The Ad industry cut another 18,700 job in December and I would argue others affiliated with the industry (marketing, public relations, journalism, etc.) also suffered job losses. This isn’t the first time there has been downturn in these industries and it won’t be the last. So what should a soon to graduate college student do if their goal was to land a job in one of these industries?
Don’t stop learning - Everything counts right now, more than ever before. When you are ready to call it a night study for another half hour. Don’t have anything to study, get online and start reading everything you can about your industry – more important, about where your industry will be in five years. (here’s a hint, do you spend a lot of time online or on your phone?)
Work in your industry even if your job isn’t in the industry – Want to be a PR or advertising person but your job is bagging groceries at the local store? Then do PR or advertising work while you are bagging groceries. Not sure how to do that, think it through then if you are still lost, get back with me. (tell me what you do and I will tell you how to apply industry practices to your every day efforts)
Start networking like your future depended on it - Every day reach out to someone new, start a conversation with someone in your industry, attend professional meetings, do anything and everything you can to be noticed. I have more than a hundred students in the classes I teach. Want to know who I will recommend? The ones I notice.
Put in more effort than everyone you know - It really is a race and only one person can pass the finish line in first place. No reason to be mean to your competition (see networking above) but if there is someone out there better than you, they will get the job.
Offer your services for free – You have training (3 – 5 years depending on how long you have been in school) in your chosen field so offer up your services for free. Dedicate at least five hours a week to a non-profit or organization which could use some help but can’t afford it. It will keep your skills sharp, looks good on your resume and the positive karma associated with your actions can only help.
My mind is now racing, how do I stay competitive? Think I will reach out to a few folks (networking), go read an article on PR (learning), work on a pet project (volunteerism) and go talk with my daughter (applying industry practices to a non-industry position).
Please share your advice, questions or suggestions below and I will continue this topic on later posts.
Great advice. Offering your services at first free or cheap can help build a portfolio (a useful thing to put together while still a student; even class assignments count). Do you have any suggestions on how to network genuinely, without venturing into “tool territory?” Would one way be to meet with people you admire, and ask how they got to where they are? Or, would that be too cheesy?
What about continuing education? Is it most promising to get a specialized degree (say, engineering or economics), then continue with a graduate program in communications? It seems like that could help give you a specialization that others may lack, especially if you want to work for a trade journal or specialized news channel (perhaps the Wall Street Journal). (Of course, the undergrad. comm. program then a specialized grad. field could be just as useful, so vice versa… ) Any thoughts on that?
Agreed, you always want to avoid “tool territory” so my recommendation is, if you want to meet folks in your industry, go where they are. Attend industry meetings, meet ups, etc. and volunteer your time there (two birds of sorts).
Regarding cont ed, I think the answer depends on where you want to end up and consider the skill sets every degree sharpens. If you want to focus on general PR, for example, then yes, an advanced degree in mass comm or psychology might be the ticket. But if research is more your bag, or measurement then consider other degrees which rely heavily on these areas (mba, statistics, etc.).
Thanks for the advice. I like the idea of volunteering at industry meetups themselves– can be helpful while still new to everything, but meet people at the same time. I’ll have to try that. That would sure beat then tool approach, especially since I lived in the city of tools and it was nauseating (don’t flog me folks, I’m not referring to Stillwater).
I hadn’t thought of psychology as a field leading to general PR, but I would be interested in studying consumer behavior. I’ll have to keep that in mind as I think up my future plans. I’ve been thinking about doing grad. work in comm. and something like psychology or financial services, since my college major was largely irrelevant to journalism.