We’re excited to introduce your 2013 PRSA New Professionals Section Executive Committee! This team has committed to a year of helping you develop as a public relations professional. We’ll do this by connecting you to valuable industry resources, providing thought leadership across disciplines and offering opportunities for you to network with peers across the country.

To kick the year off and get to know them a little better, we’ve asked our Committee members to share the best career advice they’ve received. Check out their responses!

Always work and dress like you’re auditioning for your ideal position. You never know who’s watching, or what connections they have. – Elizabeth Greenaway, Section chair

I was told to distinguish your personal brand with a specialty. Choose something that provides ongoing value and it will help elevate your career. I specialize in social media strategy, measurement and reporting. I developed a social media reporting dashboard in a previous role. This led to a promotion and later helped me land my current position. I would advise everyone to find a specialty to enjoy, develop and continue to learn about. – Brendan Hughes, programming co-chair

The best career advice I’ve been given is “under promise, over deliver”. – Whitney Winn, programming co-chair

The best career advice I’ve ever received is to find a job with a company or organization that is mutually beneficial for everyone involved – not just for you, personally and professionally, but also for the organization. I think a lot of young professionals can get hung up on being the perfect candidate for a certain position and overlook how they fit into the larger company/organization from a cultural standpoint. – Janelle Huelsman, newsletter co-editor

I think I’ll share something that my boss told me back when I was only her intern (about four years ago): Don’t be afraid of learning new things or trying something different. Even if you think you know for sure what you want to do, you may find that you enjoy something else even more and the only way to do that is to know about it firsthand. – Michael Canty, newsletter co-editor

My top three: 1. Your best work will utilize your individual skills and experience. If what you are doing could be done by someone without your skills and experience you are working below your potential. 2. Always keep learning. If you’re the smartest person in the room you’re in the wrong place. 3. Don’t dream about success. Work for it. – Amy Bishop, social media chair

The best advice I ever got was to “be proactive, flag work and clients you are interested in. Many opportunities exist; you just need to ask for them.” – Jessica Noonan, membership co-chair

Saying “thank you” can go a long way. I’m a huge advocate of handwritten thank-you cards, but even the simplest appreciation for someone’s help is memorable. – Nicole Bersani, membership co-chair

Don’t be afraid to take a risk and try something new. It shows initiative, leadership, and a willingness to embrace constant learning. – Kate Enos, mentorship co-chair

The best piece of career advice I’ve been given has two parts- listen twice as much as you speak and never stop learning. In this industry, with our roles constantly changing with the advent of technology, a PR professional can never stop learning. There is so much information, data and knowledge to be attained for our clients, the communities we serve and for ourselves as professionals. – Brandi Boatner, mentorship co-chair

The best advice I’ve ever received is to build a network before you need it. It’s much easier to build solid connections and relationships with other professionals when you’re not looking for an immediate gain from that person. When you look for a new job or need new clients, your network will be much stronger and will be able to help you. – Nick Lucido, PRSSA liaison

My favorite—and most frustrating—intern supervisor once explained to me the difference between “classroom work” and working in the real world. In college, you finish an assignment, turn it in to your professor and get a grade—A, B or whatever. In the real world, you turn in an assignment, and it gets marked up by a proofreader/client and handed back to you. You correct any errors and turn it in again. This process continues until it’s considered “A+” work. It can be incredibly frustrating, but at least I have a clear conscience knowing that I’m producing only the best work for my clients. – Scott Thornburg, PRSSA liaison

The best career advice I’ve ever received was actually something I read in an article. Simple, but amazing advice: “Work like you own the company.” – Keri Cook, blog co-chair

The best advice I’ve ever received from a high school journalism teacher was to write what you know. To this day, whether I’m writing a personal blog, a newsletter article or a press release for a client, I always find my best writing comes from my own experiences and knowledge. When working with a new company or client, I voraciously research and seek to understand the topic so I can communicate effectively with experts in the industry. If I’m writing for my own enjoyment, I find that sharing personal experiences and being transparent makes for a much more engaging and relatable piece. – Heather Sliwinski, blog co-chair and Section chair-elect

 

We’d love to hear from you: What has been the best career advice you’ve received?