University

PR Students and Deadlines: a battle with yourself

Students. From freshers brimming with enthusiasm to third years slowly comfort-eating themselves into oblivion – every student knows the pain and stress of university deadlines.

I’d like to argue that most freshers by now, as we have reached December and lots of presentations, project deadlines and essay hand-ins are now on the horizon, have had most of that enthusiasm knocked out of them, and are well on their way to reaching the mindset of us third-years: please, just let it be over.

Of course, I only speak from my personal experiences and I only refer to 95% of students, there are those who astound me as they hand work in over a week early – oh to be that enthusiastic would be marvellous.

This isn’t to say I’m unenthusiastic about my education – quite the contrary – I attend lectures, engage in discussion (when I’ve had enough sleep the previous night) and my work is always on time. The state of mind I’m referring to is that which all students face when deadline week looms, when there are simply too many papers and too many books and any small ounce of enthusiasm is quite quickly drowned.

Flickr – Hartwig HKD

I’m not entirely sure about other universities, but here at Sunderland it seems as though deadlines group together like a mob, waiting just around the corner to beat that enthusiasm out of you, and you have to battle desperately to avoid falling into the blackhole of a mental breakdown.

Before I receive any hate mail from those studying astrophysics or something of the like – I do not believe this is any harder for PR students than anyone else – what I do believe is that this battle is a different story for those of us studying PR.

Arts vs Science

As PR revolves around language, communications and ideas and interpretation, we PR students face the same challenge as all ‘arts’ students do – we are never quite right. 

Flickr – Steven S

I almost envy my friends who study sciences and maths, who walk away from exams with 98% in the bag or even the full 100%. But for those of us who study the arts, where every point you make is down to interpretation, we aim for the 70%s and even the occasional 80% – but 90% and above? That’s a fantasy land.

In our essays, exams, presentations and everything we do there is always something more we could have done, or a different route we could have taken. But there’s only so much you can say in a 2,500 word limit or a 10 minute presentation.

Why we struggle with ourselves more than the science students is because we don’t have a right or wrong answer. We have to figure out a solution and justify our butts off with every single point we make. I’ve always been a person who can find an answer for everything (although I rather dislike people who can do this, it’s incredibly annoying), so I don’t struggle to justify my points, it’s the fact it takes twice as long to figure out a founded solution than to use a formula. There’s no formula for the arts. 

But that’s what makes the arts such a wonderful thing. There is no right or wrong and everything is down to interpretation. Maybe I will appreciate this more when I’m not being scrutinised for an extra few percent of a grade…

Time management

With any deadlines there is no doubt that being organised and having time planned in to tackle the workload is invaluable. And as I’m sure most public relations practitioners will tell you, being planned and organised is vital to success.

But for us PR students it’s a different story. We’re still finding our feet with our future profession. We’re stuck in the middle between the skills of the real working world and the naivety and inexperience of student life. 

We are organised when push comes to shove, but as far as university deadlines go, a lot of students will leave things to the last minute, and that’s something most of us haven’t outgrown yet.

We sit from 5pm the day before the deadline until 2am the next morning making sure we hit the deadline and all the while regretting we left it until last minute, and promising ourselves we will never do it again (never happens). Our thought process is similar to the stages of grief:

Denial – it’s not happening, I can’t do it, it’s too late, I’ll never get it done
Anger – this is stupid, there’s no point in this, I don’t need to know this when I’m working
Bargaining – maybe I can get an extension because I’ve been working all week…
Depression – I’m going to fail this year and work in McDonald’s for the rest of my life
Acceptance – It’s only one essay, only one grade… McDonald’s isn’t so bad.

I like to tell myself I work better under pressure. Or at least that’s a lie I tell myself at 2am on deadline day. There’s a certain camaraderie that happens between those of us still left working from 1am, we share words of encouragement and help when each of us have questions. But more often we share inspirational and funny memes to keep each other going (some of my favourites are included in this post).

Dealing with deadlines is a battle for most, but PR students are stuck between student life and our professional life and we’re facing the uphill battle of being a student of the arts. We don’t have it easy but it feels so good when we finish at 4am and get those precious few hours sleep before the 9am lecture the next day.

quickmeme.com

Why I Won’t Do Well In PR: character assassination

After 6 months working in the industry, I feel like I’m finally starting to map out the stepping stones of progression I’ll need to conquer to get where I want to be in my career.

