Tag: PRSSA

Kaitlin: Unleashed PR

Kaitlin ImageInternship.  The ten-letter word has the power to totally freak out college kids.  Thoughts of how to land a dream internship causes students to panic and lay awake at night, because sometimes it’s hard to get your start and find hearty experience to put on your resume.  Luckily, the Boston University chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (BU PRSSA) realized this and created Unleashed PR in response.

Unleashed PR is the BU PRSSA student-run public relations firm, which provides students with real-world experience. Students have the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to real clients, gaining hands-on experience to build their resumes and portfolios, which in turn, sets them up for internships and jobs.

I had the opportunity of experiencing two completely different sides of Unleashed PR- being an Account Executive for a client, and running the show.

Last year, I was happy to be placed on the Sweat and Soul Yoga account.  I worked on a team with four other students, and we spent the Spring semester brainstorming ways to increase the yoga studio’s clientele through fun and creative campaigns and events.  I learned so much about writing press releases, pitching to clients, and creating campaigns, all before I even took my first Public Relations class.  And the best part? I was able to put all of this on my resume.  After all, it was real-life work for a real-life client.

This year, my experience with Unleashed PR was entirely different.  With my friend Ellen Cohn, I decided to step up to be the Agency Director, or in fancier terms, the Vice President of Public Relations.  Although it was tough, this was the perfect opportunity to see exactly how a firm runs from the top.  I managed the student teams for clients like Inside Films, Project Mailbox, Sweat and Soul Yoga, Zaarly, Of Rags, and NYC rapper Hassan Salaam.  The wide range of clients allowed me to see inside the fashion, non-profit, technology, consumer, and entertainment PR fields.

Working with Unleashed PR as an Account Executive as well as an Agency Director has been invaluable.  Taking that first step into the public relations world can be terrifying, but I did it with ease through this internship-like experience.  So if you didn’t know where to start, now you do! Any member of BU PRSSA is more than welcome to join the team! Email me or visit buprssa.com for more information.

Kate: PR Advanced: Unleash Our Generation Recap

Kate ImageThis past weekend, I partook in PR Advanced, an annual conference hosted by the BU Public Relations Student Society of America as a participant and a member of the planning committee.  Each year we bring together 200 students from across the United States (people came all the way from Ohio and Louisiana!) for a keynote speech, breakout sessions, a career panel, and a career fair.  Our keynote speaker this year was unfortunately snowed in and unable to make it to the conference.  But there to save the day were Kenneth Elmore, BU Dean of Students, and Professor Steve Quigley, PRSSA 2011 Educator of the Year, to fill in, offering students advice on where to take their careers.  In this day and age, students have many options after graduation:

  • Agency vs. Corporate
  • Corporate vs. Government vs. Non-profit
  • B2B (business to business) vs. B2C (business to consumer)
  • Start-up vs. Established Company

And with so many options, PR students must understand the importance of culture and finding a niche where they feel comfortable.  These motifs continued throughout the day.  In the start-ups breakout session, BU alum Kris Ruby shared her story.  Knowing her strengths and the market, she decided to take advantage of the changing field and started her own social media and PR firm.  Tom O’Keefe a.k.a. Boston Tweet and Joseline Mane, co-founder of Boston TweetUp, shared how they are using social media to further their careers.

After lunch, student attended a career panel with representatives from across the field of communication.  Brandi Boatner, an external relations professional at IBM, showed that B2B communication can be just as exciting as traditional B2C.  And Mike DiSalvo (probably my favorite speaker of the day) from Ogilvy reminded students to have fun in an interview because that’s when you know the culture is a right fit for you.

Ending the day was the career fair.  With a company as small as Ruby Media Group (four employees) to Burson-Marstellar, one of the largest international PR firms in the world, students had the opportunity to find out where they fit into the market.

As the career fair coordinator for the last two years, I have come to understand the importance of attending conferences and networking events like PR Advanced.  Public relations is an ever changing field and the best advice you can get doesn’t come from a text book, it comes from the professionals who are in the thick of it all.  And the business cards and potential future opportunities don’t hurt either.  I highly suggest all students taking advantage PR Advanced in the future.

pr advanced