Posts tagged PRSSA
What Young Seattle PR Pros Want
Jan 19th
I attended a PRSA Puget Sound focus group last Thursday intended to unearth ways to increase Chapter participation among public relations professionals with zero to five years of experience. I have been a hardcore PRSSA/PRSA fan for four years now, but I agree that this is an experience level that our local Chapter needs to better address.
Hopefully we’ll see concrete additions to programming and communications as a result of what seemed like an enlightening meeting. A handful of board members including the programming director and Chapter President attended, which to me shows dedication to this topic and promise of change. Unfortunately, the only employers represented among the early career professionals were Edelman (the host) and Weber Shandwick, with special guest Brian Seitz from Microsoft, whom Karianne Stinson recruited because he’s passionate about the focus group topic. At least my opinion was heard, right?
Here are some of the highlights of what we discussed in regard to programming for early career professionals:
- Programming topics are more of a draw than prestigious speakers or exclusive venues.
- In terms of topics, we want to see more that appeal specifically to our career level, such as how to get your boss to trust you during a public relations crisis as opposed to how to create a crisis communications plan yourself. We see a programming gap between what’s useful for students and what’s useful for professionals who are years and years into their careers.
- Preference for in-person programming over webinars, even if it means a less famous speaker
- Events that simulate tweetups or Cold Pavement in that they are interactive and networking focused and have a low cost or registration barrier
- Events starting at 7 p.m. or later, but not late evening unless it’s Thursday. We like events with “happy hour” in the name, and everyone in the focus group raised our hands when asked “How many of you go to happy hour?”
Here are the highlights of our event publicity improvement suggestions:
- Overall, we think the Chapter could greatly improve its online presence, including the Chapter site and its social media use.
- Revitalize the blog, cultivate relationships with Twitter advocates/ambassadors who will spread the word about Chapter events, and encourage event Twitter hashtags for live tweeting.
- Best case scenario would be something like a Chapter phone app integrated with the Chapter website.
- Create a point-person for event publicity at each Seattle agency because people are much more likely to attend an event that they find out about from a coworker.
Is there anything you would add to these lists? Do you think these desires are specific to the Seattle area or to early career public relations professionals nationwide?
Snapshot from the 2010 Puget Sound PRSA Holiday Gala that I think represents the Chapter's age demographics.
Image courtesy of Kathleen Baxter
Jumpstart Your PR Career on April 3 in Seattle
Mar 11th
My favorite public relations event I went to in college was Public Relations Career Jumpstart, hosted in Seattle every year by the Puget Sound PRSA Chapter. PR Jumpstart 2010 is coming up soon, and if you’re a student or recent graduate looking to work in public relations and within driving distance of Seattle, you should definitely go. It’s on Saturday, April 3, at Seattle University.
Register at a discounted rate here before March 30.
This event is the most beneficial if you want to work in Seattle, but the stellar programming on job interviewing and public relations topics are a must-attend for people aspiring to work in public relations anywhere.
I especially recommend PR Jumpstart if you’re looking to network on behalf of your PRSSA Chapter. My 2008 PRSSA Regional Activity committee found both our keynote speaker, Kyle Warnick of Microsoft, and title sponsor, Owen Media, at PR Jumpstart 2008.
I’m a Star
Feb 5th
Jessica Lomelin interviewed me on my experience working in China for a blog post, which was mentioned to a large lecture full of International Communication students at the University of Oregon. Jessica and I got to know each other last year from working in the same groups in two of our public relations classes and serving on the Executive Board of the University of Oregon Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Chapter together. She’s now a team assistant at the Seattle office of Weber Shandwick. You can read the post on her blog here. For those of you behind the Great Firewall of China, I’ve copied and pasted the full text below:
One of the things I love most about public relations is that it is a limitless job and thrives for people that are curious, open-minded and eager. Public relations although primarily conducted in the United States, requires people to think globally, wether in regards to campaigns, event planning or media relations. We most often see Senior-level practitioners have the chance to work abroad, but I always love re-telling stories of young pr practitioners who took their chances and began their careers…abroad.
I interviewed Beth Evans, a former classmate of mine at the University of Oregon, who upon graduation, decided to move to Beijing, China. She has been there for about six months and has already fully immersed herself in the culture and has been a valuable tool to many companies she’s worked for.
Q: What influenced you to work abroad?
A: I can’t remember a specific time when I decided I wanted to work abroad. I studied abroad in Beijing in the fall of 2005 and didn’t want to leave, which is when working abroad became a definite possibility. Since then, which country I worked at became a low priority as the industry, city size, and job duties were all more important.