Flickr – Mike and Annabel Beales

As I’ve addressed what a good PR needs and what difficulties there are to overcome in the industry, I thought it’d be a good idea to look at the other side of the coin – the qualities about me that mean I might just struggle. This goes on the premiss that knowing your downfalls means you can grow as a person – I’ll try to anyway!

As a personal therapy, and in an effort to help others who suffer from my afflictions, I’ve documented my downfalls and my plans to improve.

So, here goes, the assassination of Jessica.

Stresshead

Flickr – bottled_void

Or as my mother likes to call me, “mardy cow”. In truth, I only earn that nickname when I’m driving, something about someone cutting me off just really grinds my gears (terrible pun intended). It takes very little to put me in a tiz, although I normally tiz-away in silence. I’d like to think I’m like a duck – all calm on the surface but paddling like heck underneath. Perhaps this is a good way to be, and to an extent I’d agree, but I most certainly need to take a chill pill.

I find I wind myself up about deadlines and quality of work more than any sane human should – I lose sleep because I’m constantly thinking of what to write for a project that isn’t due for another two weeks, I rarely take time to just relax because of all those deadlines (that are months away) that are on my mind, and I lose concentration on one project because I’m too busy stressing about the other one.

Not only this, but I’ve found grey hairs already – and as a 20-year-old woman you can probably guess that this sent me into an even bigger tiz.

TO DO: Plan in ‘me-time’ during the week and at weekends away from anything resembling work, but make sure this time is mentally stimulating – go see a film, read a non-academic book, maybe even just dye out the grey hairs… I’m going to commit to putting my phone and laptop away for 2 hour slots so I physically cannot look at work or respond to emails – catching up on sleeping time and having time to personally relax shall no doubt help my concentration and even more importantly, reduce the rate of grey hairs appearing.

Worrier

Flickr – Smilla4

Whether I’m writing for a newspaper supplement, for a client’s web page or even just an email, I am constantly over-thinking the way I write. Is that too formal? Perhaps add in some humour to be more personable? No, wait, is that too informal now? It’s a bit of a merry-go-round.

I’m pleased I care so much to worry over such trivial things like emails, but worrying is time-consuming and adds to the grey hair issue I’ve developed. It’s almost as though I’m stepping on egg shells with myself, trying my utmost to avoid looking like a fool.

TO DO: Accept little things like a typo in an email are inevitable. Finding the right level of formality with a client is going to take time, just take it easy. Mistakes happen, and unfortunately I’ve felt the burning red face of messing up, but I’ve learned from those times. While I will still devote the necessary time to avoid mishaps, I’m determined to learn from bad situations rather than simply worry about them happening and how to move on from them.

Most of my readers will be PR students, so if there’s one thing you take from this post, I hope that it’s to remember – you’re only human.

Flickr – John K

From listening to lecturers, guest speakers and working in a few different environments I’ve learned that the professional world tends to ask for more than you’re capable of. But instead of stressing and worrying (like I tend to), learn from mistakes, take all of the stress in your stride – remember you have a life beyond work that keeps you sane and keeps you good at what you do – don’t lose yourself in fighting to get to the top.

PR Day to Day: Changing from a student to a professional

Again I find myself apologising for my online absence, it’s been a whirlwind of a summer working full-time at Creo, and now that the final year of university is looming into view, I’m actually excited by the prospect of getting back behind some books *nerd alert*.

fickr – Klaus M

I have to say thanks again to Richard Bailey at Behind the Spin, for reminding me about my blog via Twitter this morning. With a mountain of scrawls on my to-do list for work I rarely get the chance to scroll down far enough to catch a glimpse of the note: “Must blog this week!” – oops.

flickr – banspy

While one mustn’t complain about being busy, because busy means business, it’s been a summer where I’ve perhaps forgotten the obligations I have to myself while the world of work takes over. I’d like to be able to preach to all students that living and breathing nothing but PR is the way to go – but let’s all remember (myself especially) that there’s an important balancing act of work vs. life, in order to stay sane!

