A colleague’s advice for new PR graduates

As a new crop of PR pros prepares to leave college and join the workforce, one new PR pros has some advice about how the work is different from the classroom.

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It’s no question that college graduation comes with a mixed bag of emotions.

The scramble of finding a job combined with the sadness of leaving friends can be overwhelming, but life doesn’t end when the dean of your school hands you a diploma. The real fun is just getting started.

A year into my full-time job as a PR account coordinator, I empathize with the thousands of aspiring PR gurus graduating in a few short weeks. Here are a few key lessons I have learned that may help you take the next step:

1. It’s PR, not the ER.

As I was completing my final college internship (which fortunately became my first job), I went to lunch with one of the account directors at my firm. I asked him what his best piece of advice for me was, and it was the simple—yet meaningful —”It’s PR, not the ER.”

Crisis communications situations do come up often—which makes for exciting days in the office—but there are very few life or death scenarios. If everyone on a team is running around like chickens with their heads cut off, there is no chance the client is receiving the best work.

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