Advice for (PR) students

I found a really good blog, Student PR Blog, written by Chris Clarke, aimed at communication and PR students and graduates. Chris started blogging while still in school, and his story is really rather inspirational because he got his first job through his blog. I don’t know about you, but that made me sit up. I also like the fact that he has continued writing in his blog even though he is pretty much not a student anymore, because of his commitment to lifelong learning and his desire to help us clueless communication students.

He recently wrote an entry, Getting Hired in PR, where he outline 3 things that PR students should focus on when trying to get a job in PR:

1) Networking

Chris says that we shouldn’t be afraid of networking, that it’s just about talking to people and building relationships. Personally I don’t like the term, or rather my perception of what networking really is has made me rather resentful of it, but he does offer a good perspective on it.

2) The Internship

I think most students already know the value of a good internship. Ultimately, we want our boss to like us so much that he’ll offer us a job (that is, if we like the company in the first place). But what struck me, was this “Plenty of people out there will let you work for free”. I did a double-take. I think a typical Singaporean student (and yes, myself) would look at that sentence and think, “No way am I working for free.”

But then I think we need to look at the internship differently. An internship is an opportunity for you to prove that you have mettle, and really, you want to be noticed by the people in power. And what better way than to do that for free?

Doing the job for free benefits both you and your employer. It makes you ask yourself, does this job mean so much to me that I’d it for free? And for your employer, if you do a really good job he’ll know you did it not because of the monetary compensation at the end of every month. Passion shines through when you are willing to work for free. (It also reminds me of this post on The Long Tail which says that the biggest misconception about free is that no cost = no value.)

3) Online (presence)

Chris makes an important point here: he says that every student coming out of school today will be expected to have some knowledge of the online realm, and that it is no longer exceptional for a student to do so. Explore online, explore all the tools available and manage your online presence. I have to admit, this is a whole new world for me as well. Most of the blogs that I follow today, I never knew about the existence till I took my Social Media class, and I’m still struggling with the tools (how do I find friends on Twitter??)

But I have to say that I’ve been enjoying the experience tremendously (and a lot of things I’ve been reading, the ideas presented, have truly blown my mind). I really do think that no matter if you’re a PR student or otherwise, you can really benefit from being more active online. Read blogs, listen to podcasts, join social networks, get a Feed Reader!! It’s really a whole new world that I think everyone should join.

While writing this post, I was listening to Mitch Joel’s The Twist Image Podcast #92 about how technology makes marketing easier, and he was saying that it’s not just technology anymore, it’s now a massive university that we should all take advantage of. Although Mitch was talking about marketers, I think he said what I was trying to say in much more eloquent terms, and I really do think it can apply to everyone.