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I teach a class for graduating seniors at Cal State Northridge that will start up again in a couple of weeks. Most of my students this semester will be graduating in June and begin their careers. I'd like to try and get a current sense of how managers and executives in the industry see these entry level people coming out of PR programs. Please take a moment to respond to the following questions:
* What do they see as the greatest strength of entry level people today?
* What is their greatest weakness?
* If you could have them further "schooled" on a particular skill, other than writing, what would it be?
Thank you. I, obviously have my own ideas on this subject, but will greatly benefit from your views.
Jeff Duclos
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Jeff, I wish I had better news for both you and your students.
I have been ranting and raving about this for years, but the unfortunate reality is that most PR program students, including those from CSUN, are overwhelmingly unprepared to be hired into the profession upon graduation.
I speak from significant experience. I employ, interview, and talk to countless entry-level, Gen Y PR professionals, and the fact of the matter is that, generally speaking, they simply do not have the core basic skills, motivation, initiative taking, and professionalism required to succeed in this business. Obviously, there are exceptions, and I have managed to find a few diamonds in the rough along the way that are evolving into wonderful practitioners. However, with others, I just can't see anyone hiring them for PR positions because they simply do not have what it takes.
Please let me more specific, which is where I will answer your follow-up questions:
* Greatest Strengths: Enthusiasm, strong computer skills, and penchant for easily picking up and working with new technologies.
* Greatest Weaknesses: Poor oral and written communication skills; little sense of professionalism, including how to properly address and act around executives, clients, vendors, and co-workers; have to be micro-managed; want to be rewarded for accomplishing the most basic tasks, such as showing up to work on time, or finishing a document that is simply part of their day-to-day responsibilitiess; they want it all...right now...and without having to pay dues; lack of knowledge about basic business and essential business functions, such as accounting, finance, marketing, operations, and organizational managment; basically, the criticisms of the Millennial generation also apply to would-be PR practitioners.
* Areas of Further Education: If I were counseling a student interested in a PR career, I would strongly urge him/her to get a degree in business administration, preferably with a major in marketing, and a minor in communications, PR, or journalism. Today's profession, without question, demands that PR practitioners have vast knowledge of business, not just simply how to write an executive bio or a press release. There is no substitute for strong business acumen. In addition, and I cannot stress this enough, they need to be skilled in the art of articulate, intelligent verbal communication. How can a PR pro be taken seriously in a meeting or in the board room if his/her speech is constantly littered with ums, you knows, likes, and other filler? It is impossible! Most millennials I converse with talk as if they are constantly having a text message exchange with a friend. That just does not fly in Corporate America.
To be fair, I am not faulting the students here, but this is a major problem which must be rectified by and across the entire PR profession. It is evident that these students are simply not receiving sufficient training, either in school or in internships, to make it as successful PR pros. When I interview a recent graduate, I am looking for tell-tale signs of his/her desire, initiative, and motivation, as well as a firm grasp of the PR basics. I am also looking for a strong aptitude for learning, and a sincere willingness to improve. I can work with those qualities if they are present, and I can mentor and train an employee so that he/she can enhance skills to get to the next level.
I hope this insight is helpful.
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Jeff,
I tend to agree with Keith's response, that today's college graduates are not business saavy upon graduation. The interns that have worked for me over the years have good writing skills (those that came from USC or UCLA had very good writing skills, LMU and other schools weren't as good), but as Keith mentioned, their professionalism was lacking. I was hesitant to put them in front of higher level executives until I had worked with them about business protocol, proper behavior, etc.
In fairness, I tried to remember how I was 25 years ago, and to be honest, I was professional, but very rough around the edges -- even after two years of internship while in school. More focus on developing these skills would be great, but we all know that being thrown into the fire of the corporate world, seeing the politics in action, and learning a company's culture is how we learn. Perhaps role playing in class would be useful.
From an educational perspective, I would love to grab someone fresh out of college who has a very good grasp on marketing and PR through social media. As we all know, this is a new direction of which we "older" executives aren't educated in or comfortable with, so having a college grad come in and hit the ground running to develop our programs would be fantastic. Would be terrific to have a "one stop shop" person who can suggest social media marketing plans, create the sites, be able to film, edit and post podcasts or video feeds, etc.
Hope that helps!
Connie
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Thank you for the thoughtful responses. The need for a better business sense by graduating students and the importance of a professional demeanor is so important and something I try to stress, but it is not easy. They are very much products of their generation and of their college environment. The skills that they develop to survive and succeed in the collegiate world seem to be, if not different from the outside world, at least seeped in a kind of familiarity and informality that doesn't serve them well in the business world. Keith's observation about their need for constant positive reinforcement is certainly illustrative of this point. I try to put them in real world role playing situations as Connie has suggested and will continue to do so, as well as expose them to working professionals as much as possible.
I will be asking my class what they think is their greatest strength and greatest weakness and it will be interesting to see. I shall be reporting back. I look forward to hearing more from visitors on this topic. Thanks.
Jeff Duclos
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Jeff, I sincerely wish there were more professors like you in academia. It is very obvious that you care deeply about your students and their professional prospects, and that you fully recognize the issues present. Most importantly, you are taking proactive steps in the classroom to address these challenges with sound and proven guidance that will absolutely help your students down the road. From my perspective, that is a huge step in the right direction.
Connie makes an excellent point about being rough around the edges when first starting out in the profession, and that learning on the job is critical. I certainly was when I first began my career. However, aside from learning these skills on the job, it would be helpful if students were receiving some form of training in this regard so they are more polished by the time they graduate. As I said, I am not expecting these students to be perfect when I hire them fresh out of school, but I am looking for a core set of solid skills which I know the new hire has the desire to enhance and improve, a strong work ethic, and a willingness to learn and improve. I think that is the core difference between today's practicing professionals and PR students today. I have been working in this business for almost 20 years, and I still have a very deep desire to learn and acquire new information and best practices that will help me, and my clients, as time goes on. Oftentimes, I simply do not see that desire or willingness in entry-level hires.
I spend a lot of time myself mentoring junior professionals, and offering a wide range of guidance to help them on their career paths. We've all been there, and we all know that this is not an easy profession in which to succeed, particularly in today's business environment. Perhaps we should add that to the list: more mentoring!
In any case, I look forward to hearing what your class has to say, and about the progress you make. It is critically important; after all, we are talking about the future leaders of our profession.
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