Choosing a University and a career path
can be easier said than done, but once you do and you are over whelmed with fun
social experiences, projects, tons of homework and crazy deadlines you start to
realize at the end of your years attending University what comes next? The University of Wisconsin
Whitewater is where I chose to continue my education after transferring
from Concordia University as a sophomore. I chose UW-Whitewater because of its
great reputation in the Public Relations program and opportunities that it
provides. They strive to give you the best experience, real world knowledge and
opportunity to be successful after University life. One way to find out how to
be successful within the PR industry is through our UW- Whitewater Alumni. They have provided
a number of videos of PR graduates who share there experiences and give you
great advice for life after University.
After watching many videos one of my
favorite PR Alumni was Rick
Daniels currently he is working at UW-Whitewater as the Greek Leadership
Advisor and using all he has learnt throughout his years at Whitewater. His
video was one of my favorites because I thought he seemed extremely personable
and gave great advice. As a future PR student I look up to alumni who have
careers I would one day like to pursue. His advice on not being afraid to start
off small, in smaller companies and be willing to work your way up reassured me
that you don’t always land your dream job right away but with time and had work
you will achieve it. He also gave great tips like keep everything from
University because one day you may use it and always aggressively peruse your
dream job.
My other favorite video was Lynnette
Hulgan who is an event planner and know owns her own wedding planning and
special events business Essential
Details LLC in Milwaukee, Wis. Her experiences after Whitewater were
inspiring to me as she held many jobs and worked her way up to her owning her
business today. She gave me an opened mind to using my PR skills and degree
that I will soon have and using it for a wide variety of positions within the
industry such as marketing, adverting, event planning, graphic design or
whatever it may be. She also gave great advice on trying to have as many internships as you can
to gain knowledge and on treating every client special, make them feel like
they are your one and only which has given her great success within her own
business.
Lastly, the other video I really enjoyed
was Heidi Murphy who
was a 2004 PR graduate and is currently a senior account executive at Salmon Borre Group,
which is a boutique PR agency, located in Lake Bluff, Ill. I especially liked hers because she has my
dream job working in a small boutique style PR agency. She had some really
great tips on upholding the client’s reputation and always being flexible. What
I liked the most is that out of all the series of videos of PR Alumni she
mentioned LinkedIn as the best
professional way of networking. She explained that networking through LinkedIn
can be extremely useful when applying for jobs and what great value LinkedIn
has. I also thought that she gave great advice on what to do when applying or
interviewing for a job. Some of her example were research the company before
hand, bring multiple copies of your resume to the interview, look them up on
LinkedIn and don’t be afraid to ask questions. These were all things that I
thought were really important in becoming successful within the PR industry.
Overall all these tips
are useful for the success of life after University!
Love SB xoxo