Moving into the world of work…

Well, it’s certainly a daunting prospect, it even was for me and I was desperate to get away from the university libraries and endless essays. There’s always the worry of the fact you won’t impress or you won’t fit in, or simply that it’ll be so different from uni you won’t have a clue what you’re doing.

The important thing is to breathe. Just take a second to think – “these people liked my CV and interview enough to hire me in the first place”. As far as impressing with your skills, nobody expects miraculous eureka moments from graduates, just ease yourself in until you’re comfortable, and then start being brave with those nut-case ideas – remember, someone initially thought of meerkats to sell insurance, nut-case sometimes works!

flickr – JD Hancock

As a junior account executive or PR assistant, whatever your first title, you won’t be given mass responsibility, so there’s no need to worry all that much just yet, find your feet first. 

Perhaps that’s why I’m excited to go back to university. As a final year project I’m expected to find two clients and produce two campaigns to meet their real-life needs – and the creative juices are flowing. Hallelujah, there’s no creative barriers before I’ve even got out of the starting blocks!

When moving into the world of work remember to make time for yourself. I’ve been over-excited and keen to impress so I’ve taken work home with me in order to open up work hours for bigger and more creative projects. Bringing work home shows dedication, but for me, it’s become a habit, perhaps a bit of an addiction – I feel like a spare part just sitting at home doing nothing.

flickr – Giulia Geraci

It’s important to remember that you’re a person too, not just an employee. Remember to make time for family and friends – and from personal experience, some TLC for your car. Being a person is why you’re good at PR in the first place, so don’t lose yourself among all the media reports and press releases of the working world.

Remember to keep time aside for what you love, for me that’s reading, baking and blogging. Sadly, my current Game of Thrones book has been acting as a paper weight, my waistline has notably shrunk (although I should be pleased), and I’ve replaced my time to blog with time to catch up on extra work. This will all be changing!

Congratulate yourself on getting a job – it’s not easy! – make an effort to shine, but remember you’re a person, and your life is what feeds your personality, and that’s what makes you so great at what you do.

flickr – Arielle Nadel

A Bit Of Online Etiquette: A thank you to the PR industry

I have a confession… I never wanted to start this blog.

Flickr – Frank Gruber

It happened because of a module I chose at uni and I wasn’t terrible enthused by the idea of blogging about a course I wasn’t even sure I particularly enjoyed.

But now I’m so glad I did!

I’ve always been a keen writer, even if it was just daft short stories, I find something therapeutic in typing out the voice in my head.

Not only has this blog helped me to keep sane with regards to my course, but it’s got me noticed – and that’s a really bizarre thing for a bog-standard, average 20-year-old.

Flickr – John Sutton

It’s lovely to think my rantings, ravings, complainings and whinings have been appreciated by some out there, and even better that people have told me they can relate! Maybe I’m not crazy…

So, I owe a very big thank you to those who have shown support, those who have appreciated my work and those who have helped me along the way.

Firstly thanks to my lecturers at the University of Sunderland – Chris Rushton and Diane Green have put up with my, let’s say, “ambitious” and “keen” attitude. I’ve learned a lot in the past two years and this blog wouldn’t exist otherwise.

Thank you to the wonderful Louise Robinson, there for me when my faith was feigning and a mentor who is an inspiration. I start an internship with Louise on Monday at her new consultancy Creo Communications and I can’t wait to get my teeth stuck in to some great projects with the guidance from a true pro!

Next, a thank you to Ross Wigham, getting to guest blog on his blog was such an honor as well as a confidence boost – the first time I thought this blog wasn’t all for nothing.

Thank you to Anne-Marie Bailey, her guest lectures were so helpful and inspirational. She blogged her way into great jobs and her tips are (hopefully!) helping me do the same.

A gigantic thank you to Richard Bailey, editor of Behind The Spin magazine – choosing me for the top PR blogs of the week 3 times was honor enough but winning the #bestPRblogs was incredible. 

Yes it’s all helped with my confidence, but it’s all helped with my networking too – there’s a few people out there who know my name now and I couldn’t be more thankful for the support I’ve received.

