Archive for Career

How important is Maths in PR?

27 March 2012 Rachel Education, Public Relations 2 comments

Image via Matt Banks

My Public Relations course contains a lot of great modules, but one thing that I feel it has lacked so far is the development of maths skills. This may sound like a slightly bizarre desire considering my course does not inspire images of studying numbers. Perhaps it is explained by understanding that I am the daughter of not one, but two maths teachers. I never took maths past GCSE level, preferring to concentrate humanity and media subjects but I have always had a soft spot for maths.

In my previous job my maths skills came in handy almost constantly, from checking payroll to designing spreadsheets. Undeniably maths is a useful skill in life, ensure that you are getting the best value for money at the supermarket and not being ripped off by dubious offers, cooking the required quantity of food, even in planning your day a good understanding of numbers can be beneficial. But I ask myself, where does the value of maths lie in the world of PR?

Budgeting

It would be lovely to imagine there is a pool of endless resources out there, but there are not. Budgeting plays a vital role in any PR professional’s life. Being able to offer cost-effective strategies to create a good return on investment, or even the dreaded AVE. I have been picked up on my tendency to bring budgeting and finance into my university projects, from our first PR campaign assignment the finance was at the forefront of my mind.

Measurement

Back to ROI and AVE (you may not like it, but it is still used), being able to measure the success of a campaign is essential. Having a good understanding of numbers can only help in this case.

Research

You will not always have the opportunity to pay for your research to be analysed and therefore having a good grasp of mathematics is required to understand and rationalise research required.

Administration

We may not like it, but administration involves itself in many roles. My previous experience of admin has involved me needing a great understanding of maths. While it is not always necessary, it is endlessly beneficial.

I would be interested to hear other examples where maths skills have benefited you during your PR career.

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All students should gain internships

28 February 2012 Rachel Career, Placements No comments
A degree

Is a degree enough? (Image via Wikipedia)

A government report says that all students should gain a minimum of 12 weeks work experience while studying for a degree (read more here). As internships, voluntary and compulsory, are a common theme on my blog I could not ignore this article.

I am passionate about increasing people’s employability, and as a student I am well placed to understand the opportunities and challenges that we face trying to obtain a career. As students we choose to make an investment in university, this does not just include the significant and rising tuition fees, but also the cost of living for 3/4 years, and the loss of a potential wage in an alternative job. We make this investment in the hope that it will be advantageous to us in the future and help us to get a great job. However with the huge number of unemployed graduates something is simply not working. Undoubtedly the current financial situation is a huge contributor to these numbers, but another common reason is that graduates are not suitable for the workplace, whether they are unable to do the basics, or do not have the global knowledge required.

The idea of including internships within a degree enables students to gain the skills that are required for their graduate jobs, it also has the advantage of letting them experience their career and decide if it is what they wish to pursue, and allows them to gain a certain type of maturity which is only learned through real work. I talk from personal experience for all of those points.

In my degree we are actively encouraged to gain work experience from our first day on the course! We also benefit from a brilliant placement service which offers us short and long term opportunities, but I was interested to see what it was like at other universities. I spoke to an Engineering student from  University of Warwick, an English and History student at University of York and an employed graduate of the TV Production degree at Bournemouth University. Each of them had a different experience of internships at university, from compulsory placements required at Bournemouth University, to encouraged internships at University of Warwick but very little help in gaining such opportunities. In conclusion it appears that universities do encourage students gaining experience, however the support they provide can vary considerably.

I can see a strong argument for making placements a part of degree courses, and I have previously written about compulsory placements, how can you claim to be qualified if you have never experienced the job you want to do? I also believe that the strongest students will already have obtained placements without being pushed by their university, and currently a full CV can separate the weak from the strong. I would recommend you read the comments on my compulsory placements post as they contain lots of interesting opinions from students on this subject.

The report also considers the financial implications on students from poorer backgrounds, concluding that universities ought to use their (Office for fair access, the universities access watchdog) fund to support those who may struggle to afford long internships. With the current financial situation and universities being required to cut spending and tighten their budgets, is it practical and fair to put this additional strain on universities?

Overall I would say that there is no right or wrong answer, but if internships became a requirement of degree courses I would not consider it to be a bad thing. In fact it can only be beneficial to employers and future graduates, however whether it is a practical solution, or now, is another question.

