Progressions

Tools for Our Professional Development

We are members of the Public Relations Student Society of America. Not only do we value a sense of camaraderie amongst each other, but we also believe in scholarship in the industry. And our end goal: to advance the profession and be successful practitioners.

But in order for that to happen, we need more knowledge than what we gain in the classroom and even the internships we serve. We got to take the initiative and research some tools that many professionals use today. Below are some of the many tools one may use:

• MyRagan: A social networking site just for communications professionals and students. Every week it has a free white paper download on subjects like copywriting, speechwriting, crisis communications and the like. You can also find professionals in the area you live or want to live and connect.
• LinkedIn: Like MyRagan, however it is open to all.

• PRWeek Online: Latest news in the public relations industry, as well as a job bank and many useful resources (it also gives subscriptiondiscounts to students and PRSSA members).

• Adage and AdWeek: Online magazines that cover issues of advertising, branding and other forms of controlled communications. Also has pages of funny and successful TV and print ads. Job banks and latest agency news are available on these sites as well.

• BusinessWeek Online: Recently it has posted articles on The Perfect Business Plan and other tips about business communications.

• PR Newswire: A wire company that organizations use to send press releases (and who also recently bought Hispanic PR Wire, LatinClips and Hispanic Digital Network (HDN)).

• BusinessWire: Just about the same as PR Newswire.

• Dna13: One of the newest kinds of software that Andy Church, the vice president of marketing says helps stakeholder networking. Check it out and tell me what you think. More about it will be presented soon.

• RSS Feed Aggregators/Readers: About.com came out with a list of the top ten RSS feed readers one can use. Some you have to pay for, some you do not. But knowing how to set up and use a RSS feed reader really helps monitoring.

Please add to the list! New professionals, what tools are you using now that you wish you had previous exposure to? What tools should we be looking at?