Internships- Tips from a College Student for a College Student

Written By: Gwen Nichols

In the public relations field, one major key to success is having solid, real-world experiences before applying for your first post-graduation job. One way to get these experiences is through internships. For many students, myself included, internships can cause a lot of stress because you want to get as many as you can before you graduate. I have come up with some tips and tricks that could benefit any student that is struggling with finding or landing an internship.  

 

1.Get involved with on-campus clubs or student organizations  

When looking for an internship you can sometimes find yourself with not enough experience on your resume or confidence in your ability to be successful in an internship. Getting involved with major-related clubs or organizations can give you the opportunity to expand your skillset while still allowing you to grow and learn about the industry.

A few well-known and nationally recognized organizations within the Journalism department include student newspapers, advertising club, Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and Public Relations Student Society of American (PRSSA). These are all organizations that have many opportunities for you to gain valuable experiences to add to your resume or portfolio. 

 

 

2.Utilize your department staff  

 

Throughout my time at UWO, I have met so many amazing Journalism department faculty and staff. They have so much knowledge and advice to give to students. For example, I had the pleasure of interviewing our Internship Coordinator in the department: Barb Benish.   

When I asked what her advice is for a student who feels stuck or like they can’t get an internship,  she said that there is most likely a specific reason that you can fix or can refine.

“There is a reason. Come to me or go to Career Services and have us look over your resume. You could have one thing misspelled or something else you may be missing that employers are looking for. Or make sure to look at what is on your social media and have it cleaned up,” Benish said.  

 

3.Just. Keep. Applying.  

I know firsthand that constantly being on the lookout for internships can get tiring and can drain your confidence. However, at the end of the day there is no better feeling than getting that phone call or email saying, “Congratulations, you’ve been accepted for the position”. 

As much of a rollercoaster as it can be, applying for internships is all a part of the process that is building you up for success in your career. So don’t stop trying and remember, you will find something that is perfect for you.  

PRSSA- What is it and Why should I?

Written By: Gwen Nichols 

As college students, we are constantly faced with opportunities and potential new experiences. Since the second we stepped foot onto campus, we have been pulled in so many different directions from so many different people saying: “join this, go to that, be a part of our club.” and we often don’t know what is best going to impact our future success. With that in mind, if you are looking for long-term connections, professional exposure and tangible portfolio work, then PRSSA might be your perfect fit.  

Now you may be interested, but still thinking “What even is PRSSA?” Well, PRSSA stands for Public Relations Student Society of America and it is an organization that is internationally recognized for its well-structured chapters that provide students with tools to be and stay successful as a professional. As a member of PRSSA, your level of involvement is up to you. You can come for one meeting to see if it is a good fit, or you can work your way up and become a member of our Executive Board.  

Throughout the course of an academic year as a PRSSA member, you will go on agency tours, listen to valuable PR professionals speak and even attend national conferences where you will forge many important connections. Not to mention, our annual spring National Organ Donor Awareness Competition (NODAC) campaign. This campaign gives us an opportunity to do the work that any PR professional does daily. In a nutshell, we plan the event from start to finish. Not to toot our horn or anything but we have competed against schools across the nation (big and small) and won first place.  

Need we say more? We hope that this gave you some insight as to what PRSSA is and why joining gives you valuable experience. Anywhere you are, just reach out to your chapter president or anyone you know that’s a member and they can get help get your foot in the door which could be the start of one of the best decisions of your college career.  

