Sunday, August 19, 2012

Looking for a job in PR?

I have observed that students who get ready to face the industry either while they are seeking internships or jobs,face a few hurdles.

The lack of knowledge of current affairs is one of the primary concerns.Second,no  basic knowledge of finance terms. I remember one student came back and told me that she was asked questions on shares and IPOs and she didn't have the answers.

You are now even required to possess basic knowledge of computers and some Microsoft office skills. And yes a mobile device where you can have your contacts stored in the in-built messenger.

These mind you are over and above the basic requirement of communication skills, both spoken and written.

With fast moving times and advancement in technology students have to remain in touch with latest developments or else they will be left behind.

One of my students told me how knowing a regional language was useful to her. So times have come where knowing an additional language is always useful. So you can no longer ignore reading writing other languages.

These are a list of some 'to do list' which every newbie practitioner in PR should know especially in Mumbai. But I am sure these are common elsewhere too.

As a teacher I try my best to help the freshers in imbibing these skills but are there any additions on these?

Can you suggest some more to-dos?

7 comments:

  1. Thanking you Mam for guiding me and making me learn the difference between Advertising & Public Relations which has helped me a lot in my career.
    All the best Mam.tc

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  2. hai mam this is rohit and currently I am perusing my studies in mass communications and journalism in correspondence. Dear mam If you could help me please enable me with some basic reading material on Public relations.

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  3. Rohit check out any book on PR from a bookstore which has a good bibliography.There is no one book.

    Thanks Neha.

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    Replies
    1. Your welcome Mam,Happy teachers day,miss you & your teachings.

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  4. Mam , I totally agree with this , it is very essential in fact you can say mandatory to be updated with current affairs and latest technology. Not only reading papers is important but one also needs to track them in order to understand the format of the paper, nature of the column, content in the weekend supplements and what competition is doing.
    Also apart from reading English papers one should also read atleast 1 regional publication , to understand it's nature.

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  5. Shivshankar Surkund(snsurkund@yahoo.com)
    Aug 21 (1 day ago)
    to indian-pr-forum

    Hi there,

    Yes,keeping in touch and adopting latest technologyis a MUST for every PR student.

    Knowing local regional anguage, can also be real helful on many occasions. To quote an example - during 70s, it was ony DD (Govt) no other channel. Hence getting news coerage in all news slots such as Marathi,Hindi and english (9.30pm) was a herculean task.

    Most of the time, my item could never make it to Marathi news, in spiteof the fact that the item is really news-worthy.A little probe, revealed, that our Press Relase was in Englsih and the news section was not ready to convert it into Marathi, as it was extra work for them. Hence when I started issuing my Press Release in Marathi,Hindi apart from english, I managed coverege in all slots.

    Again, in 1974, I managed a photo-news coverage of a programme held at Azamgarh (UP) in IE, Mumbai edition on next day morning edition.. Remember, at that time there was no fax,no courier, not even direct flight from Varanasi to Mumbai. One hadto catch a hopping flight fromCalcutta, touching Varanasi and land at Delhi with stops at Agra etc.

    Remember, the functinon at Azamgarh was around 10.30 am, and Varanasi is about 3-4 hours car journey from Azamgarh. Can any one guess what was the technology used then ?

    s.n.surkund

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  6. This can be a great opportunity for the people who are seeking to build their profession as public relation executive.This platform has rose an platform which can help you in this context.Therefore it is a common advise for the people to built these skills in themselves to become eligible for this profession.

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