Yesterday I featured Sharise Crumley as part of the Help a PR Pro Out event taking place this Friday on Twitter from noon to 2 p.m. ET. Today, Courtney Curran, a recent graduate from Michigan State University, is in the spotlight.
What work experience do you have that makes you a great candidate for an entry level PR position? This can be work directly related to PR, or a job that helped you develop skills that you will need to be successful in PR.
My first job was as a client coordinator for Century 21 in high school. This position gave me a solid set of customer relations and business administrative skills and taught me the importance of developing and maintaining professional relationships with a diverse group of people. This experience served as a great basis for the relationship management skills necessary in public relations. Once I started to study public relations in college, I made an effort to have a well-rounded education and obtained internships in corporate, agency, nonprofit and Web-based settings. I’ve been able to gain hands-on experience with media relations, writing for the media, large-scale event planning and social media. Each internship I participated in has prepared and challenged me to become a successful PR practitioner. I’m confident that I can easily transition into an entry level PR position based on the experience I’ve gained over the past four years.
What is your unique factor? What makes you stand out from all the other people seeking employment in the PR industry?
Most of my internships were in small office settings and I was often treated as a regular staff member. From introducing social media to a college department to being solely responsible for planning a two-day festival, I’ve proven that I’m able to handle large responsibilities while still keeping up with daily tasks. These internships gave me the ability to quickly adapt to new environments and wrap my head around industries I may have not been familiar with before. The variety and depth of my internship experiences matched with my passion for the PR industry has given me the skills to stand out from other PR students currently seeking employment in the industry.
What did you learn from your experience in PRSSA that will make you an asset to any company?
My experience in PRSSA taught me to be a self-motivated learner and PR practitioner. As the co-founder of our chapter’s student-run agency, I did a lot of research to find the best way to run our agency while being a leader to my peers. I carefully constructed the internal organization of the agency through research and trial and error and propelled it to its current success. As agency director, I developed relationships with clients, supervised successful campaigns and mentored younger students in a variety of tactics. Along with my time as an executive board member, I also took advantage of my membership by participating in the Leadership Rally, two national conferences and many more local activities. Being involved with PRSSA helped me to grow into a leader and gain confidence in my ability to become a successful PR professional in the future.
Tell me in two or three sentences why an employer in the PR industry should hire you.
I’m a self-motivated person with a passion for public relations and writing. I keep cool under pressure and work best in creative team atmospheres. I love learning about different industries and look forward to working with a variety of clients in an agency setting after graduation.
Courtney wants to to find a PR job in Michigan, particularly in metro Detroit. If you know of an entry level position, or if you’re an employer who’s interested in talking with Courtney, you can e-mail her at curran.courtney@gmail.com or contact her via Twitter (@courtneycurran).
A huge thanks to both Sharise and Courtney for letting me feature them on my blog for #HAPPO day! Best of luck with the job search.