Being a college student has given me the opportunity to grow in many ways. I’ve grown mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and professionally in my time here. Entering into the professional world has been slightly terrifying, but the more you put yourself out there, the easier it becomes. However, as I advance in the public relations world I have found I have to keep up with my personal relationships as well.
Public relations professionals talk for a living; this is just a fact. There is no way to get around that fact. It is impossible to sit in your office and avoid social interaction when you are working in PR. That is why developing good communication skills is so crucial to the job.
As an introverted extrovert I sometimes find it difficult to reach out to people in the way I would like to without it being an enormous effort. If I can’t even do that in a social circle than how am I going to do it as the voice of an entire company? Sometimes it is a lot of work, but those skills need to be cultivated for them to be useful.
In college I feel like we are all plagued by what the kids are calling “drama” and it often infects the majority of our lives. This drama is like the PR crisis of the personal world. A lot of times it turns into a grapevine of “he said/she said” that has the ability to ruin relationships. How much of this could be avoided by addressing the problem and speaking out? I’m willing to bet a good deal of it would be resolved if that happened.
While we are in college this is a great time to grow in our communication. This might mean taking a friend aside to resolve an issue or calling everyone together for a press conference.
Public relations is a full time job, not just for being an actual career, but also because it can be used in our everyday lives. I feel like most issues could be fixed if, instead of spreading rumors or steaming on your own, you sat down and thought, “How can I approach this from a PR perspective?”
If we apply this concept to our daily lives don’t you think taking it on in the professional world will be easier?
Written By: Hannah Young, Junior Account Executive
