1. Checkmate! Five Important Moves in College to Capture the King of PR Jobs
By: Katherine Smith
Is your college experience as productive as it should be in order to land you that dream PR job
after graduation?
Focus on these five tasks and you will be well on your way:
1. Work on your writing skills!
This is point number one for a reason; public relations professionals are writers at heart. If you
want to be a successful candidate for any PR job, you must have the ability to write well. Take
writing courses that have an emphasis on AP style and jump at any opportunity to create
written content such as joining the school news paper or writing blog posts. These experiences
will also help you build a strong portfolio to showcase your writing abilities to potential
employers.
2. Network your way to victory.
Your network is your lifeline in Public Relations. Networking can have a tremendous impact on
your career and future job opportunities. It’s much easier to get an interview at a company
where you already know someone than to approach the pursuit blindly. When asked, many
public relations professionals are willing to meet with students for informational interviews.
Take advantage of this and start to build your network one cup of coffee at a time.

2. 3. Yes, you need an internship.
Employers need to know you have the skills to pay the bills. Internships give an employer the
ability to see how you have applied your education to real-world situations. While school does
teach you a lot, there is nothing that compares to the knowledge you gain from on-the-job
experience. This will also give you an opportunity to “test drive” the career and see if public
relations is truly a good fit for you.
4. Find a PR mentor.
The benefits and possibilities from a mentor are endless. They can give you confidence and
professional guidance in areas that you may not know how to tackle. For instance, a mentor can
give you writing assignments and feedback in order to build a writing portfolio or present you
with a mock interview panel to help you better refine your interviewing skills. The PR
community is a pretty tight knit one and PR mentors know people, opening up many potential
networking opportunities.
5. Join Public Relations Student Society of America.
If your school has a PRSSA chapter, joining presents opportunities to help you build on all of the
above skills. Chapters normally host writing work shops, give you access to local and national
networking events, inform you about public relations internship opportunities, and have a very
effective mentorship program. With all of these experiences, membership gives the opportunity
to strengthen your resume and makes you that much more attractive to potential employers.
If you find that your school doesn’t have a PRSSA chapter, look into founding one! This can give
you the opportunity to really enhance your professional development while also giving you
some top notch leadership experience. Find out how to start your school chapter at
https://prssa.prsa.org/chapters/start/