Thinking of your Future in PR

I was just reading the updated PR Couture posts and came across this interview (seemed very interesting) and then spotted this link to a website called Vox-Pop! It's a careers website for young PR's - Jackpot!! So if you are thinking of a career in the PR industry you can browse away and get some idea of what the future holds for you.... another great website to look at for career prospects is PR Week, this is a great source for all PR news as well so you can stay updated and on the ball. Check them out on the links below:

http://www.vox-pop.co.uk/2010/04/16/7-questions-crosby-noricks-founder-of-pr-couture-com/

http://www.prweek.com/uk/home/

Bex x

Is God still an Englishman? by Cole Moreton

http://colemoreton.wordpress.com/

Woman's hour

The first thing that we were told at school was to start reading newspapers. Any newspapers, just to see how they write, what their agenda is, who they are targeting and maybe to find the right one for each of us. For me as a foreigner it was not easy from the beginning to read about politicians that I never heard off before and who seemed very boring to me. Frankly, sometimes I had to force myself to cary on reading a long and boring article about someone important just to have an idea of what is going on in politics ... also the headlines do not make sense to me sometimes, because they are written in a form of english expressions that you normally do not come across....maybe they are very old fashioned or poetic ....

BUT

... I have found something that helped me to better understand a lot about this country, their legacy and rules and most importantly I have found myself enjoying one of the "media" that we were advised to listen to...and that is the Woman's hour!

The first thing that came to my mind when I listened to one of the presenters (Jane Murray and Jane Garvey), was my childhood. The program is only spoken, there are no songs unless they have a musician as a guest. It reminded me of myself sitting at a table in my house in Slovakia, playing a game or painting something, my mum cooking in the kitchen and the radio is on... beautiful memories....
On their website they say that the programm is celebrating, informing and entertaining women and in my opinion the show is increadibely funny and very educational. They cover everything from cooking, museums and exhibitions to politics and life stories of very interesting people, most of them are women.
The program is on the BBC4 daily at 10am but because of the time I can not listen to it live so sometimes I listen to all of the series from that week in one row, sipping my cup of tea and doing some cross-stitching (that sounds so weird, but I really do enjoy cross- sittching) :))
Lately I was very interested in the talk about internships and the sometimes unfair treating of students and was very drawn into the debate. I am also currently doing an Internship at a London PR agency and could agree with a lot of the points that were made during the show.

This friday Jenni Murray is going to interview one of my favorite actress Kim Cattrall from Sex and the City so tune in with me and enjoy the show.

Hana xxx

PR COUTURE

http://www.prcouture.com/2010/04/08/pr-coutures-crosby-noricks-wins-blogger-of-the-year/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+prcouture/HhBg+(PR+COUTURE)

I have been following a Fashion PR Blog for sometime now, in fact it is the first blog that I ever signed up to follow many years ago. Now admittedly I don't generally read it every time a notification comes into my email account that there is a new post to read, as you don't always have the time, but this one caught my eye and I thought maybe I could learn something from this blogger of the year winner!!

Have a gander yourselves, not only is the content interesting (Bags, shoes, fashion.... uuuummmm) they have a lot of popular articles that are worth checking out about social media, internships, working for yourself, tweeting - the works so if you have a few mins on your hands I think its well worth a quick scan..... Bex x

Some more Gold Dust

So it's a Friday afternoon and I am catching up on all the media that I have missed over this week and I came across this website. I actually found it on my twitter feed as another PR Company made reference to it but it is a fantastic article about getting coverage for your story/client, have you got a strong enough angle etc.... If you actually then go on to their website that have several PR articles with tips in them well worth a gander my friends.... Enjoy reading Bex x

http://www.72point.com/blog/all-your-eggs-in-one-basket/

From my experience

http://http://www.ucas.ac.uk/students/wheretostart/maturestudents
If you are looking to return to education and further your career prospects I would seriously advise you to look at what UCAS offers on their website, they were invaluable to me when I was conducting initial research into making that transistion back into student life. As a mature student you look for certain criteria when applying to further your education; namely which course, at which institution will give me the best chance of getting onto the higher earning platform. For me it was which institution will give me the best degree in the field that I want to work in and is recognised by the industry as such.

As mature students we are more focussed on the quality of the degree that we will walk away with, we understand the finiancial implication of returning to education but we are certainly more able to apply ourselves to the course knowing exactly what we want to achieve and where we want to be in three years time.

The advantage of being a mature student is that you already have your A-level results so I was given my offers very quickly. Only one institution withheld their offer until I had attended an interview, that University was The University of Westminster. This gave them more credability in my mind as not only did they want to interview me and speak to me about the course it gave me a chance to check them out. Never forget that this is a two way street and should be treated as a business transaction you are paying your money (and will be paying it back over many years to come in exchange for the best degree that you can get) It is really, really important to meet your prospective tutors and to talk face to face about what the course will offer you, the content and the calibre of the teaching staff at the University. You need to find the best university for you and your needs and this will be different for everyone but you need to find a place where you will be happy for the next 3 years of your life. If no interview is offered I would highly recomend visiting the university on an open day or making your own appointment to visit. I was offered a place at The London College of Communciation as well and went down on one of their open days to meet the course leader and have a tour of the campus and I was really dissappointed. The tutor was new to the course and had little knowledge of how the education system worked, having never taught before but was fuelled by his claim of having been the person behind creating the radio one DJ/personality Chris Moyles. I then sat through a presentation in their auditorium where I felt completley patronised sitting their as a mature student and being talked down to about how this was no longer schoool and you wouldn't be mollie coddled but need to be independant and self motivated to be able to achieve results (REALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????WELL I NEVER!!!!) Do not be put off but remember that any University talk you go to will be geared for 18 year olds leaving college or sixth form, as they are the majority intake. Looking deeper than that at the course content and if you can imagine yourself in the enviroment for the next couple of years.

I hope this helps anyone who is looking at the moment for places to study but have to say it is the best choice I ever made and the course has met my expectations so it really does pay to take the time to do that little bit extra research and if you have any questions about my expirience I would be happy to answer them.

Happy University hunting - Bex xx

P.S I moved City to go to my chosen place of study and yes it was tough and it took awhile to settle in, particularly as I had a whole network of friends and work colleagues etc.... in my home town and I questioned my choice for ages. Even to the point where I was going to settle on a course I didn't really want to do so as to avoid all of the upheval, it can be really daunting but don't be lazy really push yourself out of your comfort zone because trust me only good can come from it - THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER...... xx

Something I stumbled across...

http://stedavies.com/2008/03/where-are-all-the-student-pr-bloggers/

Check out this blog entry - now OK it might be a little old BUT... very interesting content. The repetition of "Content is KING" an saying that was initially told to us by Don't Panic PR!! So... maybe there is some truth in it!!

This particular blog is a great reference for all budding PR bloggers and wannabe Gurus of the industry. Hope it helps Bex xx