I blame Samantha
Anyone notice how popular PR has become as a career for college students? Especially girls? Seems there are a lot of misguided students thinking a job in PR will be all glamour and big parties and fantastic fashion.
When I interviewed intern candidates at ASU a month or so ago, I asked each student what their ideal job in PR would be. The majority used terms such as ”Celebrity”, “LA” or “entertainment” or “events” to describe what they hoped to do.
Ahhh..those poor souls. Its kinda like all the starry-eyed college boys who love sports and go into marketing with aspirations of a job with a major sports team. Little do they know if they get in, it will be at the dead bottom working 60+ hours a week for minimum wage wearing a tie and dress pants.
The image TV and movies give to jobs in PR (along with crime scene investigators and doctors) are so glamorously distorted I want to scream sometimes. What you see on the screen is not true life, chickies.
But, alas, who the heck would want to watch a character like Samantha Jones of Sex and the City if she was in her office editing a press release or media training her client. She is much more interesting as a man-loving barracuda in great clothes sipping Cosmos.
Thank goodness for internships and entry-level jobs. The reality check surely should kick in then.
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Comments
June 12th, 2008 at 9:50 am
This blog is music to my ears! I am a recent JMC graduate of ASU. However, I knew exactly what I was in for when I switched gears from business to PR. Low pay. Hard work. And…writing, writing, writing! My worst college experience (by far) was my capstone project. My group’s client requested a community relations plan. Little did I know that my group was composed of entirely PR entertainment industry hopefuls and event planners. I am not saying anything is wrong with their choice of career path. However, I knew that going into the project, the sole writing responsibility was on me.
My suggestion (to ASU and any other university that wishes to produce quality PR professionals) is to educate students on what PR is before those students enter into the profession. I cannot tell you how many times I heard the line, “Well… I really don’t like to write at all. I want to go into event planning. That’s why I chose PR.” Again, nothing wrong with this endeavor, but ASU provides a wonderful certificate for event planning that in no way requires writing ability.
In the interest of defending myself and many others who are products of ASU’s Cronkite School, I will say that some of us are absolutely ready (and excited) for everything that a career in PR entails.
Thank you for letting me vent a bit! Haha…
-Becky
June 12th, 2008 at 9:51 am
No doubt! I always wanted to be a high powered Advertising Exec like Michael Steadman on Thirtysomething. I learned all too quickly that that life was far and few between and even possibly non-existent. But I still stuck through the grunt work, paid my dues, realized I was kinda good at what I did and actually ended up really loving my own path through the Ad biz even if it wasn’t remotely close to Michael’s! A glamorous distortion may not be half bad for attracting interest, because lets face it, only the real talent will stick it out through the end and come out blazing on the other side!
June 12th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Charlotte, I loved this. Can anything be more true, baring the comment, “Gas prices are crazy.”? (Don’t mind my creative punctuation). My other worry for this group is their unrealistic wage expectation. Some of the interns I’ve worked with expected $55,000+ out of college, and in the Arizona market. It makes me wonder what they are being taught/told about the industry.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Having watched S&TC in a theatre chock full of women just last Saturday, I can say that I was shocked, just shocked to see that my own reactions were 180-degrees from the rest of the crowd. Being a devotee of the TV series, however, I was disappointed that the movie seemed to mainly be about self-absorbed, idle rich girls who have nothing more significant to do than spend the better part of a year shopping for cute outfits and shoes and helping Carrie plan the Wedding Of The Year, interspersed with power-sisterhood lunches. The only woman who made any pretense of actually working was the lawyer Miranda. Which brings me to Samantha — putatively a wealthy personal manager/PR agent with a single solitary client, a Hollywood hunk. The only pretense of work Sam engages in are the brief glimpses of her on her cell phone finalizing a deal. She does most of her “work” (spoiler alert!)lounging in a bikini in her beach chair on the deck of a fabulous Malibu-style ocean-front condo. She doesn’t prepare budgets, spreadsheets, marketing plans, take meetings, consult with her client, pitch stories, or do market research. Thus, the image we get of a PR professional is someone who talks on a cell phone but has time to travel incessantly between the coasts and (spoiler alert!) outfit her body in sushi.
June 12th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Charlotte,
It’s frustrating to hear about your recent experience with ASU public relations students. I know your experience is probably common. It’s unfortunate that some students are giving all of us a bad rep and making fewer agencies and companies want to work with us.
As an ASU undergrad majoring in public relations, I feel there’s a preconceived notion about my lack of abilities or knowledge of public relations as I enter internship interviews. While this is extremely frustrating, it’s also a great opportunity for those of us who seek a REAL pr career to set ourselves apart.
I promise – there are good ones out there! I hope local agencies other outlets don’t discontinue internship programs as a result of these misguided students.
- Stephanie
June 12th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Hear, hear to your comments Charlotte! I teach PR at ASU and I have found that a majority of the students have an unrealistic point of view about the PR biz. I feel confident in saying that about half of my students are either pursuing event planning, publicist gigs or have no clue what they want to do in PR.
I decided to teach so that I could reveal the true side of PR to students, prepare them for an entry level position and teach the fundamentals in order to produce an ethical group of up-and-comers. In every class session, I stressed what they would really experience and how certain elements of PR — budgeting, planning, writing, meeting goals — would come into play for people who just wish to plan events or be a celebrity publicist. I was always honest with my students and did my best to help them picture what it would be like to work at either an agency or in house.
