Not "Where did you do it?" but "What did you do?"

The Times reported recently that parents were paying for students to have high profile work placements.   And to an employer, a week somewhere like Condé Nast must look pretty impressive on a cv.

But when the placement is discussed in a future job interview, and savvy employers ask what a student actually did during their placement, a breathless reply of "I attended board meetings, shadowed the MD and went to photo shoots" doesn't hide the fact that the student did very little apart from watching a glamorous corporate life unfold in front of them.

While some of our MA in PR students secure great work placements at high profile organisations (without paying, I hasten to add), many spend their four-week placements in small-ish regional agencies.    And I'm often asked: "Do you think I should be doing something in London?   Won't an employer want to see that I've worked somewhere well-known?"

My answer is ... no. Good small agencies are great places to carry out work experience simply because the organisational structure means there's no room for someone to do nothing - so students have to get stuck in to a full range of PR tasks from their first day.

This year, students carrying out placements at regional agencies helped to organise events, write blog posts for the agency blog, drafted press releases which they then saw appear in print, advised on social media strategy and tactics, talked to journalists, attending networking events and helped with client research -the sort of jobs which a large organisation might have difficulty letting a student do due to internal bureaucracies, departmentalisation or not wanting to lose control.

So while placements at large organisations can give students a brilliant hands-on experience of PR, it's important to remember that small regional agencies do the job just as well.    The question that employers should be asking a student about their placement is not:  "Where did you do it?" but "What did you do?"

I'd be interested to hear what PR employers and students think.

Comments

[Jack Williams]

Good post. I'd have to agree. I have carried out 6 placements and have around 3 months work experience in PR. When I've applied for these or any jobs I have never had a positive response about the names of where I have been. It has always been on what I've done. Even the amount of time and amount of places I have been is secondary to what I actually achieved.
I think working for a well-known company or agency would initially look impressive and may get your 'foot in the door' and get someone to the initial interview stage. However, what was achieved is where you will be judged. Riding off the back of a good brand or a large organisations reputation will not get a graduate anywhere.

[Liz Bridgen (100rpm)]

Hi Jack, thanks for that. Hope you get a great permanent job in PR soon.

[Hassim423]

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