This past Wednesday (which just happened to be my birthday!) we had the pleasure of hearing from Amy Paul, a recent graduate of UW-Whitewater. Her presentation was extremely interesting and helpful, and I really enjoyed listening to her story of how she went from a PR student to a PR professional.
Amy graduated from UWW in 2011. Shortly after graduation, she took a position at the Milwaukee County Executive Office as a Public Relations Assistant. Amy was in charge of several different aspects in this position, from constituent communications, planning and executing major county events, to administering all social media efforts for the office. Amy's second job was at Bottom Line Marketing & Public Relations as a Public Relations Assistant. Amy said that at her first two jobs, she estimates that she wrote 95% of her day. Wanting to dig deeper into the digital side of PR, Amy moved to Ascedia where she is currently working as the Interactive Account Coordinator.
One very common theme that Amy stressed throughout her presentation was the importance of getting involved while still in college. Amy was a member of PRSSA and had four different internships throughout her college career, including positions with the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Admirals. Amy said that all of this extra-curricular experience helped immensely when she was thrown into her first position.
A couple things that I learned and found to be quite surprising had to do with Amy's internships. None of them were paid, and she stressed several times that you should always ask for more responsibility. I think this is such great advice, and Amy is a success story of this advice because she gained so much experience that someone in the same position who hadn't spoken up may not have gotten.
Along with the wealth of information Amy gave us about her journey through college and into the professional world, she also gave us several tips and professional courtesies that will prove to be very helpful when making this transition myself.
Happy belated Birthday!! :) What an interesting way to spend your birthday, listening to such an inspiring speech. To me, that would be an eye opener and want me to start (if haven't already) doing something with my life other than just attending college. Amy Paul gave me clarification to join PRSSA on campus and be an active member throughout my senior year of college. I enjoy her every much too.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with both of you. The part that Amy really stressed and that meant the most to me was the importance of internships. Many students are involved on campus, but the choices made in the organizations to join or work for does matter a lot because some organizations will help with future careers more than others will. Also, happy belated birthday Haley!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with both of you. The part that Amy really stressed and that meant the most to me was the importance of internships. Many students are involved on campus, but the choices made in the organizations to join or work for does matter a lot because some organizations will help with future careers more than others will. Also, happy belated birthday Haley!
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that even though she was in college for six years she was able to be so successful once she graduated. She definitely shattered that illusion of how important it is to graduate "on time". I also found it somewhat surprising that her internships were not paid. Overall, I thought it was extremely beneficial. And happy birthday!
ReplyDeleteHaley, I completely agree with you when you said that it was surprising that NONE of Amy’s internships were paid. It really shocked me! But when she was explaining more about her experiences at her four internships, I realized that it really is that experience you are gaining that is important right now in our lives…not the money you are getting paid! It was really a great outlook, which I now also have, on how to deal with unpaid internships.
ReplyDeleteI love how everyone was so taken aback by the idea that none of Amy's internships were paid. That was one thing during her presentation where I just kind of sat there thinking "What?". I don't know how she was able to balance everything between school, work, and extracurriculars without being paid for anything. As inspiring as that is, props to her for I know there is no way I could do that.
ReplyDeleteThis past year I had an internship that was unpaid so it was nice to hear Amy's experience really "paid" off in the end. It seemed every position she took served as a stepping stone to new opportunities. To be honest, I was a little envious of all of the things Amy accomplished before graduation. She seems very driven and really stands out as a role model that we can all learn from. The things Amy said caused me to reflect upon my own life. Overall I really enjoyed listening to Amy speak and I look forward to incorporating her advice into my own life.
ReplyDeletePS happy belated birthday Haley!!