Entering the PR World

PR vs Journalist spoof January 30, 2008

Filed under: PR — Hillel of Greater Toronto @ 1:00 am
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Here is a video someone sent me. There are some delays between the different role playings parts. No need to watch the whole thing, just even part of it. It’s a parody of the PC/MAC battle.

It actually is the essence of bits and pieces of my media relations course last semester.

Take a look, enjoy.

 

Why PR? January 29, 2008

Filed under: PR — Hillel of Greater Toronto @ 9:00 pm
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When asked why I want to break into the PR world, my answer is simple. I want to do something that I care about. I don’t want my everyday job to become mindless and meaningless work. With a career in PR, we still have the choice of our concentration in the field. I want to be able to note differences I have made. I want to be able to show it off. I think that PR is one of the few professions that this is possible in.

Of course I understand why it is not something that everybody would like to go into – everybody has his or her own strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. I just do not understand why people enter professions that they have no passion for!

It is evident by my teachers that they genuinely love what they do. They build our lessons on past experiences and teach us from things they have picked up along the way. It is definitely a different experience from what I am used to.
The thing is, though, I am not too sure which area of PR I would like to get into. As my class starts our client projects and begin to apply for field placements, I keep getting the feeling that I am the only one questioning where I want to be. I know many people change their career paths many times in their life, but am I really the only one unsure of where I want to be and what I want to do?

 

First impressions? January 23, 2008

Filed under: PR — Hillel of Greater Toronto @ 3:53 pm
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I am in the Corporate Communications and Public Relations postgraduate program at Centennial College. Our teachers are actual PR practitioners, meaning what they say really sticks.

We keep learning about the importance of social networks and that being active in them is vital to break into the industry.

Most people in the class are on Facebook, some are on LinkedIn and some are already members of the blogging world. All of these Internet networks, we are told, have the ability to make or break us (as an extreme) in the industry. We are told to join all of these networks and be involved with them, but at the same time, we are told of people’s ability and ease to search us online through them.

Does this not take away from first impressions of, say, an interview? So much is based on that first impression. With some organizations looking up information about their applicants beforehand, this already forms their opinion of them. The standard first impression is not even applicable anymore. What is a first impression now?

Because we are going into the communications industry, I understand the importance of the Internet and interactive networks. The thing is, I do not understand this loss of personal privacy. Facebook, something I joined to keep in touch with friends while abroad, I am being told can now take away potential job offers. The personal privacy that should be available on these networks, I see, to be of vital importance. It is one of the few ways we are now able to achieve work/life balance.

Because of this openness, I was hesitant to write this first entry and kept putting it off. I guess, though, that the acceptance of the research and openness of using online networking really is part of accepting the fast-paced and Internet-based ways of our society.