Graduating with a PR Degree? Five Things I Wish I Knew Sooner

Recently, I was honored to speak on a panel hosted by PRSSA Oswego about how graduating students can best position themselves competitively as they enter the job market. As someone who struggled greatly to land their first job and adjust to it, I was eager to share pointers I wish I knew beginning my career.

So, to all the PR and communications students graduating this month, here’s a shortlist of things I wish someone told me early in my career. Hopefully, by thinking about these now, you can give yourself a head start.

• Hustle. In college, no one is forcing you to go the extra mile. On the panel, the example I gave was to think about every PR student at the university, then think about those involved in PRSSA, then think about those attending the panel. There’s no penalty for not getting involved, but if you aren’t, you lose valuable opportunities to learn and network, which your peers are taking. In your first job, demonstrating motivation, intellectual curiosity and a desire to learn will be immensely important to your growth, and unlike college, you will be graded on it.
• Red ≠ wrong. We’re trained to fear the red pen through our entire adolescence. For many of us, the despair of receiving a bad grade never completely left. Now, it resurfaces whenever our work is edited. Take that feeling and throw it out the window. In your first job (and forever, really), you’ll get a lot of feedback, as you should. You’ll be learning from people that have done this 10, 15 or 20+ years, of course they will know more than you. More often than not, their edits are making your work better, not saying it’s wrong. Welcome what they can teach you.
• Answer first, explain second. Don’t provide a 30-second preamble for a five-second answer. Answer the question, then explain why that’s the answer, if needed at all. We’re trained early in our lives to think in a “2+2=4” format. Very often, the more effective way of communicating is “4, because of 2+2.” If you start with all the components that lead to the answer, you’ll get lost on side points, confuse your audience, or add little value to the discussion. This takes time and mental energy to flip around, but it will make you a better communicator.
• Listen instead of just hearing. Here’s the difference – did you hear what someone said, or did you understand it? Our society rewards speed and that has trained us to answer something as quickly as possible, even if it isn’t a great answer. While there are times where speed is critical, such as a crisis situation, collectively we need to stop thinking so intensely about when we’ll have an opportunity to jump in and instead pay more attention to what is being said first.
• Watch your report card. Someone did tell me this next part, but I’m including it anyways! Some great advice I received a long time ago was that I’d be graded on three things in my career:
  • Do you do good work?
  • Do you do good work, on time?
  • Are you pleasant to be around?

The third metric has nothing to do with your quality of work, but it’s just as important. You wouldn’t want to be friends with someone that is unpleasant, would you? Now would you want to work with them? People want to work with others that empower them, help them grow and improve the atmosphere around them. This can be especially useful for entry-level employees because they’re still working on metrics #1 and #2.

Hopefully, these points will give you a jump on achieving your professional goals. And remember to cut yourself some slack. You have a lot to learn and that’s normal. If you have any questions, feel free to add me on LinkedIn. Good luck!