Networking events: attend and plan your purpose

Looking back at my four years of school, I wish I would have taken opportunities to go to local, regional and national networking conferences. I recently registered for Chicago PR: “Get in the Loop” regional PRSSA conference and am very excited and a little nervous to attend Feb. 11 and 12.

This two-day conference starts  Feb. 11 with a full day of Chicago public relations agency visits. Although I have a good sense that Chicago is an exciting place to work, it will definitely help to physically see the inside of potential future workplaces.

Friday features a complete lineup of intriguing workshops with themes like, "Getting in the Door with a Professional Image," "Standing out with Social Media" and "From The Front Lines: How Agencies and Clients Work Together." The day is capped off with a 90 minute career development fair. All for $60.

A great place to learn about upcoming conferences is the PRSSA Web site, which has a specific section for   upcoming events happening across the nation. I would also suggest contacting your local PRSA chapter and asking about  if they know of any upcoming events in the area.

If events are too expensive, consider attending a lunch meeting with your PRSA chapter. There will almost always be discounted rates for PRSSA members to attend these meetings. Bring a friend or two with and have a networking goal outlined before you go. Whether your goal is to get five business cards or just let professionals know you are looking for an opportunity, make sure you have a solid idea of your intended purpose of attending such an event. 

My purpose of attending the Chicago conference is to get a feel for the agency work environment, network and make connections with other students and ask for suggestions about job hunting from professionals. 

What conferences have you attended and how have you benefited from them? Do you have any suggestions on where to find such events?

Fearless interview preparation

After applying for the summer internship program at Burson-Marsteller, the world's sixth largest public relations agency, I never expected to make it an interview from nearly 800 applications nationwide.

Sure enough, this was the position I found myself in. Looking at my dream internship straight in the face, I spent hours researching the ins and outs of Burson. I read every single employee testimonial on the 'Burson Person' page on their Web site and I feel like I read every single page on the Burson Web site.

I accessed my internal memory for questions that I was asked during previous interviews. I prepared responses for every one of them. I practiced them out loud to MYSELF. Yes, this felt weird at the time, but it helps to practice articulating each answer. It also helped to make mental notes of when I said something especially dumb or especially engaging. I had the responses typed out neatly with talking points for each area.

My preparation paid off and after the first interview I advanced to the final round of interviews. From the 120 applications submitted to the Chicago office, 10 were selected for final interviews. After the first interview the field was narrowed even further which I was still a part of.

Unfortunately, a phone call informed me that there was no funding for the public affairs practice for which I was applying. No dream internship, not now at least. There was nothing I did wrong, just the economy and bad luck.

While I didn't get the internship, my intense preparation will make the next job/internship interview that much easier. I also got practice interviewing for a worldwide PR agency and learning how to act on a phone interview.

My advice would be to fearlessly prepare for every interview like it's the only one you get; because even if you don't get the job, you'll be that much more prepared the next time around.