I’m so glad I’ve stepped into an industry that seems genuinely supportive and everyone seems so happy to see others succeed.

The End Of Second Year: My new views on PR

Now the rush of deadlines has finished for my second year, the idea that my final year is just around the corner is rather a scary one.

Flickr – Chris Ford

While I’m eager to sit and dream of what the future holds for my ‘career’ I always find it helpful to reflect on the year just gone.

At the end of my first year I was skeptical as to whether doing a degree was worth my time (not to mention copious amounts of money). I didn’t see the relevance of my journalism studies and I definitely didn’t have a clue as to what the real world of PR entails.

So, am I older and wiser?

Is a PR degree worth it? I’ve spoken (or perhaps ranted) about this in a previous post which you can read -here- but now I’ve finished my second year I’m probably more likely to say that yes, yes it is.

PR is such a strange profession, one day spent behind a desk typing lots of copy for various clients and the next you’re dealing with a crisis and liaising with the media to get your story out. One day could be a simple scheduled event and the next you’re overseeing photo-shoots and filming.

Flickr – Johnathan Cohen

With a degree you cover all bases, whereas stepping straight into the job there could be one particular day you find you’re totally out of your depth. It may not prepare me fully, but I’m a lot more confident in the knowledge that I at least ‘kind of’ know what I’m talking about when I get out into the real world.

I’ve read many practicing PR’s complain that graduates don’t know how to write for newspapers, but thanks to my many lectures and workshops on journalism I feel I’m maybe a step ahead other candidates because I do. I really do know how to write (perhaps ignore this blog as evidence of that though).

Second year was a massive step up. I spent a lot of lectures in my first year wondering how someone couldn’t know what a noun is or the grammatical structures of a sentence (I mean, c’mon really? You’re at uni and you don’t know that?). Second year focused on the nitty-gritty – planning events, writing proper copy, dealing with crisis’, ethical dilemmas and how to really achieve results.

Flickr – stuartpilbrow

I feel a lot more prepared after this year than I did last – and maybe some of that is to do with work experience, but a lot of it was to do with my education.

This blog has helped me reach out to a wider community that I wasn’t sure would accept me – here’s yet another undergrad overenthusiastic and under-educated – but I seem to have found a profession where people are really eager to see success. So to anyone who has supported me this year in any way – thanks!

My final word:

I still think PR is a juggling job and a complex one at that, but I feel more prepared and more aware. First year practically bored me to tears, but this year having a real taste of it, I feel as though I’ve fallen back in love with PR.

The PR Degree – is it worth it?

If you tell someone you have a degree then suddenly you’ve achieved a new level of respect. At least, that was the case 10 or so years ago.

Flickr – SalFalko

Thousands of different degrees exist now, and among students there’s always the quiet competitiveness of ‘my degree is better than yours’. While this might be childish it’s the way things work – those with journalism degrees receive a lot more respect than those with a degree in event management. And definitely more respect than anyone doing a degree in golf management (yes, that actually exists).

But what about a PR degree?

Most of my peers have little idea about what ‘PR’ even stands for, never mind what my career will entail. Even a lot of people considering taking a PR degree are unaware of what the career is. One friend who is currently on my PR course said: “It’s a lot different to what I expected but it’s interesting.”

Another friend who studies a science said: “It’s something to do with managing celebrities and covering up their mistakes.”

Flickr – Howard Lake

Doing a degree in PR is frustrating because, to my peers, they don’t understand it. To them it’s not complex enough to need a degree – something I would definitely argue against.

But do PR practitioners think a degree, now costing up to £55,000, is necessary for beginner account executives?

It’s a big debate within the PR world – a lot of practitioners don’t have a degree in PR, or have a degree at all. Those with experience or degrees in adjacent fields, such as marketing/advertising or media based studies are also getting jobs as PRs. Even someone with a politics degree has a chance to get a public affairs PR position – so what’s the point in doing a PR degree?

My personal opinion is that having a PR degree is the best way to hit the ground running when students land their first job. And that’s exactly what employers want.

Flickr – jjpacres

Some people think that degrees don’t teach the writing skills you need to be successful as a PR – my degree at Sunderland is all about writing styles and techniques within the first year – it’s the basic foundations that any practitioner needs.

