Professional Connections and Getting a PR Job

Amy Paul graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in May of 2011 with a degree in Public Relations.  In her first years at Whitewater, she studied Music and Business.  She then decided to change to Public Relations her fourth year and in hindsight is happy she did so.  Amy currently does PR for the Milwaukee County Executive’s Office.  Her duties include updating Facebook and Twitter, writing press releases, media advisories, and constituent letters.  She also monitors media coverage and is the website manager. Amy said that although her working hours are 8am-5pm, it never stops there.  She is always putting in time outside of the office.  Planning events was not one of the expectations that was required of her when first obtaining this position, but Amy ended up planning one of the biggest events in Milwaukee County this September.  She planned the “Never Forget” September 11^th event that took place at the War Memorial by Lake Michigan.  Amy had one month to put this memorable event together.  She was in charge of everything ranging from reaching out to the media, to designing the logo, to organizing catering. After all of her hard work it must have been worth it, because the turnout was astonishing.  Compared to an average of 100 people in past years, this year 400 people attended.

Amy is definitely a perfect example of what a successful PR graduate is.  She stressed that she got where she is today because of her many internships, involvement in PRSSA, networking, and a lot of hard work.  Amy had a total of four internships throughout her college experience. That in itself is very impressive.  She started out at Children’s Hospital as a fundraising intern, was a brand ambassador for Qdoba, a communications intern for the Milwaukee Admirals, and planned events for UW-Whitewater Alumni through the Development Office.  It was very apparent that Amy’s true passion is in sports, particularly hockey. She talked a lot about her internship with the Milwaukee Admirals and said that it was an awesome experience. She said that it was a lot of work, but that she always went the extra mile to gain experience.  This internship included writing game stories, designing and managing the photo website, and the social media.  She said that during all the games she worked, she was typically at the Bradley Center from noon to 1am.  The internship was unpaid, so all that she was doing was because she truly enjoyed it and wanted to be there.  All of her internships were actually unpaid, so it meant having to work normal jobs on top of the internships.  This is where the hard work came in.  She said a lot of times she felt like she had no social life, but it was important in order to get where she wanted in the future.

With all of the internships, jobs, and class, Amy still found time to be involved on campus.  She was the secretary of PRSSA from May of 2010 to May of 2011, was the Insight editor for the PRSSA newsletter from November of 2009 to May of 2011, and coordinated the PRSSA Regional Activity where 75 people from the region attended.

Her own steps to getting where she is today demonstrated what it takes to be successful.  She recommended taking the unpaid internship because those can be the most beneficial.  She said that although we might all have our own specific idea of what we want to do with PR, to be open-minded.   To make the most out of every opportunity, ask for more experience if feel that we aren’t gaining all of the experience we want, and most importantly to not give up, because although the process can be frustrating, it can be very rewarding in the end. 

Because Amy is a recent graduate and has had a wide range of experiences, it makes it easy for her to relate and connect with PR students.  Amy gave the option of helping students if they need advice.  Amy can be reached at http://www.amypaul.webs.com/, Amy.Paul@MilwCnty.com, and on twitter @AP2005.