Answers

Since the beginning of my Public Relations "career," I have had a multiple of unanswered questions. Some have been posted on previous blogs. I am happy to report after attending Real World PR on Friday, some of those lingering questions have been answered
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Let's start with my most recent question: corporate or agency? In career path track of session 2, a panel discussed the pros and cons of both worlds. They explained that an agency is more likely to hire right after graduation. Also an agency has a more fast paced atmosphere, juggles multiple clients and offers a broad experience. On the other had, corporate public relations is more structured, conservative and one can build an identity with a certain brand. I'm still open to both but agency seems in my direction.

I also heard a panel speak about internships. This session was extremely usefully because I am on the hunt for a summer internship. The panel's advice ranged from do research on the company to how to organize a portfolio. They said to bring portfolio, resume, letters of recommendation and any graphic designs to an interview. Their best advice is to start small then go big. It is all about one step and at time ... oh ya and networking!

During the afternoon, I went to have my resume critique. I picked a person who I knew would hold nothing back, and boy he did not. He gave great pointers how to arrange my resume, and how to reword some descriptions I had. I am more confident in my resume now, which is a must.

The final panel discussion I went to was Travel, Tourism and Hospitality PR. I was extremely impressed by two of the speakers who were from Melissa Libby & Associates and the Georgia Aquarium. Both of these companies involve something I love (cooking and animals). I found great potential in future internships because you have to love you job.

Real World PR brought me many opportunities to network and find internship opportunities. This event was definitely worth wild because I got to hear advice from real public relations professionals.

Baby steps

The other day I got a chance to talk with someone, Charles, who has had experience with job hunting in the world of public relations. He told me about an intense job interview he had with a big time public relations firm. Before he had the real interview, he had to pass a writing test. The firm gave him a scenario and he had an hour to write a press release on the subject. I had no idea job interviews could be like this.
Charles explained to me there are three types of public relations jobs: a firm, corporate or nonprofit. Since the time is coming for me to find an internship this information was very important to me.
I always thought I would like a public relations firm atmosphere better because you are dealing with multiple projects, and to me that seems more interesting. But would I want my internship to be at a firm? It seems those internships would be more coffee fetching and paper copying, and those are the last things I want my internship to be about. I want to learn from my internship, to be pushed and potentially get a job from that company in the future.
On the other side of the spectrum we have nonprofit organizations. In these job situations, the organization would probably have only one public relations person, which has its pros and cons. The con for me is that I like working with a team, and the pro is having creative freedom.
Finally, there is the corporate side of public relations. I honestly do not know much about, but it seems to be the best of the firm and nonprofit worlds.
I am hoping my internship, which I'm still looking for, will open up some doors for me. The internship will be the baby step into the real world, which I dread with anticipation each day. Hopefully this summer will provide some much needed clarity. There are so many options out there, and I do not know which one is for me until I dive in.

Interviews

While on Twitter, I came across a tweet by Heather Huhman about creating great interview conversation. Usually I just glance by her tweets because she has tons, but this one caught my eye. To get a great job one has to have a killer portfolio, great recommendations and an amazing interview. Out of all of those criteria the latter scares me the most. A public relations person is supposed to come with great communication skills, and I have that. But when in a small, confined room with potential coworkers and bosses I get extremely nervous and often do not do my best. This is obviously an area that needs improvement. 

Heather posts ten ways to nail an interview according to Rick Probstein, founder of TopJobLeads, on this site: http://tinyurl.com/dnlt5p.  These tips taught me a lot of important skills I will be needing in the near future. 

The most unexpected tip I read was number five. I assume the interview would be in a professional setting and complementing outside of the job topic would be inappropriate. I understand complementing on the interviewers past work but not on other matters. 

Numbers one, two and seven I have heard before this article, but the others were relatively new to me. After reading this article, I understand you should be confident, welcoming, professional and agreeable. For myself, I think a mock interview would be a useful tool to better prepare. So, I am not completely taken back by an interviewers question.

Interviews are a scary, uncharted territory that hopefully with practice and experience will not seem so bad.