Among the students who were looking for glitz and glam, there were a few “gems” that I knew I was reaching, especially those that still didn’t know what they wanted to do in PR, and that’s all I can ask for. As a person who has seen the new crop of PR pros firsthand, I can attest to the fact that there are some smart, level-headed and determined young ladies looking to make a difference through public relations and I am proud to have them join the industry. Rebecca, who responded to this entry, is one of those individuals.
June 12th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Boy, wouldn’t I like to be Samantha, strolling with my Birkin bag, making fabulous deals and seeing Michael Steadman, Elliott what-was-his-last-name and Smith Jerrod all in the same day!
June 12th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
As many of you know I taught this capstone class this past semester at ASU (and no, Rebecca was not in my class!) I have to say in all honesty that for the most part I was very impressed with the caliber of work. Admittedly a handful of my students have already left for jobs in LA — but I think it has more to do with lifestyle there than Samantha Jones.
As for writing, I harped on my students all semester about how critical writing is to success in PR. I even forced them to study AP style, which was not on the syllabus for PR students (a huge mistake that I will report to the powers that be at the Cronkite school).
I saw a lot of good writing throughout the semester — even some exceptional writing. It’s clear to me that the students with the better writing skills will be more successful going out into the world. Of course, I’m biased as I have a degree in journalism with a reporting and editing concentration — not PR.
June 12th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Call me an anomaly, but THANK GOD this job is only a fraction of “celebrities,” “LA,” and “events.” More than a couple of events a month and I turn into a burnt out monster! Being chained to my chair and writing is one of the most satisfying parts of my job, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
What Samantha represents is only an ity-bity fraction of our field. She truly represents the event planning niche of marketing communications. And it’s all very glamorous at first blush, but you’d better have one heck of a work ethic (and stamina!)to be able to pull off high-caliber fun. But at the end of the day you have to publicize those events too, so make sure that in addition to your hard-working attitude and high-energy personality, be a healthy dose of journalist too.
I will gladly outsource events to someone who aims professionally to be like Samantha. But event planner be ware…PR desk jockeies are especially detail oriented and demanding…perhaps just a little bit like good old Sammy.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
A great post. As both a working columnist and a MarComm pro, I feel there is a great lack of understanding of what PR is. In my college PR classes, I hardly remember (and that could be for many reasons)any mention of words like government relations, analyst relations or merger and acquisition communications, and from what I’ve heard that hasn’t changed much. At a college level programs need to get with the times and discuss the entire scope of PR,not just media relations, event planning and community relations.
Brent Diggins
Mindspace PR
June 12th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
I met a few golden candidates from ASU, unfortunately, other interviewers got them (maybe because they had an agency…I just am on my own). The good thing about students who intern (as many times as they can) is they begin to understand what they might be getting into and what they DO like and Don’t like.
When I worked in TV, I saw a lot of Broadcasting students start out wanting to be an anchor and then after a semester of working the assignment desk, logging tapes and following reporters they realized being on camera wasn’t their only option (or as glamorous) and sometimes working behind the scenes could be rewarding too.
Regarding students who want to do events…have at it! I would much rather craft creative ideas and pitches! I did one event early in my PR biz and that was enough for me to say “been there, done that, no more, thanks!”
June 12th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
I’ve done my share of event planning over the years. Yeah, it’s fun for a while (especially in your 20s!) but the most rewarding work is more substantive. It’s helping a start-up achieve lift-off; it’s building public consensus on tough and complex issues; it’s providing vital information during crises.
It’s imperative that PR grads have a strong background not only in communications, but also in other disciplines like business and the social sciences… especially if they ever want to be work in media, help guide and develop public policy or tackle tough corporate issues.
That said, Samantha has ALWAYS been my favorite SATC chica. Viva Sam!
June 13th, 2008 at 8:30 am
New grads – learn this phrase: you have to pay your dues.
Hard work, long hours and a flexible attitude are not only the best way to learn but ultimately gain responsbility and respect.
June 16th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Like Len, i got my degree in Broadcast Journalism, and worked as a reporter for a few years.When i went to college, pr was not really much of a discipline and it was hidden in the school of business, not Communications. Since the college WAS in DC, many of the professors came from CBS News and the like and they taught people how to write news copy. Writing for PR is quite different but I d think, in the end, it’s about facts presented in an informative way, NOT concealed or hyped. Too often, PR people are taught to “never let the facts get in the way of a good story,” and that is doing a disservice not only to the pr person but it really annoys the reporter who just “wants the facts.” One tip is for pr people to study the archives of reporters they are pitching.Really learn how they write and what interests them. Nothing pisses off a reporter more than getting a standard email that says:attached is a release! Craft your pitch and client and be a little less self serving.If your client is a builder, pitch a story about the housing or construction crisis,NOt just your client. You will have more success with an evergreen story that puts your client on the radar among others,instead of trying to jam just your client down their throats. Kluger PR Tip # 127(now, i have to think of 126 more…)
June 19th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
As a recent NORTHERN Arizona University grad, I have done two internships in entirely different fields. My first internship was for an “Entertainment” PR Agency in LA and my current internship is for a “Technology” PR Agency in Denver. Although my current work in not nearly as glamorous as my previous it is so refreshing to be back in an office with down to earth people. I love People Magazine as much as the next 20-something but wow it’s nice to be able to read the WSJ for a change!