Associated Links:
UW-Whitewater Alumni
http://www.uww.edu/alumni
http://www.facebook.com/uwwalumni
UW-Whitewater PRSSA
https://www.facebook.com/UWWPRSSA
University of Wisconsin - Whitewater PR Alumni
http://www.facebook.com/UWWprAlumni
UW-Whitewater Communication Department
http://www.facebook.com/pages/UW-Whitewater-Communication-Department/14485849...
Transcript:
I'm Cassandra Sura. I'm a Public Relations coordinator for Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare. I graduated in 2006. I started out majoring in French and eventually realized that it was more of a hobby and a side interest. After doing a couple of career planning courses through career services there, I got involved in Public Relations and after having Ann Knabe for the first intro class I was completely inspired to go into PR and it took off from there. Made it my major and ended up starting a career in it.
I think that my involvement in PRSSA in the Public Relations group has a huge impact on my career and launching it. Because each of those chair positions that you can do in PRSSA. You have fundraising, you have professional development, charity, planning, the events. All of those things together end up being one PR job. And so being involved in each of those positions, and holding each of those positions, it's like I got practice at one aspect at a time. And then when you start working you have to do all of those things every single day. So it's an amazing time to practice it and get used to it and get good at it before you go into the field.
I was very curious as a student and I did a lot of informational interviews and did a lot of internships during my time. So I feel like I probably asked everything I needed to know. But what was maybe the most valuable to me was asking about what an actual day of work was like. And doing on site tours and seeing what the environment and how do you spend your morning.
The aspects of PR that keep me interested in it and keep me excited to go to work every morning and excited to find out what's going to happen that day is, I think, the variety and probably the autonomy over my work and over my schedule. And it's not like that in every PR position, but for my work I have a lot of flexibility with my schedule. I go from working in my office in the business building to being on site in the middle of the action at the hospital in the nursing units to doing video shoots at our new campus under construction. And there are so many people you work with. So whether you're at an agency where you have a lot of different clients and you're really getting to know each one of them and what their needs are. It's similar even here in the corporate setting, where my clients' are more like different departments of the hospital so human resources or patient care services. And having them call me and tell me a new project they are working on or here's a problem with patient dissatisfaction or something, what do you recommend, how do we communicate this or that. That is really exiting and to be in that consulting position is really a lot of fun. So I started working on my Masters a year out of college. I defiantly recommend students pursue a Master's degree. I think it's going to be absolutely necessary in the future to be competitive. But I think you should take a break between Bachelors and Masters and really think about what you want to do and get some experience first. When you get out of school and get your first job, you're going to learn so much your first year. That first year out is just you absorbing everything, you're having all these new experiences, your learning different work cultures and different management styles. You pick up on so much really fast that you might completely change your mind about what you want to do with your career. So I think taking a break in between is really smart for students. And the other thing, if you graduate with your bachelors and you take even a year it gives you a chance to figure out if you want to use a graduate degree to narrow your expertise or to broaden it.
My advice to students would be to be really excited and passionate and dedicated to whatever you do. Show your excitement, be enthusiastic about it. Take the extra steps to become really good at it and become the expert at it. You will enjoy it so much more.
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PR Alumni Interview with Jenna Darlingby duffyk03233 views
I really like her advice about getting a masters to keep up with the competition, but also take a break to get a job and expand your knowledge about the subject.
-Nick M
PRstudentmckenzie 3 months ago
I liked how she focused on the importance of getting your masters and how it will extremely help you in the long run. She also talked about how PRSSA has helped her, and I respect that. She seems to be really linked in on what she wants to do!
Kayhla S.
kayysad23 3 months ago
Asking about an actual day is a great question and one I will keep in mind when networking with industry professionals. I appreciate her advice on getting experience before going for your masters, and I could agree more about being passionate in whatever you do.
Ali M.
murphyae21 3 months ago
I really appreciated her advice about going for your masters and how important that really is, but that you should take a year off before doing so. I also liked that she said that getting your masters will either be to narrow or broaden your expertise.
Jessica M
jessicadesirae 3 months ago
What she says about being in PRSSA and using it as practice is interesting. She puts a lot of stress on doing internships and interviews.
Lauren G.
laurengruennert10 3 months ago
It's interesting how Ms. Sura was able to identify that the different positions in PRSSA are a delegation of one PR position in the field. Ms. Sura did a great job in telling people that they should do many informational interviews and internships.
MLyssa H
mlyssajhoops 3 months ago
Ms. Sura's comment on being involved in PRSSA has made me realize that I need to become more involved with the organization. In my first few years of college I completed multiple internships and held offices in other organizations, not leaving me any time for PRSSA. I will have to make sure I have time to be apart of the organization at UWW so I can better network within the PR field. Thanks for the advice!
Dale L.
lucassende211 3 months ago
PRSSA is a great group to be involved with. You seem to learn lot about the profession and it allows you to network with other professions. I love that each day is a new day. How could you ever be bored? Its really great to see that each PR professional is so enthusiastic and loving of their jobs. I honestly love the passion that they all have for their jobs.
Kristin H.
blondelocks24 3 months ago
Cassandra raises a few good points. Before being hired make sure you know exactly what your going to be doing on a daily basis. "You should take a break from your bachelors to your masters." You have to know that you feel comfortable in your intended field before you devote your entire life to it. Getting involved in college is extremely important because it makes you a well rounded student that can adapt to many situations. DM
MyersDA01 3 months ago
PRSSA seems to be a very exciting experience. I think that it will help if I joined after this video because I know a lot about PR but I would love to learn more and get more involved. I would love practice and have an opportunity like PRSSA that is offered through UW-Whitewater.
Stephanie H
Stephigg1521 3 months ago