 

Alumni Panel – What I Learned

By: Karli Cox

On April 29, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) hosted an outstanding alumni panel which featured Chloe Albrecht, Public Relations Manager at Element, Carissa Brzezinski, Social Media Strategist at Travel Wisconsin, Samantha Strong, Digital Marketing Content Writer at National Association for Tax Professionals  and Ryan Sweeney, Marketing Specialist at Axiom, Inc. where they answered questions asked by current students. Numerous topics that were covered  include finding jobs,  interview processes and what life is like after graduation. There were an abundance of lessons to take away from this panel and I admire each panelists enthusiasm about the field and cannot wait to be in their shoes one day! These are the top five lessons I learned:

1. Do not be afraid to hear no. You are going to be told “no” at one point in your career, so accept it and learn from it. Find out why “no” and how to turn that into a “yes”. After hearing “no”, do not limit yourself to basic ideas — keep being creative and trying new things and embrace the “no”.
2. Looking for new opportunities while employed is okay. If you feel as if you are not being challenged enough, do not hesitate to find a new position that will give you what you’re looking for. Although it is a stereotype for Millennials to jump from job to job, do it to get to where you want to be. Feeling guilty about it is completely normal.
3. Your first job is not going to be your dream job. Landing your first job outside of college may feel like a dream, but this will not be your dream job. Unless you’re super lucky. Do not feel like you are settling for your first job, as it is a great stepping stone to get you to the next part of your career.
4. Appreciate college. This will likely be the last time you are surrounded by like-minded people that are so close to you in age. Enjoy going to classes, working on campus, having internships, and meeting friends easily as it will never be this way again.
5. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Go to your interview expecting the unexpected. Tests, quizzes and obscure questions are becoming more and more common throughout the interview process. Research the company you are interviewing with, so you know exactly what you are getting yourself into if you land this job. Come prepared with questions to ask at the end as well as a pad of paper with a pen. Take notes. Listen. If a question stumps you, drink water to buy yourself time.

My ID & ME Experience

Written by: Karli Cox

coxk12@uwosh.edu

 

The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh department of journalism offers a seven week campaigns class that is split up into two teams: the Bateman team and the community team. To be on the Bateman team, the class has the option to apply and five students will be selected to compete in the national competition against more than 50 other universities.  Each team is given a client to create and implement a campaign for, this year their client was the PRSA Foundation. The PRSA Foundation wanted to promote diversity and inclusion within the public relations and related fields. PRSSA President and Bateman team member, Brianna Colebourne, said that their campaign was about showing students different ways they can be diverse and inclusive and that their overall goal was to raise campus and community awareness about the diversity and inclusion challenge in the public relations profession and related fields.

Within the past few weeks, the UWO Bateman team has been executing their ID & ME events which have been advertised all around campus and on social media. I attended both ID & ME programs and also asked  Brianna some questions about their campaign this year. This is what I learned:

One thing that really stood out to me through the ID & ME campaign was a statistic in a diversity video that was shown that Hispanic-Americans rank in as the lowest percentage of employees in public relations and related fields. I am Hispanic-American and it encouraged me to keep going so I can represent my diversity and hopefully see that number rise. However, from this event I also learned that diversity isn’t all about race which is what people generally think it is. Diversity is the different experiences and backgrounds of people which is what makes us all stand out in our own ways.

This is what I experienced:

There was a series of workshops sponsored by different clubs within the journalism department. In the first room, we were given “boarding passes” where the contents of each room was listed. Each room we went to would give participants a raffle ticket and at the end of the night they could return to the first room and put raffle tickets into any one of the baskets they were raffling off (they also had free food).

• Room 1: Advertising club
  • Different diversity ads were shown (a lot of Nike ads, I remember there was Gillette too, which means these brands are killing it with diversity!).
• Room 2: Photo Club
  • Everybody had the chance to get their headshots taken.
• Room 3: Titan TV
  • Each participating student was asked a series of questions about themselves and were given the opportunity to explain how they were diverse.
• Room 4: Kahoot
  • Participants played in a diversity-based game of Kahoot against one another
• Room 5: PRSSA
  •  Participants watched a short video about diversity and then dipped their hands in paint and put their handprints on a black canvas.

Overall, the night was filled with many opportunities to learn about diversity and inclusion, not only in the workplace, but in day-to-day life as well.

