It is important to make a major step in your career in your early ages because your academic years are about to end faster than you think. Likely, you have heard before that you must get some work experience before you jump into the world of work. Later you will thank yourself for putting your career first, because it will absolutely pay off when you apply for the position of your dreams. We live in a world where anything is possible. Therefore, you can make any dream come true if you stick with it. So grab your CV, get a great internship and turn it into a full time job!
You can be the most talented PR professional but without connections, you are just a highly-qualified professional. It doesn’t matter where you work, you at least need media connectionsand it’s always good if you have some client connections as well. You have a lot of possibilities: you can be a participant at brunches, go to parties for professionals or use the most simple technique – grab your mobile and check out who is available on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.
Day after day, people get used to the easiest solutions and forget about the rules in the office. You can make a better impression if you follow them. For example: don’t leave your lunch on the kitchen table or bring your colleagues’ letters to their desks. They will be very grateful and they will see you as part of their team.
You will probably get easy tasks. But if you want to show your full interest for the company and you heard they need assistance with other more complex tasks, offer your help. Of course, they won’t always give you the biggest ones but it’s about more than just the offer. They will see your enthusiasm and your bonding to the job. Furthermore, you will put yourself first in line if they need help in the future.
You want to show that you value good behavior and that you are able to show respect for everyone. How you treat people is a perfect reflection of who you really are and what kind of personality you really have. Don’t think that this doesn’t matter; you can be absolutely sure that your boss makes little notes for him/herself about you. How you behave towards the receptionist or the delivery man is a simplified copy of how you will behave with the clients and your boss knows this!
No matter how small or big the company is, there is a good chance they organize meetings at least every week. The meetings are a great place to show your ideas, even if you think they are too small and not worthy to share with the world. It can seem very scary to speak aloud in front of almost everyone in the company but start thinking about your future and how this can influence your next move.
As I mentioned earlier, in the beginning you will get easy tasks such as making the clipping book, collecting all the press clippings about your client or doing the follow up before the press events. Don’t shame it, since every intern and assistant does these kinds of things. I suggest you see it as a strong base to build your knowledge and experiences and be a better professional. As the time passes by, you will do these tasks easier and faster and so you will have more free time – which you should use wisely! Ask for more tasks – maybe new ones as well to experience more and more. As you take initiative with your boss or mentor, they will see your passion as what they are searching for in a candidate.
After a successfully closed project, give a little positive feedback about how much you are grateful and how much you look forward to the next tasks. During a project, everyone focuses on their own part of the job and makes sure that their job will be done appropriately. In this process, the parts of the team don’t really have enough time to analyze the system, how the team works, etc. But after the team closes the projects and completes the final tasks, it’s necessary to talk about the experiences and what worked or did not work. When you reach this point, don’t forget to give positive feedback even if the project wasn’t as successful as you expected. Express your gratitude to your boss and colleagues and share with them how much you await the next shared job with them.
Petra Szabo realized after graduation that they would like to build a career as a PR professional. Since then, they have worked on CSR projects and with one of the most talented Hungarian fashion designers. Thier motto is very simple: Create visions of the world you want to see. Thanks to PRSSA, they have a chance to take their very first step to acheiving their big dreams and sharing their vision and knowledge on a professional site. Petra is from Hungary.