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Five considerations before working for free

23 February 2012 Rachel Career, Placements, Student Life No comments
Bookstand with large textbook
This article features a popular theme in my blog, that on unpaid placements and work experience. Rather than ask whether or not it is ethical or moral, today I ask you as a student or graduate looking to gain valuable experience to consider important factors before you accept working for free.
1) Would someone else pay me to do this job?
If you were offered an identical position at a similar organisation tomorrow would they be likely to offer you a salary? By accepting an unpaid position are you undervaluing your skills and allowing employers to exploit you and take advantage?
2) Can you afford to work for free?
The demands of work experience can result in significant costs, from travelling to food and even accommodation, not to mention lost salary from alternative work. If you cannot practically afford to carry out your work experience you may need to ask your employer to offer a financial incentive, if only to cover travel expenses. If they are not willing, do they value you enough to offer you a good placement?
3) Is the organisation in a position to pay you?
Some organisations simply do not have the human resource budget to offer you a salary, perhaps you are working for a small charity or new company. Maybe you are doing a favour for a friend who simply is unable to offer you financial remuneration. However if they can afford to pay you, ask yourself, why aren’t they?
4) Do the benefits outweigh the costs?
Through your placement are you gaining skills that you simply could not gain elsewhere? Are you receiving valuable training that could further your career? Are you building up a portfolio to wow future employers? You need to ensure that any potential sacrifices you are making to complete the placement will be worth it in the long term.
5) Will you enjoy the placement?
Most importantly, if you are working for free, you need to enjoy the placement. You need to learn, develop your skills and have a great experience.
Some organisations are seen to take advantage of students and graduates who are willing to take unpaid placements, but the majority of opportunities will allow you to apply theoretical knowledge and build skills that will be invaluable to you in the long term. And if that dream placement turns out not to be what you were expecting? Consider an alternative placement.
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Claire Mascall PR prize

20 February 2012 Rachel Education, News 2 comments

Image from behindthespin.com

I am very honoured to be among the winners of the Claire Mascall PR prize. This is a fantastic award in memory of Claire Mascall and the experience was challenging but interesting.

We were tasked with writing a letter to London Mayor, Boris Johnson, analysing the damage caused by the London riots and financial crisis in relation to the London Olympics, we were then required to suggest strategies to improve London’s reputation.

I am particularly proud to be associated with my fellow winners, Lauren Sizer who won first place and Adele Roberts who took joint second.

My winning letter is available below.

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Education through placement hunting

7 February 2012 Rachel Career, Education, Placements, Public Relations One comment
Comfortable Seating, Learning Resource Centre,...

(Photo credit: jisc_infonet)

My second new year’s resolution involved obtaining some great placements. Much of the emphasis of my course is based upon being able to demonstrate practical ability within a PR/Communications environment and the best way to do this is through placements. I have written numerous times about the importance of experience and placements, I have even written about ways of applying. What I have not yet written about is the educational benefits acquired from the search and application process.

Job hunting is a very exciting yet daunting activity. It takes physical and emotional energy, requires skills such as being able to sell yourself as well as a dose of good fortune. There can be heartbreak, you may lose out on the placement you wanted the most and there can be celebration when you grab the role that suits you the best. Overall it is a period of time when you learn an awful lot.

I was once in conversation with apprentice candidates, fresh out of school, full of energy and optimism. Asking them about their greatest learning experience a surprising number of them mentioned the during job-seeking they had learnt the most. At a young age we often have a naive impression of the job market, assuming that there will be the job that we desire waiting for us, but as we grow older and more experienced this vision is shattered as we come to face the reality of the world. It is tough to get the job you want. Perhaps I should not have been surprised by the number who identified job-seeking as educational, from my own experience it was a time in my life where I learnt a lot about business, about my ambitions and my personality.

I am continuing to learn, and through the last few months hunting for various placements have been particularly educational. I have been able to develop my skills in being recruited, learning about selling myself, my experience, personality and knowledge to an employer. Allowing the employer to see where I would fit into their organisation and how I would solve their problems and requirements. I have faced rejections and difficult questions but overall I have learnt so much and this has increased my confidence and ability.