Bateman is a great opportunity for students to get real world experience, Brianna says she would recommend applying to be on the Bateman team because at the end of the 7 weeks of research, planning and implementing, she now has something to walk away with and show to recruiters during interviews and is able to walk them through every step. The team ran a full on campaign in just 7 weeks and that is experience they cannot get from just exams and in class assignments.

NODAC: Cycle of Life

Written by: Hannah Thorn

Hey All,

It’s April so you know what that means!? It’s time for NODAC!

Every April PRSSA runs a National Organ Donation Awareness Campaign (NODAC) as part of a national campaign competition. Our main event this year will feature a presentation by the incredible Bill Conner, who will be coming to Ballroom BC in Reeve to speak on April 17th at 6 pm.

Conner had gone viral for biking from Madison, Wisconsin to Florida in memory of his daughter. On the trip he met the man who received his daughters heart transplant. In an extremely touching moment he embraces Loumonth Jack Jr., whose life was saved by the heart donation of Conner’s daughter. Conner was even able to listen to Jack’s heartbeat which was produced by his daughters transplant. You can read more about it here. Conner will be talking about his trip and the importance of being an organ donor.

For our second event we will be honoring the 2,600 miles Conner biked from Madison to Fort Lauderdale, Florida by sponsoring two cycling classes that last 26 minutes each. They will be held on April 17th in the cycling room at the Student Rec Center, one from 3:00-3:26 pm and the other from 3:34-4:00 pm. Come bike your little hearts out and learn about why it is important to be an organ donor!

 

We hope to see you at one of the events!!

What to say when relatives ask what PR is?

 

By: Hannah Thorn (@_hannahthorn_)

 

With Easter break fast approaching, most college students will be heading home to visit family members. Well intentioned aunts and uncles will ask you how classes are going and if you like your professors. Most will ask you what your major is. When you answer Public Relations they will say, what is that? Well here are a few basic answers for you to throw at them:

 

• “A lot of writing and talking to people.”
• “PR professionals make their clients look better by pushing the good news and controlling the bad news.”
• “If marketing and communications had a baby that baby would be PR.”
• “We are kind of like the professional wingman, just doing everything we can to make our clients or companies look good.”
• “Research, research, and then some more research.”
• “Do you watch Scandal? Well Olivia Pope works on the crisis communication side of PR.”
• “Marketing but with less math and more writing.”
• “Using social media to help and maintain our clients reputation.”

 

And maybe even a mix of all of the above!

 

If family members still don’t understand your major then just use the standard reply from the Public Relations Society of America PRSA: “Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

How I Found Public Relations

By. Hannah Thorn (@_hannahthorn_)

When I came to Oshkosh in September of 2015 I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I choose Oshkosh because I wanted to run cross country and track here. My dad knew this so during my first semester he told me I had to take a “Discovering Your Major” course through our Student Success Center. It was a one credit class that ended up pointing me towards public relations.

I went into that class vaguely thinking that I wanted to go into the business field. I liked the idea of working with many different people and working with technology, specifically social media. Since I had no idea what public relations was I thought I would use this class to look into the marketing, advertising, and business programs that Oshkosh offers. What I found was that these careers would probably bore me. I remember having to find a specific major to research for the final project and I chose human resources. I knew this career would let me work with many people, but it just sounded like a lot of paperwork and not enough creativity. It was during this final project that I stumbled across our Journalism department page. I didn’t think much of it because I was thinking “oh I don’t want to be a reporter”. Oh how dumb that assumption was.

I left the class thinking I had time to discover what I wanted to do, but if I had to declare I would choose human resources as my major. Later, I started talking to one of my cross country teammates who was a human relations major and she started telling me about her classes. I started getting worried because it did not sound like something I would enjoy. By this time I had to start scheduling classes for spring semester of my sophomore year and I did not know what I wanted to do with my life. I met with my advisor and she calmed me down. I talked to her about what I wanted to do. She pointed me back to that Journalism department page that I had visited over a year before. I dipped my toe into the journalism department and took a class called Introduction to Media. That class is what gave me my first taste of what Public Relations is. Shortly after that I went to a PRSSA meeting. I did not speak at all. In fact, I think I said three words my entire first semester in PRSSA.