But a degree could never teach the personality I think you need to do PR. You need to be a good communicator, in any situation. There may be people you don’t want to work with, or clients who really grind your gears, but having the confidence and personality to deal with tricky people seems essential. That can’t be taught through anything but getting experience.

A PR degree provides the foundations of writing skills, organisation and planning skills, but it’s the real understanding of the industry that will always place us head and shoulders above those with other degrees or no degree at all.

Flickr – Zach Frailey

I’d definitely say you have to be the right kind of person to do PR – and that may mean you’ll be successful without a degree, but without one you’re open to situations you’ve never experienced and that’s a steep learning curve.

So, PR degrees – not widely understood or respected, but, at least in my opinion, help with getting on the first rung of the ladder to a successful PR career.

How To Be A Good First Year PR Student – Top tips

I don’t profess myself to be an expert, but we tend to take advice from peers over theorists with a thousand books under their belt – illogical really, but I’m happy to pass on my top tips to get your first year right. While it may not matter to your final degree it’s still the foundations on which you’ll build your next two years which do contribute to your final grade.

Essay Writing

20140315_154008

If you ever need to write an essay on the effectiveness of PR – Averill Gordon is your best friend. Always refer to the ‘two-way symmetrical communication model‘ (Gordon, 2012:56). In the real working world theoretical approaches and studies aren’t really used day-to-day (frankly, if ever) but this is one I’ve always kept in my head as an ‘ideal’ – in a nutshell, an organisation and a public communicating back and forth and both parties adjusting to one another.

I highly recommend her book ‘Public Relations’ for first year – it’s easy to read and provides a lot of other theories and approaches to various aspects of the profession which are great for references in essays.

Speaking of which – learn to reference. Referencing drives me round the bend and back, probably because I had about 6 hours of being taught how to do it properly. It’s just a simple formula to follow and saves your skin when it comes to checking for plagiarism. And my top tip – do it first. Don’t write an essay with quotes you ‘will reference later’ – trying to find quotes again to references them is so incredibly tedious and takes forever, save yourself time by getting all this admin stuff out the way first.

Flickr – Tim Riley

Since I first began writing academic essays I’ve always been taught to PEE. And I can’t tell you how many jokes teachers made saying that sentence. Definitely worth an eye-roll. To PEE effectively first you must make your point, a single sentence should suffice. Follow this up with your evidence, the quote to support your comment (included with reference!). Then go on to explain your point in detail, but be as concise as possible. My top tip is to continually question – make a point, but consider what others say, consider how relevant it is, bring in other ideas and question the connections etc.

Writing News Releases

In first year news release assessments were roughly 2 hours long and only required 300 words. Sometimes it’s about pulling out a really dry brief to hit the target, other times it’s about clipping and snipping out the least relevant information to get down to the limit. It’s difficult to give advice on news releases because their so content-dependent, but here’s a few tips I can offer:

– Use simple sentence structures – remember you’re writing to get into a newspaper, write like a journalist.
– Be as to the point as possible – word limits are half the challenge of becoming a successful writer
– Remember your client – something Chris Rushton always said was that you have to be schizophrenic to be good at PR; meet the needs of your client and meet the needs of journalists by being able to take each standpoint simultaneously.

Research

Flickr – Colin

 

Research for essays shouldn’t just be books – make sure you look at academic journals and online sources too. The CIPR website has an abundance of articles that are brilliant for your essays. Don’t forget ‘PR Week’, as a CIPR member I get this through my door monthly and it’s proved invaluable for having experts to quote in my essays.

Research for your campaigns shouldn’t be continually within the remit of your friends and through social media. It’s the easiest way to get survey responses but think – is that really the public you’re targeting and the best way to target them? As scary as it is you need to start getting out and talking to people outside of your friendship group. Research for a campaign is the basis for everything you’ll plan so it’s best to get it right.

Networking

Flickr – Paul Wilson

 

It’s not absolutely necessary to have a contact book full of PR practitioners at this stage, but it’s a good time to start making connections. Guest lecturers are excellent contacts to have and easy to make because they’re in your classroom – they’re expert enough to lecture but they’re still working professionals in touch with the industry now.