Placement hunting has also taught me about what career I want to pursue. When I undertook a degree in PR I opened up the door to a huge industry encompassing many areas of business. Looking at the roles available to a candidate on my course I was able to identify what areas of PR I enjoy and at which I excel. While this has been a long term process, placement hunting made it easier to identify.

One of the greatest things about life is the lessons we can learn when we do not expect them. I have no doubt that my experience placement hunting will be beneficial to me when I graduate and need to pursue that precious graduate job. Looking at life as an education is also beneficial for the less successful endeavors, sometimes the best method can be to learn from your failures.

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Should placements be compulsory?

2 February 2012 Rachel Career, Education, Placements, Public Relations 16 comments
Work Experience

It is not a secret that experience is key to boosting employability. In a society where degrees are increasingly common, relevant experience now is not a bonus but rather a necessity for job seeking graduates.

Having met with PR students studying at rival institutions I became interested in the idea of compulsory placements. My degree course encourages us to seek placements from our first year, however other courses take it a step further and require students to complete a designated minimum time of industrial experience to pass the each level. Some courses require a 42 week placement year to be able to gain the degree. Fail to get a year placement, fail to get a degree!

When graduate jobs are competitive and many low level jobs require a years previous experience, by ensuring graduates have a good number of placements on their CV means they increase their likelihood of finding a great job.

Compulsory placements also support the movement of PR towards becoming a profession, a popular movement in some PR circles. Many professions, such as teaching and nursing, involve placements during training. Even dismissing the PR profession debate, can a graduate really be ready for an industry if they have never experienced it first hand?

On the other hand it would be hard to find a PR academic who does not encourage gaining work experience. Even while it may not be deemed compulsory most institutions will direct students towards gaining placements while studying. University is not about spoonfeeding students, it is a place for independent learning and research, supported by classroom theory. Motivated students will actively seek placements without being forced into doing so, these are the students who will graduate with the strongest degrees.

Another issue that could arise from compulsory work experience is the issue of unpaid placements. While I have previously supported such schemes, they do have a time and place. I do not feel easy with the idea of a PR student undertaking a year’s unpaid internship because otherwise they will fail their course.

I would be interested to hear your opinion on compulsory work experience. Good or bad?

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Should I be paid for my time?

17 January 2012 Rachel Career, Opinion, Placements 4 comments

English: [Ladies] Suit, as worn in standard co...

Image via Wikipedia

I recently wrote about the story of Cait Reilly looking at the affordability of a personalised welfare state. In the comments section Ruairidh Pritchard brought up an alternative view of the story and I would recommend reading Ruairidh’s article  on the story.

An important thing that he highlighted is that if you strip the story to its bare bones, removing any “middle-class job-snobbery”, the real issue is the ethics of having people work for free. Working for free is an accepted part of many students and graduates lives however it is a topic which has been under scrutiny recently.

I have personally worked free for a range of reasons from charity and voluntary work, work trials but most relevant to my blog is my unpaid PR experience. Many of my classmates have also taken on unpaid roles within PR agencies and departments in order to build up our CVs and portfolios as well as helping us to develop our skills and experience.

Is it right that we are not paid? I personally believe that an unpaid placement alongside studying is completely acceptable. It is important to remember that money is not the only compensation for your time. Gaining key skills, work experience and a good reference can be far more valuable, particularly for a student. I believe one of the best places to learn about a job is by working in that industry and role. I have a huge appreciation for academic education but for it to be effective it does need to supplemented with practical experience.

If organisations are demanded to pay for their placement students or interns the threat is that they will not be able to afford to take them on and as such it will be the students who are disadvantaged.

Having said this, there is a line. If by taking on a placement a student is not being compensated adequately, for example they become the tea maker and office photocopier, and are not given the opportunity to gain the skills they require over a significant period with the organisation, then I think they have crossed the line. Another issue is organisations asking students to work for 12 month or long but indefinite periods unpaid then again this is unfair.

It is an interesting subject and in many cases open to interpretation. I absolutely believe that unpaid placements have been invaluable to my education and career however I also understand the argument for legislation demanding payment for working.

I would be very interested to hear your views on the topic. Should we pay people for their time? Or is the experience adequate compensation?

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Why Leeds Met?

