Life after UW-Whitewater!

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