Even though I didn’t talk in the PRSSA meetings I learned what I could do with the public relations major and I started to really fall in love with public relations. I took more classes in the journalism department, I declared it my major, I became the public outreach chair in PRSSA, I went to PRSSA’s national conference, and now I am fully immersed in the crazy family that is the journalism department at Oshkosh. And I couldn’t be happier.

A Year in Review: 2017 PR Trends

Written by: Hannah Thorn

In the midst of holiday season I think it is important to take a look at our lives and realize what we are thankful for. For me, it’s my family and all of the memories I made this year. But as a PR professional-to-be I am thankful for a few more things. Here is my list of PR trends that I am thankful for this year:

1.Visual Storytelling

One of the biggest PR trends this year was the growth of visual storytelling. On average a person watches 32 videos per month and that number is growing. There is also a 74 percent increase in understanding when someone watches a video, which makes it a viable choice when companies are looking to advertise (Segal 2017). I like this trend because I feel like videos convey more emotion and information than a print or radio ad. Also it is a great way for companies to promote their mission and their brand. And I mean who doesn’t like scrolling through Facebook videos when you are supposed to be studying?

In 2018 visual storytelling will continue to grow. Soon there will be more apps to help edit and share videos on one’s smartphone. There will also be an increase in VR and AR videos for companies to showcase their products (Gerber 2017).

2. The role of Social media expanding

I, along with many millennials, have grown up using social media so the fact that it’s use is expanding is good news. It is so easy to write up a quick tweet and send it out into the world without thinking that some companies have gotten into trouble this year. Who can forget Digiornos #WhyIStayed tweet or McDonald’s non-existent link on Black Friday? The expansion has also forced PR pros into more of a customer service role. If someone tweets at you complaining you better respond otherwise that tweet could blow up and things could get ugly.

My favorite part of social media expansion this year was the amount of businesses that were hopping on social media platforms.Brands were forced to get creative in 2017 in an effort to stand out from the millions of Twitter accounts. There was some real sass and shade thrown this year. We even saw companies like McDonalds and Wendys engage in Twitter fights. My favorite business account has to be Hamburger Helper (@helper). They are never afraid to toss a diss out there. You can see other sassy brands here: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/sassiest-social-media-brands

3. A rise in PR spending

According to a report from the Association of National Advertisers and the USC Center for Public Relations marketers plan to spend more money and dedicate more jobs to public relations over the next five years. That allows PR pros to get more creative with campaigns and,hopefully, have more of an impact in their business. It also means more PR jobs will be created!! So how can I not be excited for that trend?

4. Cybersecurity

This obviously was a huge issue in 2017. There was more than one instance of security issues that rocked the headlines this year. From Equifax to “WannaCry” to Uber, it was a rough year (Gerber). So you may be asking why I am thankful for these issues. Well because I believe that with these hacks there will be people that are learning from these experiences. I am hopeful that in 2018 companies will have a renewed focus on the importance of cyber security.

And finally…….

5. PRSSA Growth

2017 marked my first full year in PRSSA. And what a year it was! Not only did I grow closer to the members in my own chapter, but I was also able to attend the National Conference in Boston and grow my PRSSA family. I was part of a growing trend of new members this year to PRSSA. PRSSA now boasts more than 10,000 members in more than 300 chapters. They have now expanded outside of the United States to Argentina, Peru, and Columbia. I can’t wait to see how many more amazing PR people I meet in 2018!

 

Sources:

https://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/23627.aspx

http://www.coxblue.com/10-pr-trends-you-need-to-be-watching-and-using-in-2017/

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/304476

https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2017/12/01/13-tech-trends-shaped-2017-new-predictions-2018/

http://prssa.prsa.org/about-prssa/learn-about-pr/international-pr/

8 Reasons Why I Loved National Assembly

By Monica Salmeri

All of the delegates from Wisconsin PRSSA chapters