The All-Important (and Sometimes Unattainable) Agency Experience

Word's from TSG's awesome 2011 Fall Intern, Alina.

-------------------------------------------------------------

I graduated in 2010 from a Big Ten school with a pile of student loans and no means to pay them back. How did I get here? I did everything I was supposed to do. I entered an accredited university, chose and excelled in a major broad enough to provide options yet focused enough to enjoy a specialized area of interest, I volunteered and completed three internships in my field, I joined a sorority, I built my network through experienced professors with connections, and I participated in my PRSSA chapter. So I’m sure you can imagine my confusion when I crossed the stage with a $40,000 piece of paper in my hand and I lacked the pool of job offers I was told a college education would guarantee.

Six months before graduation I began applying to all the big PR firms with offices in metro-Detroit. The common thread in the impersonal rejections: “no agency experience.” How could that be different than all the experience I had gained in internal PR departments? And if it is, how could I gain that experience if none of them would hire me?

Fast forward one year and a rainy relocation later: here I am, a graduate student working full-time between two internships in successful PR agencies. And guess what? The rejections were right.

Agencies provide a much deeper understanding of the practice of PR. My creativity and writing skills have been challenged as I’ve had to adapt to different clients and styles of writing. I’ve gained further insight into crisis management. I have sharpened my event planning and coordination abilities. My media relations knowledge has more than doubled in the past two months with the opportunities to accompany the executives to press events and interact with journalists one-on-one. And I have absolutely mastered the art of time management. Overall I’ve learned that PR offers a more sophisticated means of communication. My interest and faith in the industry has been restored by its unrestricted nature, and I’ve decided that publicizing the arts and entertainment fields is what I will continue to work toward.

So I want to thank The Silverman Group for taking a chance on someone with no agency experience and providing me with what truly has been a unique learning opportunity. And to all the recent graduates encountering the same problem, I encourage you to remain a current and viable asset in this industry. Enroll in graduate school and move to a more vibrant market. Join your local PRSA chapter and engage in interesting conversations with successful people. Volunteer, offer your services to local businesses, and inquire about job shadowing to get you one step closer to that hiring manager. Most importantly, don’t give up. Eventually your dream agency will recognize your potential and your increasing proficiency will transform you into the PR professional you’ve worked so hard to become.