Progressions

Utilizing On-Campus Resources to Set Up for a Semester of Success

As a college student, you are in a unique position of having an array of resources at your fingertips — especially resources on your school’s campus. On top of that, being a member of PRSSA offers you a network of supportive students as well as professionals who want to help you jump start your career. Take advantage of all the perks of being a student!

Do Some Research

There is a good chance that there is at least one office or organization on your campus dedicated to professional development. On my campus, not only do we have student-run professional development clubs, but we also have access to a career services department.

Career services departments usually host the majority of the career fairs on campus, provide students with free resumes and cover letter recommendations and help students find the career that works best for them. Any time I’ve personally gone, or heard of other students visiting them, the counselors are usually very helpful and you leave with some valuable information.

On my campus we also have ‘Professional Closet Pop-Ups,’ where students who don’t have access to professional clothes can ‘shop’ for clothes to wear to interviews. Different clubs on campus as well as career services may offer LinkedIn Headshot workshops to improve your LinkedIn profile or other helpful career-readiness events for students. Offices like this are so amazing for your PRSSA Chapter to partner with.

Take Initiative

When reaching out to on-campus resources available to you, it’s important to take initiative! Make an appoint or email different departments detailing what kind of help you’re looking for — whether that be an event collaboration or individual professional development. And if that department can’t help, they can usually point you in the direction of who can.

However, they can’t help if you aren’t aware of what you need. Not only can seeking these offices out make a difference in your PRSSA programming, but it can also help you to start networking on campus. Remember, these faculty members want to help you and want to see you succeed!

Get Creative

When brainstorming events you can host for your Chapter, getting creative with what you have easy (and free!) access to is vital. Do you have professors who worked really cool public relations jobs before? Ask them to speak at a Chapter event! Do you have marketing or public relations departments that manage the university marketing and/or public relations? Ask them if you can do a tour of their facilities or if they can speak to your students! Hosting valuable events for your Chapter doesn’t have to be hard. Not only can utilizing your connections (like your PRSA sponsor Chapter or those peers you’ve met at national events like ICON) boost your Chapter’s events, but using these on-campus resources can increase the value of you Chapter and create awesome relationships that can serve your Chapter for years to come!