Career paths   Networking    Internships   Mentors   Portfolios   Career resources
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Career paths in public relations

PR people handle media relations, consumer relations, marketing communications, public affairs, community relations, employee relations, investor relations, crisis communications, government relations and more in every conceivable business or field.  They handle special events, promote product launches, meet with editors, write for the web, book guests for TV shows, write brochures etc. 

PR is an incredibly flexible career choice, allowing you to work in the arts, politics, entertainment, the health sciences, business, or the non-profit world.  PR people work in-house, in corporate or organization positions, as well as in agencies, where they hold positions with titles such as PR strategist, account executive, account supervisor and, at the entry level, account coordinator. Jobs are available in cities and small towns and even in rural areas.  In the Internet age, PR people can work from anywhere.

The public relations industry has seen unprecedented growth in the last decade as more and more businesses and organizations realize that their very survival depends on their success as communicators.  CEOs see that reputation is directly tied to the bottom line.  What the public thinks about a product or organization can be an invaluable asset, or the beginning of the end.

Students of public relations can test their interests through internships in corporations, agencies, and a wide variety of governmental, cause, and issue-related organizations. 

Career paths in advertising

The advertising industry is divided into four discreet segments or types of organizations: advertisers, advertising agencies, suppliers, and media companies.

Advertising begins with an advertiser, such as Toyota Motors, Apple Computer, Coca-Cola, Disneyland, or Hoover vacuum cleaners, which has a product or service it wants key publics, or consumers, to purchase or use.

Most advertisers (also called sponsors and clients) hire advertising agencies to create their ads and to place those ads in places where targeted consumers are likely to be exposed to them. Students seeking careers in advertising inevitably investigate opportunities with agencies, where jobs are typically available in account management (sales, relationship management), design, research, strategic planning, public relations, event planning, sponsorships, trafficking, production, copywriting, and media planning.

Advertising agencies often hire outside suppliers such as photographers, illustrators, musicians, writers, editors, and researchers to create advertising campaigns for their clients.  Agencies also recommend the media, frommagazines, newspapers, television, radio, Internet, and billboards to blimps, where advertising will be placed.

Each of these four industry segments provides career opportunities. Jobs are available in sales, graphic design, strategic planning, consumer research, photography, account management, drawing, cinematography, music, copywriting, and media buying.  Generally speaking, careers in advertising follow either a creative or a business track.

Students who seek creative careers in advertising generally supplement their advertising studies with course work in photography, illustration, graphic design, copywriting, cinematography, music or another creative discipline relevant to the industry.

Many students seek and find rewarding careers in the business side of advertising. For example, opportunities exist at advertising agencies in account management (acting as liaison between the advertiser and the agency), research and statistics, promotions and special events, strategic planning, and even accounting and the law.

There will always be jobs in advertising as long as we live in a capitalistic society that permits freedom of commercial speech. The industry can be fast-paced and frenetic, but advertising also serves as our cultural icons and cues. Advertising reflects and presents who we, as a society, really are.

For more information on job opportunities, see What can you do with a major in public relations and advertising? http://www1.chapman.edu/cdc/index.html

Networking

Networking is a word you’ll hear all the time.  Networking means making personal connections with people in the business who can be helpful to you.  At Chapman you can do this by making connections with the guest speakers in public relations and advertising we bring to campus and through the professional organizations which sponsor our student professional societies (see the Orange County chapter of PRSA and the Orange County Ad Club).  This is also the purpose of our Professional Development Requirement.

Internships

Internships give students a competitive edge in the job market.  Not only do they provide real world experience, but also they often lead to job offers.  Many Chapman students have found their first jobs through their internship placements.

A sampling of employers with which our students have interned in recent years includes the following:

Agency internships:       

Public relations: The Benjamin Group/Weber Shandwick, Porter Novelli, Morgan Marketing and Public Relations, Euro RSCG Magnet, Laer Pearce & Associates, The Rose Group, Maelstrom Music PR, Steinberg Enterprises, Brower, Miller & Cole, Marcom PR.

