Questions

Three years ago I declared my major as public relations, I knew basically nothing. Five classes and three internships later I am confident in my next steps. The one thing I am still unsure of is what field I want to be in. Most of my experience has been in the healthcare field, but that is not where I want to be. The one thing I have always enjoyed is planning events. From decision making, to making phone calls, and running errands every single aspect intrigues me. Not many jobs in the PR field are all about event planning. While some host events, others don't. Some hold company events, while others host events for the public. I want to plan both events for the public and for the company. So as I search for a job I'm not entirely searching for events PR, but rather just PR. I know that for now I have to get my foot in the door before I can walk through any others.

Job Search

I've been through many interviews, but when I got my first "real" job interview I felt I was extremely unprepared. I knew the salary question would come up, but how was I suppose to know the answer? The interview was a success, I was asked to come in for a second interview as graduation gets closer and the infamous salary question went smoothly between $30,000 to $40,000 is the average so I went with that. The woman who was interviewing me nodded her head as I said those numbers so I knew I was in the right ballpark.
Searching for jobs to apply for has been nothing close to fun, but rather stressful. How will I know if its a right fit? How do I know if this is what I want to do? Where do I want to live? Will I be able to afford an apartment on my own or should I stay close to home for now? I've always thought about this time and how exciting it would be, but just like my dream to graduate early its been extremely stressful.

Being an Intern

Over the past 2 years I've held 3 internships all very different, yet all very helpful. My first internship was at a small agency ran by 2 people on Long Island. I got this internship before I had any public relations (PR) experience, but looking forward to learning. By gaining experience in a small agency atmosphere I researched media markets for clients, compiled media lists and wrote articles for Today Long Island. My second internship was at a much larger company, Meridian Health. During my internship at Meridian's Corporate Communication office I also was taking my first PR course. I wrote many press releases, a few articles, and a hand full of blurbs for their newsletter. I got to take part in a ribbon cutting ceremony where I also took notes of each speaker to be included in the newsletter. During my time at Meridian I got elbows deep in stuffing envelopes, but also got to construct an event plan and examine social media websites. My most recent internship made me feel more like an Assistant Account Executive, between writing pitches, pitching, and compiling media l rarely had any downtime. Every morning I would monitor media using Google News before monitoring Facebook and Twitter while also sending out a few Tweets towards the end of my internship. All of my internships have prepared me for this semester not only by helping gain experience in the career field I am preparing to enter but also they helped me to decide where I would like to be and in what type of environment I would like working in.