16 January 2012 Rachel Career, Education No comments

My New Year Resolutions

1 January 2012 Rachel Career, Education, Interests, Just For Fun, Placements, Public Relations, Ultimate Frisbee 4 comments

Welcome to 2012! If we believe the Mayans then we may witness the end of the world, or otherwise we may just live another of many years to come. Either way if 2011 is anything to go by this could be another dramatic, heartbreaking, interesting, amazing, educational year.

2011 was a brilliant year; I learnt a lot, met fascinating people and have experienced amazing things.

I’ve chosen three new year resolutions to share with you to ensure 2012 is an absolutely brilliant year.

  1. Read more books. I love reading a lot, from books, to newspapers, magazines and even the back of a cereal packet. There is rarely a moment where I am not reading, however I am reading a lot less books these days which I feel is a shame. So my first resolution is to read a lot more from books. I love crime thrillers and satirical fiction so if anyone can recommend great books in these genres it would be great. Also I’d love to read more industry related books so if anyone has recommendations I would also appreciate that and might even review them on this blog.
  2. Obtain some great placements. I am currently looking for short term PR placements and a placement year opportunity beginning from this summer. It is a little bit daunting but more than anything it is extremely exciting. This year I want to get some great placements particularly looking at Healthcare, B2B and Internal Communications. Hopefully I will be able to bring you news about some great placements on this blog.
  3. Improve my Ultimate Frisbee skills. I have made no secret of my involvement in my university’s Ultimate Frisbee team and my house is testament to this with numerous discs and trails of mud leading to well used boots. However the reality is I’m shamefully bad at playing the game. Up to now I have used multiple excuses from being too busy to an old ankle fracture but I now have physio treatment and my list of excuses is disappearing quickly. 2012 is my Frisbee year! Through a combination of nutrition, fitness and determination I hope that by the end of this year I will no longer be embarrassed to admit I am not a beginner at the sport. I also hope to play in Leeds varsity and show those Uni boys that they no longer dominate the sport!

Undoubtedly I will continue to update my blog with the developments of my resolutions. I would also be really interested in hearing from my readers what their resolutions are. Are you doing something crazy like jumping out a plane? Or is this year going to be the year you take up running? I would love to know.

 

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Are apprenticeships a threat to PR degrees?

13 December 2011 Rachel Education, Employability, Interests, News, Public Relations 5 comments
English: Graduation hugs

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I am an advocate of apprenticeship schemes and believe that the introduction of PR apprentice schemes can only be beneficial for the industry. It would seem I am not the only fan with this year’s PRWeek census reporting 94% of agency MDs wanting such a scheme and a staggering 92% saying they would consider employing an apprentice.

They are completely right in their thinking, apprenticeship schemes enable organisations to employ low cost workers and train them to be suit the needs of an organisation, this is instead of paying for a more expensive graduate from university who will still need to adapt to your organisation.

It is also a very appealing option for young people with the PRCA in partnership with Pearson in Practice working on plan to provide three-year long on-the-job training, qualifications and work experience to non-graduates from diverse backgrounds. This offers an entry route into a PR career to individuals with the skills and passion required in the industry but who otherwise may not have been able to afford a degree at the increased price.

With the option of an apprenticeship the length of a standard PR degree it makes university seem a dramatically less appealing option. With the choice of being paid to gain the skills and experience the industry demands or amassing considerable debt to obtain a degree with which you may still be unemployable, the better option should be obvious.

Is this a threat to PR degrees then? There are a number of very well designed, developed and respected PR degree courses in the UK and I highly doubt that an apprenticeship scheme would kill these off, however I do think it is important for degree courses to ensure that they are offering students employability skills, particularly in light of Marshall Manson’s recent comments on PR degrees.

Another issue is how current PR undergraduates should react, should we be concerned? Perhaps, apprentices are initially significantly cheaper with the advantage of learning organisation specific skills. This should simply encourage undergraduates to work harder to gain a range of transferable skills which can be utilised over a number of organisations.

Overall I think this is another important development in the PR industry. Many PR professionals are former journalists, but with journalism being an increasingly difficult career path younger PR professionals come from different routes such as studying PR as their main discipline or graduate schemes. Apprenticeships are simply another development in entry routes into the PR industry, and one I would say is very positive.

What is your opinion on PR apprenticeships? Do they pose a threat to the PR degree?

Wordle: PR Apprenticeships

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