment. Everyone that comes out of college is nervous and scared about finding a job that they want. We are all in a panic about what we are going to do after college. But we sometimes forget to consider that even if we get our dream job there is a chance that we may hate it because not every company treats their employees fairly and not every company makes working there enjoyable. I feel like all companies in this day and age should undertstand that if their employees are simply coming to work and counting down the hours till they leave, then productivity will continously stand still. Management must make the effort to open communications with the staff and make them feel comfortable about sharing ideas, concerns, thoughts, suggestions, or comments. And employee must feel comfortable coming up to his boss to discuss something and his boss must be able to share feeback and motivate the employee to work at a top level. There has too be a constant flow of meetings, newsletters, emails, and dialogue for employees to be fully engaged in the company. There should be incentives to do good work as well because lets face it we tend to work harder for a prize.It doesnt have to be anything big and could even be as simple as a handshake from your boss with a genuine "great job" attached. If a company makes an effort to make the work place enjoyable and an employee recognizes that an works his butt off, then everyone will be happy and the company will do much better.

As the world changes so must we

I have recently began spending a lot of time thinking about what the world has come to. The never ending conflicts, that fact that in todays day people still starve and lack fresh water, crime, violence and the drastic changes in weather that has SCARED people into going green pretty much. I also begin to think that now is the now more then ever for PR to be used to change the world. After all our skills and work allow us to change opinions in some cases and inform the public. So lets inform and lets change minds. Lets be good PR practitioners as well as good human beings and seek out ways to help the world. The countless organizations and companies that are helping the world in any way they can need our help because the world is unaware of their existence in some cases. Sure we are all seeking that perfect job and want to make lots of money one day but whats the point of all that when day by day the world is digging itself a deeper hole. Whats the point of spending our lives chasing glory when we may all very well end up falling down the rabbit hole. I guess what im trying to say is that the world needs someone to take an example from and there are plenty of people and organizations that set a great example for people who want to change the world for the better. These people could use the fame so that their causes can be widely known and inspire others to follow. You never see a PR person seeking out clients such as not for profits because there is no money in that side of the profession. How sad is that? BP probably has more PR people working for them for much higher salaries then say The World Health Organization. How sad is that? I donate to a charity called Water for Waslala because the village of Waslala has almost no fresh water and people must travel miles to get some. Has anyone heard of this charity? Not many but if i had the connections of a seasoned PR professional believe me that i would be doing everything in my power to spread awareness for such a cause in my free time. PR like many professions has no room for selflessness while your on the job. You do your work and go home. But unlike most professions PR demands all day work so your life may very well become your job. So i will make an effort not to lose myself in my work because the world needs change and everyone must chip in. I cannot allow selflessness to escape my heart because im used to my job demanding it. I cannot allow my life to be a pursuit of clients and success. It has to be more then that because my skills were not meant just for PR. So i ask all those still young to look at the world today and remember it because it may be worse in 50 years. The question i ask is does anyone truly care enough to do something. Sure there isnt much we can do physically but maybe we can take on a not for profit client for free one day out of selflessness. Maybe we can pitch a random story about a little village in South America that lacks water because we have a contact in the media world that owes us a favor. Just a thought

PR-an endless chase for glory!!

When i first came to college i planned on going to pharmacy school and really had no idea what PR was. The truth is that my ex girlfriend told me about this feild and it interested me. I knew that pharmacy wasnt for me and i was just doing it because the pay was amazing and worth the effort. But college isnt a means to an end for me so i wanted to live these next few years to the fullest. I figured that if i get into communcations and focus on PR i can eventually achieve my childhood dream o working in california as an agent or publcist. The problem was that everyone i knew had no idea wat PR was and i they did they figured it was just another office job where you sit in a cublicle all day dealing with clients needs. Personally i dont want to work in one company my entire life and dealing with clients on a consistent basis. PR leaves so much room to avoid letting your life turn into a routine. Sure i hate the fact that i havea  long ladder to climb in order to get where i want to be. I also cant stand to work with people richer then me buts that a personal ego issue. But id rather be bouncing around in the communications world looking fo the next big opportunity then spending 4 more years in school to get a job that i dont even like. I see PR as a process of evolving oneself. I may not be the best writer yet but i will be. I have great people skills but have plenty of room to develop them once i start getting facetime with clients and the media. Once ive developed my skills i can find a position in the communication world that gives me the glory ive been searching for. ONce ive found that position there no stopping yet. Have keep evolving as technology, media, and society evolves. The point im trying to make is that PR or communications in general is the deepest experience pool in terms of career i can think of. You never know what youll be doing next year and thats what i love.

Just another thought

After reading Professor Morosoff's blog post regarding PR salaries i got to thinking. Why the hell didn't i try and go to medical school. The amount of money that entry level positions get paid isnt even enough to cover the college loans that were given. Ive interned for a few weeks now and spoken to various people in the field about what it means to be in PR and what it entails, The CEO of my company provided me with the best advice and motivated me back into loving PR. he told me that once you have realized that PR is what you want to be you must turn into a monster. You must learn to eat, breath, and sleep PR. You have a choice to work in what ever area you want from politics to celebrities. Once you have chosen then develop yours skills. As we get older it becomes harder and harder to get good at new things so he told me the only way to be successful in this field is to dedicate yourself to your job. We are only responsible for the amount of effort we put into to something. He told me that i had to be ready to sacrifice a lot in order to become great in my field. I got into PR because i believe that with every day that passes new opportunities are presented to you. We meet new people and new clients so often that there cannot be a dull moment. And if there is a dull moment is simply means that your not working hard enough. Thats just how i feel. Im not ready to be on my CEO's level yet but one day i do believe that i will breath PR and dedicate myself to it until i reach my goal....whatever that goal is.

Entering the world of PR

With graduation right around the corner and my internship slowly sucking the hours out of my day i begin to think about what i just got myself into. When people ask me what i study i reply Public relations. The reply to that is almost usually-"you mean like advertising". the truth is that it is a lot like advertising minus the annoying commercials that interrupt us when we watch our favorite sports team(specifically the NY rangers as the almost win another game), or the obnoxious billboards on the sides of highways expecting people to read the advertisement fully without crashing into the car in front of you. Ive changed since i began following this new career. I dont watch tv anymore without questioning everything i see and relating it to some aspect of Pr. I read every news story and analyze it beyond the headline and how entertaining it is. PR gives people ability to change the world because it brings everyday people into a conversation that is normally held between a select group of people. Bernays knew that the people hold all the power in the world and that corporations constantly overlook the affect a group of people may have on their company. If companies want to make money they have to know what the people want before they can create new desires for us. We just arent easily persuaded anymore and we constantly lack trust in anything because...well we are lied to so often by the government and big corporations. The truth will set you free and thats what ive learned PR is about. Telling the truth in order to educate the public. With the right facts and thoughts PR can do more for their clients then attempting to sway the truth. In a world where image is everything PR is the sword that slices through all the bs advertising provides and paints a better and more accurate picture of whatever the client is or represents. Just some first thoughts on Pr now that ive actually experience it a little.