You’re probably not ready for a proper PR job yet, and probably not confident enough yet either, which is why placements and work experience are invaluable to you. In my first year they weren’t required, but they were in my second. When it came to everyone finding placements, those who had connections were sorted and the stress was lifted early – think about your CV and practice emails that explain the skills you’ve learned and why you’d be good for the organisation you’re applying to – it’s great you’ll get something out of it, but show them what’s in it for them.

Social Media

Flickr – Mindy McAdams

I’m entirely guilty of previously using Twitter as a way to vent my anger or complain about my immune system (I’m convinced it’s conspiring against me). But now employers are starting to look at your social footprint and if you’re like me, it’s best to delete the plethora of grumpy tweets and indirect venting at one of your followers you dislike – time to stop being so ‘high school’. What you put online can be seen by everyone and employers are increasingly checking your profiles. I heard recently of an organisation asking for an impressive Instagram portfolio… mine’s pretty much just of my cats… oopsie.

Think about what you’re putting online, you may (like me) not actually be a grumpy person, but use social media as a good way to vent, but that will be the image you put across.

 

So there are my top tips to do well in first year. Best of luck with the essays and campaigns, fingers crossed with making important connections, and I hope you have many fun hours deleting years of grumpy tweets!

Studying Public Relations – The biggest challenges

I began my first year of university in September 2012, and it’s scary to think that’s already two years ago.

Flickr – Matt Cornock

Although I’m only half way through, it’s true to say your university years fly by. I can imagine my third year is going to be a blur – filled with library books and endless journals to complete projects and essays no doubt.

While I enjoy PR it wasn’t always the case. Since speaking to Chris Rushton at a talk at my sixth form I’d never faltered in knowing this was exactly what I wanted to do with my life. But after my first week I was ringing home in floods of tears thinking I’d made a terrible decision – this isn’t for me, I’ve made a mistake.

I owe thanks to my mother for forcing me to pull myself together –  I’d never given up on something I was so passionate about before and I’d invested too much to walk away now. I am within the first year of victims of the raised fees – I shall always be bitter about this.

So why did I freak out? Journalism.

Flickr – Jon S

Like many other PR degrees, my degree has a heavy focus on journalism in the first year to get writing skills up to scratch and to understand what a journalist wants – after all they’re arguably the most important contacts we as PRs can make.

But as a naive first year I immediately whined and moaned – this isn’t what I’m paying for, if I wanted to do journalism I would’ve chosen it as a course, yadayadayada.

And I wasn’t alone in my complaints. At the beginning of the year my class was quite a healthy size; before Christmas it had lost well more than a handful to other courses like broadcast journalism or marketing.

I’m thankful I could see the larger picture, the skills they were teaching us have already proved invaluable to me when it comes to writing press releases or online content. My original writing style was quite flowery and expressive – I was a creative writer, not a news writer. But now I feel like I can achieve both ends of the scale and that’s something I’m quite proud of.

Something else that made my first year quite challenging was completing modules that were taught by academics who weren’t involved in the PR industry – they spoke of PR like it was the devil. 

Flickr – punainenkala

In some of my lectures and seminars I was also with journalism students and various other media discipline student; I always felt like PR was somewhat forgotten. Any issue was discussed with regard to anyone else’s industry, never PR. Unless, of course, we were discussing how PR is all to do with covering up lies, propaganda and spin-doctoring – thanks for the vote of confidence.

Because I know what is really involved in PR this angers me to no end. Like I’ve said before, anyone not involved only sees the bad PR that goes wrong. I suppose it doesn’t matter too much other than it being incredibly disheartening and frustrating to hear. The people who need PR understand we’re not the devil incarnate and that’s what matters.

Of course I faced the other challenges of learning to fend for myself away from home, waking up at reasonable times without a mother to drag me out of bed and making it into 9am lectures after a student night – most first year will know these pains.

What advice would I give?

  • Take on board what people say about the industry, but you always have the right to fight your corner. If you’re passionate enough and clever about it maybe you can change some critics’ minds.
  • Enjoy your first year but don’t mess it up. While it may not count to your final degree it’s the foundations for the next years that do.
  • Don’t become a book recluse. You may want the best grades but this industry is about networking – it’s a fine balance between social and study. Some of the journalism or broadcast students you befriend now may become valuable contacts to you in the future.

