The panel featured Amber Burns, a Digital Marketing Specialist for Strategic Marketing and Communications at Temple University, who wears many hats in her position, from creating online content to strategy development. Also in attendance was London Faust, an Account Representative at Bellevue Communications Group, a small agency of eight people. Her position deals heavily with social media, media relations and advertising. Brianna Rooney is an Assistant Account Executive at Tonic Life Communications, focusing on healthcare and pharmacy clients. Brianna’s job entails aligning her clients with nonprofits and disease spaces, while also working with patients and giving them a voice. Kaylie Corallo is an Events Marketing Coordinator at Philadelphia magazine where she says she spends most of her day answering emails and is responsible for planning and executing events for the magazine and its many brands. Cara Graeff is currently a Public Relations Coordinator at The American College of Physicians and also works on social media and media relations like London. Lastly, Kaitlyn Sutton, a Digital Marketing Specialist for Strategic Marketing and Communications at Temple University, is responsible for all of social media posts from the main Temple University accounts and is behind Temple’s marketing and branding campaigns.
While at Temple, all of the alumni held various positions in PRowl ranging from staff member to Firm Director, each working as members on different accounts. As they applied for internships and full-time positions, they all agreed that PRowl always came up during interviews. Amber said that in interviews, she usually explains how PRowl functions, its goals and emphasizes how it is completely student run. Kaitlyn also added that PRowl gave her a chance to network with her peers and lean on them for advice and support in the future.
All six alumni agreed that PRowl Public Relations, in addition to their other internships, gave them hands-on experience that is helping them succeed in their jobs. In their current roles, they have all experienced learning curves as they transitioned from being interns to now entry-level employees. Brianna said that her biggest learning curve was learning the roles and regulations for her industry and adapting her timeline to meet deadlines, while allowing time for edits and the legal process. Cara explained how she is constantly learning new things at her job and stressed the importance of always knowing what clients you are representing and working for, and the details about their industries.
One major topic was job search tips for seniors. Brianna started by answering the question and told everyone to “calm down” first, and remember that, in the communications industry, many employers post positions when they need someone to start soon, which is different than many other fields college graduates are entering.
London brought up a great point, that there are countless communications professionals in Philadelphia that are willing to help students—especially Temple students—and that the first steps are to have informational interviews and grab coffee with people to help expand your network.
Kaylie added that everyone is going to get a job and to take every interview seriously and come prepared with resumes, writing samples or anything you can leave for them to remember you. All of the panelists also said that it is okay to not have a job right after you graduate and take the summer to travel and enjoy life before entering the workforce.
This blog post was written by PRowl Secretary Shaun Luberski. You can connect with her on LinkedIn here and follow her on Twitter here.
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