By Vivian Hu
I recently attended the PRSA Boston Annual Meeting, and it was a great opportunity to deepen my understanding of PR as an industry. Kelsey Doherty, the senior Marketing Director for the Red Sox, and Nichole Macri, Boston Bruins & TD Garden Director of Digital Business Strategy, shared their experiences and gave helpful advice for students like us who are first entering the field.
One key takeaway was about searching for internships. Many undergraduates limit themselves, thinking they want to work in tech or sports, so they must find an internship to match their career goals. Macri emphasized that what you do is far more important than where you do it. Focusing on building your skills and gaining hands-on experience, the opportunities will follow.
Macri herself wanted to be in marketing and be in either sports or fashion, but she graduated during a tough job market and got her first job as a marketing coordinator at an IT consulting firm in Nashua, New Hampshire. While it wasn't the glamorous job she wanted, it allowed her to gain valuable experience and paved the way for her career in the NHL in New York.
This aligns with Doherty's advice on job interviews. She said the title of your internship is not the answer when being asked about your internship. Beyond the title, what you really did matters. Instead of saying, “I was a marketing intern,” talk about specific problems you met and how you learned from the imperfect experiences.
Reflecting on my own internship, I worked in a team at an agency that was quite disorganized. I witnessed firsthand the conflicts between our director and our client. However, I tended to gloss over these issues when talking about this internship. But the difficult experiences taught me about team management, communication skills, and the importance of building trust and strong connections with clients.
In PR, every detail of your work reflects your passion, regardless of your role. I believe the endeavor will be noticed by both clients and seniors in the industry.
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