Advertising: Deutsch, Inc., DGWB Advertising, Saatchi and Saatchi, Dieste Harmel & Partners, Chiat Day, BBDO, Young & Rubicam, and Foote, Cone & Belding

Corporate/entertainment internships: Universal Studios, Paramount Studios, MTV Networks, FOX, The WB, Nickelodeon, Geffen Records, Interscope Records

Non-profit internships: Pacific Symphony, Make A Wish, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Girls Inc., American Cancer Society, Bowers Museum, American Red Cross, Musical Theater Academy

Other internships: Orange County Transportation Authority, Absolute Exhibits, OC Business Journal, HITS Magazine, Santa Ana Performing Arts and Events Center, Coast Community College District, Southern California Surf, Elephantshoe Web Company

Competitive internships

Chapman students have also won a number of coveted competitive internships, including those offered by the Emmy Foundation, the Minority Advertising Training program (MAT), and the American Advertising Federation (AAF).

Internship offerings

A wide range of internships are posted through Chapman’s Career Development Center ( http://www1.chapman.edu/cdc/index.html).  A sample of recent postings includes:

Mentors

Chapman’s chapter of PRSSA (the Public Relations Student Society of America) has recently launched an alumni mentoring program.  Public relations alumni have volunteered to provide one-on-one mentoring to current students, offering advice, answering questions, and providing contacts as appropriate via email, phone and in person.  Where possible, students and mentors are matched based on similarity of interests. 

This program is restricted to paid members of PRSSA.  If you wish to sign up, please contact Professor Janell Shearer.

Portfolios

Every student in public relations and advertising should walk away with a comprehensive portfolio.  (Job hunting tip:  In addition to a portfolio you carry with you, you should be prepared with copies of two or three of your best pieces to leave behind with the interviewer.)  Just what should go in that portfolio will depend, to some extent, on your areas of interest and your particular strengths.  Work may include class work and/or work produced for an internship or job, including:

In public relations:

• a completed public relations campaign project, demonstrating an understanding of a client’s challenges and how public relations strategically serves these organizational objectives
• a public relations case study paper
• writing samples including typical PR tools such as a news release, feature story, fact sheet
• published articles, written for the university newspaper or organizational newsletters
• video projects
• design projects, such as newwletters and brochures

In advertising:

• sample creative briefs
• Ads
• Advertising campaign plan book
• Advertising case study paper
• design projects, including logos, web pages, computer graphic etc.
• advertising copy
• broadcast ads, either video or audio, or storyboards for these
• a wriiten media plan

Career resources

For an excellent overview of careers in PR, see this summary from PRSA http://www.prsa.org/_Resources/profession/careeroverview.asp?ident=prof2

The U.S. Department of Labor provides information on the nature of the work, working conditions, qualifications, job outlook, earnings and other information on PR at http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos086.htm and on advertising at http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos020.htm

For specific job listings, visit (some sites may require registration):

Jobs in PR, marketing and advertising:

• Talent Zoo, jobs in advertising, marketing and PR http://www.talentzoo.com/default.aspx
• NationJob Network www.nationjob.com/media/jobs

Advertising jobs:

• Advertising Age Career Center http://www.crain.com/classified/adage/index.cfm
• AdWeek http://adweek.careercast.com/js.php
• Advertising Media Internet Center http://www.amic.com/

PR jobs:

• Entry Level PR Jobs http://www.entrylevelpr.com/jobs.htm
• PR JobMart http://www.bulldogreporter.com/prjobmart/
• Work in PR http://www.workinpr.com/index.asp
• OC PRSA Job Bank http://www.ocprsa.org/jobbanks.htm
• Work in PR http://www.workinpr.com/index.asp
• PRSA Job Center http://www.prsa.org/jobcenter/main/index.asp?ident=job1
• PR Talent Hot Jobs http://www.prtalent.com/wantwork_fulltime/hot_jobs.htm
• PR Week Jobs http://www.prweekjobs.com/home/index.cfm

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