Mapping Career Paths at Professional Development Day

By Morgan Ellenberger

I had the extraordinary opportunity to attend PRSA Pittsburgh’s 2016 Professional Development Day on Thursday, Oct. 27. The event, “Breaking Through the Noise,” featured a variety of panels that were filled with PR professionals – ready to offer advice to senior practitioners as well as students, like me, hoping to break into the field. 

The panel I attended, “Mapping Career Paths,” was extremely enlightening, as its panelists provided the necessary insights we, as students, were looking for in order to map a path of our own. 

The session included moderator Sean Smith, chief marketing officer of Schneider Downs & Co., Inc.; Jeff Worden, APR and owner of Worden Communications; Jamie Kurke, assistant account executive at Gatesman + Dave; and Steve Radick, VP, director of PR and content integration at Brunner.

Smith started out the session by asking the professionals how they got into their current positions. 

Worden had started out as a journalist, and about 10 years ago, decided that he wanted to start his own crisis firm. He said he enjoys the pressure of a deadline and finds crisis communication to be “a thrill.”

Kurke, a 2015 graduate of New York University, decided the best way to figure out what she wanted to do was through internships with companies such as Pipitone Group and Teen Vogue. Because of these experiences, she was inspired to work in PR.

Radick started as a consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton in D.C., but realized he had become too comfortable and wanted the challenge of an agency. That’s how he ended up in Pittsburgh at Brunner.

Smith then asked the group what they would go back and tell their college selves, knowing what they know now. Each panelist shared informative and insightful advice that can be applied now and in the future.

“The world is not linear. It’s all about relationships,” Worden said.

If you hate a job or an internship, “it’s not the end of the world,” Kurke said. “Don’t worry so much about taking the exact right step.”

“Go out and experience things,” Radick said. “Those experiences make a good and rich communicator.”

Kurke reminded the audience that a resume and cover letter are always important and to put work into them. She said we should be able to walk into a room and say why we are great or why we are going to be great at the position we are applying for.

“Be unabashedly you. Don’t be who you believe they want you to be,” Radick advised the listeners when talking about good interview tactics.

Smith’s final question was, “What should be a part of a portfolio?”

Radick and Worden said that writing samples and strong writing skills are always important to show off in a portfolio, and enthusiastically Kurke agreed.

“Have something you’ve written, under your name, that’s been externally published,” Radick recommended.

Smith ended the session by instilling in us that PR is a wonderful and dynamic field to be passionate about.

“There’s so much you can do,” he said. “Work harder than other people, and consider yourself your first client.”

We received so much good advice from the panelists during this session, and I think we all consider ourselves lucky to have been able to attend the event.

Morgan Ellenberger is a senior communication: public relations major at Slippery Rock University. She is involved in Slippery Rock University’s student-run PR firm and PRSSA Chapter, Rock PRoductions. She works as the organization’s senior writing specialist and is in charge of editing content before it goes out to clients as well as editing the organization’s blog. You can find her on Twitter, @MorganAmelle, on LinkedIn or connect with her via email at mae1015@sru.edu or morganamelle@gmail.com.