Some of the best friends you’ll make and the best nights you’ll have

If I could have done my first year differently? I’d have put more effort into everything. I definitely took advantage of not having my mother around to nag me to clean up, do work or just get my arse off the sofa.

It’s hard, but make the most of it. And enjoy freshers – you start feeling really old in second year!

 

The Beginning of My Journey – Why does PR have such a bad reputation?

At the age of 16 it’s difficult to decide what you want to be – it was certainly a lot easier when I was 5 to imagine myself as a vet or an astronaut.

Flickr – ECU Digital Collections

Choosing A-levels was simply a choice of what I enjoyed, and that was writing and debates so English literature and English language were clear choices, but I also chose music so I would be nurturing my creative side too. My 2 years of A-levels were some of the most taxing years I’ve had – the constant nag of teachers claiming I’ll end up having to write 5 essays a week at university and so must get in the habit of it quickly. So I did, but I can put potential university students’ minds at ease, it’s more likely to be 5 a year. 

So it came to the final year of sixth form, and I still hadn’t a clue of what I wanted to be. I knew one thing – I’m a good writer (she says). But where do I go from there? I toyed with the idea of a becoming a screenwriter, perhaps a book editor. None of these seemed to fit.

Unfortunately I couldn’t bring myself to simply do an English degree. I felt like that was putting off my life decision for another 3 or 4 years. And in the current climate, what was I then supposed to do with an English degree? Teach in schools? That thought is enough to make my hair curl.

I was still at a loss until my sixth form ran a ‘Futures and Careers Day’ which invited guest speakers from various industries to come talk to us all about our futures. I so happened to end up in a ‘Journalism & PR’ talk by Chris Rushton – Head of Journalism & PR at the University of Sunderland. I hadn’t a clue what PR was, I only went because journalism is writing, maybe I’d be good at that…

Flickr – Josh Mazgelis

It may have only been 40 minutes, but I came out inspired. I’d finally found something that fit my skills and my personality – PR. From that moment I believe I was hooked. And while it might have something to do with Chris Rushton’s contagious enthusiasm, I couldn’t seem to get it out of my head.

I began my own research into university degrees on PR, checking for accredited courses, locations and of course the university itself. Sunderland, for me, seemed perfect. A brilliant on-the-up university with an established PR degree and experienced lecturers, and of course, close enough for me to bring my washing home to my mother.

Next to do was fill out the UCAS application, and it is here that I hit a roadblock. 

It may have been that my Head of Year at sixth form was also my literature teacher, but I was always encouraged against PR. You’re too clever for that. You should do English you’d be wasting yourself otherwise. Nevertheless I stuck to my decision. It’s what I wanted to do and I wasn’t budging. I even only applied to Sunderland despite knowing of other good degrees elsewhere – I knew exactly what I wanted now. Plus it saved me £11 only applying to one university – bargain. 

When it came to finally sending off my application I found myself in a bit of a kerfuffle. My HoY was so ‘disappointed’ of my choice that she contacted my mother before she would agree to send off my application. Thankfully my mother was on my side – whether that was because she believed in my choice or she knew I was too stubborn to change my mind is a different story.

And so I was on my way. I received my offer from Sunderland in the spring and got incredibly excited buying bedding for my room in the halls. It’s the little things in life.

But it did get me thinking – why does PR have such a bad reputation?

As I’m now 18 months through my degree I have come to my own conclusions:

As Morris and Goldsworthy have said, PR practitioners are paid to present the best possible image of a client. Truth is just a matter of perspective – maybe outsiders find this a little disconcerting.

It’s true to say that good PR remains unseen – so does that therefore mean that badly managed PR is all that others see?

No one other than those involved see the amount of work which goes into planning, creating and managing campaigns – so do outsiders see it as a simple marketing strategy?

I now perceive myself as an insider of the profession, and despite the poo-poo’s of the outsiders, I’m rather proud of being a future PR. Even if my efforts are unseen by the masses, people think my industry is based around lies or is pointless, I rather enjoy working in this industry and the good it can do.