Q: How much did networking come into play when finding a job? What was more influential, your network or your skill set?
A: Networking was definitely more important, especially because in Chinese culture, relationships are everything. The way I got the job was through my college roommate that asked a friend who worked at a famous gallery in Beijing if he knew of any openings. The friend knew my boss, and my roommate guided me through the interview and application process. Most recent Chinese graduates have no work or internship experience, and I was a native English speaker.
Q: What was expected of you upon being hired?
A: It’s a bit difficult to say what was expected of me because I was trying to interpret this through the language barrier. Probably the most important expectation was that my English proofreading skills would be excellent as that was my biggest advantage over a Chinese employee.
Q: What qualities do you think employers look for that Americans have that would be an asset to their organization?
A: By far the most attractive quality Americans have to employers abroad is a native English speaking ability. I know this is not true in all countries, but Chinese people think American English, especially the West Coast accent, is the best kind of English. At both my jobs I’ve held in China, I’ve been the only employee who only speaks one language fluently, but I’ve also been the only native English speaker. This skill, combined with my journalism degree, has allowed me to write or be the last reviewer in all important English-language materials.
Q: What have you learned from working abroad that you couldn’t have learned in the US?
When I was in the U.S., I heard many professionals and academics talk a lot about the importance of learning how to work in a global economy, but I only got to hear the American perspective. Here, I get to find out what people from other countries – and not just China, because I’ve worked with people from South Korea, Canada, and France, as well – think it means to be a global candidate. For most people I’ve met here, this means being able to speak at least two languages fluently.
Q: What do you suggest someone do when wanting to work abroad?
A: My biggest piece of advice for people who want to work abroad is to meet and stay in contact with people who have lived abroad. Some of my mentors didn’t understand why I wanted to move to another country immediately after graduation, and working abroad has been challenging, both before I got here and now. However, spending time with friends who moved away from their home countries at age 18, or going to UO International Career Networking Committee (ICNC) events where I’d meet alumni who worked abroad.
In a close second is that I strongly suggest that people improve their language skills as much as possible before they begin work abroad. I only took two years of Chinese before working here, and while my Chinese has improved a little by living and working here, it improved much more efficiently when I studied it in the classroom, even in the U.S.
Q: Any fun characteristics about working in China you can provide?
A: I think it’s fun how international the workforce in Beijing is. Most office workers here speak at least two languages fluently, and many companies have employees from at least three countries. Chinese companies also find a lot of excuses for employees to eat, drink and be merry together. After major gallery exhibition openings, the president would pay for all the artists and staff to go out to a nice dinner and karaoke to celebrate. The president also took me out to Pizza Hut – a really nice, expensive restaurant chain in China – to celebrate my joining the company.
Q: How was it working in Beijing during the Olympics?
A: The Olympics actually affected my daily life and entertainment a lot more than my job duties. People in Beijing think that it’s not cool to be interested in both art and politics or both art and sports, so my coworkers were extremely apathetic about the Olympics, and our gallery was even closed to change exhibitions during the Olympics. I wrote a post on the Olympics’ relationship to the art district I worked in. My current job is at a small agency that did a ton of events during the Olympics and even had the International Olympic Committee has a client, and I’ve heard all these great stories. I’ve been meaning to interview my boss for a blog post on it.
If you’d like to find more information on working in China, visit Beth’s PRSSA country profile post!
More Native Mandarin Speakers Than English, Spanish and Japanese Combined
Nov 8th
I’ve heard repeatedly from business gods that Mandarin Chinese is the language to know. Moving to Beijing immediately after graduation and witnessing the tremendous economic growth around me has driven the point home. For those of you who aren’t convinced, check this out: Mandarin has more native speakers in the world than English, Spanish, and Japanese combined.
By the way, Japanese and Spanish were the two other languages, along with Mandarin, that Richard Edelman recommended in the PRSSA National Conference 2006 keynote that audience members become proficient in. There’s also about 20 times as many students studying them than Mandarin at the University of Oregon. I know this because one of the biggest marketing mistakes of my life, which I made while I was U of O’s International Week and Night’s Publicity Committee Head, was to e-mail every language professor at the university targeted messages. U of O is a microcosmic example for the rest of the universities in the United States.
In addition to the sheer population numbers, native Mandarin speakers are part of the BRIC acronym that represents the world’s fastest developing economies: Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
Long story short:
Already huge and exponentially growing demand for Mandarin-speaking workers
+
Nobody studying it
=
Why I’m staying here until I’m fluent enough to run a business meeting
Thanks to Jaculynn Peterson for informing me via Twitter of the stats that inspired this post.
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