I recently did a Q&A with Ben Cotton advising graduates on how to break into the PR industry. I met Ben a few months ago when I interviewed him for a placement with Wolfstar. He’s since been offered a fantastic job at Edelman Digital and we’ve stayed in touch. As a graduate of the PR degree at Leeds Met I can empathise with students looking to get into PR, it was competitive five years ago and it’s even more so now.
I think I was very lucky when it came to gettng a job after Uni. For starters, I was lucky enough to get my work placement with Citypress. They were my number one choice for my year out because they had fantastic clients and were based in Manchester where I’d always fancied working. The team there were brilliant and gace me so many opportunities to get hands-on experience. If it hadn’t been for this, I wouldn’t have got my subsequent jobs at Waterside (Now Realm) and Morrisons, and finally Wolfstar.
It seems strange to be giving advice to other graduates.. it seems only five minutes ago I was doing the Otley Run in fancy dress and panicking about my dissertation in the library until 3am! Four years has gone extremely quickly but I’m really happy where I’ve ended up. Hopefully a couple of people will find what I said useful! You can read the interview on Ben’s blog.
One Comment
Hey Amy, thanks very much for taking part in the Q&A - it is much appreciated!
You raised several good points, in particular the importance of undertaking a placement year and when you meet a potential employee that their sense of passion shines through.