Leeds Met PR Unit

Any filling in your sandwich Sir?

prunit — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:32:08 +0000

A strange title for an article on PR placements, I know, but please bear with my need to use of outlandish analogies at every turn, it’s the only way I know.

Neil Crosby

The sandwich that I am roundly chomping on at present is a four year PR degree at Leeds Metropolitan University. It is of course optional whether you add the filling, a year in industry, or opt for a plain bread roll and to complete the course after three years. As I saunter towards “make your mind up time” I am haunted by two questions. At the age of 23, is adding another year to my degree further handicapping me in the PR Grand National? Or will a years experience working in the industry turn me into Red Rum? I told you to bear with me.

To answer this rather puzzling conundrum I have decided to track down some Leeds Met PR alumni and ask them the question, placement or no placement?

After a search through my Facebook contacts I came across Neil Crosby, a graduate of the class of 2008, Neil decided on the plain bread roll and finished his degree in three years. Now working at Freud Communications, living in London and working on clients such as Nike, Visa Olympics 2012 and Lynx surely that’s proof enough that three years is all you need, my research can stop right now! Neil admits that life is “sweet” and his career is thriving, but looking back at his time at university he also says:

“Third year was such a struggle and it was very clear who had been on a year’s placement and who hadn’t. The placement students just seemed to handle the workload so much better and in modules such as the competitive pitch it was clear that they had a greater understanding of how to plan a campaign.”

It is important to note that Neil was offered his job at Freud after completing a two week placement during his final year and he also adds:

“Although I did not complete a whole year, I did fill my time at university with as much practical experience as possible. I know from working in the industry for over a year now, that the term “experience is King” could not be more true.”

Neil is an obvious success story of the Leeds Met PR degree and falls into the high percentage of graduates that find work in the industry as soon as they graduate. It seems though that even Neil champions the choice of taking a year out and that it was in fact a placement which secured him his dream job.

Would it have been as easy for Neil if he had graduated in 2009, a year in which unemployment amongst graduates hit an all time high and left the large majority of the class of 2009 jobless?

So where are the class of 2009 now? You would think that most will still be lining up to collect their doll money or at best be dreaming about a job in PR as they make their 400^th Big Mac of the day. Well surprisingly my first case study, Gemma Clarkson, is in fact working full-time in the PR department NHS Wakefield District. Gemma took her first steps on the PR ladder at the same time as the aforementioned Mr. Crosby, however their journeys did not end together as Gemma decided on a year in industry.

Gemma Clarkson and her Dad at graduation

Gemma spent her placement year at York based construction company Sheppard Engineering Services (S.E.S) and for the most part was running the PR department due to a dismissal of the senior PR manager early on in her placement experience.

Gemma said: “I was only too aware of how important a placement year was after many a lecture from our trusted mentors, however I did doubt the importance of ‘getting in the real world’, as quite frankly, I didn’t feel I was equipped to actually ‘do’ PR. How wrong was I? My placement taught me how to apply everything I had learnt on a day to day basis. I learnt about the importance of corporate culture, business strategies and return on investment.”

She added: “My role as PR officer included a vast and varied sense of ability, developing internal communication, CSR, event management and PR strategy from initial planning to the evaluation of results. I honestly don’t know how I would have coped in third year with all the work, especially the dissertation, in which I used SES as a case study. Placement year gave me the competitive edge of experience and undoubtedly got me the job I have today.”

After speaking to Gemma at length about her placement experience it was clear from her enthusiasm that she loved every minute and owed much to her mentors at SES who helped mould her in to a young PR professional. Was Gemma one of the lucky ones though? I have heard some pretty scary stories about students spending day after day filing cuttings and making tea like the proverbial dogs body.

My final case study is another graduate from the class of 2009. Is she now on the scrap heap and receiving daily life lessons from Jeremy Kyle? Nope!

Laura Schofield and Finn colleague

Laura Schofield is the newest edition to Leeds based consultancy Finn Communications. Laura said of her placement experience:

“The most valuable thing I feel that the Leeds met course offers you is the Placement year. It is one of the main reasons I chose the course and having completed it, feel it is an essential part of the PR degree, whether you have a good or bad experience. In all honestly, I hated my placement year, but it showed me exactly what I didn’t want to do as opposed to what I did, which I felt was just as important.”

She added: “Having left university I know how competitive the world of PR is and at the very least, if you have that little something extra to talk about in an interview, it helps so much. It also allows you to build a really comprehensive portfolio with some great pieces, which you just couldn’t achieve from a shorter placement. The portfolio is so important and maybe the one thing that sets you apart from all other graduates”.

The festive period is now upon us and the placement office jobs board is bulging like John Mccririck waist line. Some of the jobs even have a 2009 deadline! I have decided to order my sandwich with a filling and take a year out to cut my teeth in the industry as an “intern”. To be honest I am already salivating like a Pavlovian dog at the prospect and can’t wait to get out in to the real world of PR.

I am very interested in digital media and sport, so will begin my search in these areas. In my ever growing network of PR contacts I am yet to come across one person who has a bad word to say about taking a year out, so this speaks volumes. Thank you to all my case studies it was a pleasure chatting to you!

I would love to hear from people working in the industry and graduates who have either “added the filling” or “gone plain”.

Thanks

Adam

Tree O’Clock Campaign

prunit — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:51:01 +0000

In other news the team were part of the BBC’s attempt to break the world record for planting the most trees in one hour. Yes it was Tree O’clock. Clare and I flexed our green fingers and helped plant 1000 trees on the Hawksforth Estate in Leeds. We will find out on the 14th whether or not the record has been broken, but regardless it was a fun day and our efforts have made the Hawksforth Estate a much greener area!! We will hopefully have some nice coverage in the YEP this week, so look out for it Mum.

Look at what Clare and I conjured up on Friday. It was lots of fun, but has struggled to gain coverage thus far (It does not reflect the views of the Students Union or the University). We will soldier on, you never know it might be on “Have I got news for you” next week!

Another personal achievement for yours truly coming your way this week. This may warrant double pocket money Mum. Stay tuned.

Big Boys Don’t Cry Campaign

prunit — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:49:27 +0000

The “Big Boys Should Cry” campaign is generating some good coverage already. Richard Bailey was kind enough to mention it in Behind the Spin and the Leeds Met press office also covered the story. Another big thank you must go to Neill Crispian as he has created a pe rmanent banner for the Counselling service (It’s the second from last image). Not sure who the ginger bearded model is, but he plays “young troubled man” superbly in my opinion!!

The poster competition winner is decided this week and I have to say the standard of entries is just superb!!! We are hopefully having Aidan Winterburn a graphic design lecturer and Sue Dominey a counselor at Leeds Met judging the entries.

prunit — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:42:53 +0000

Freshers Fair-ly Keen

Monday, 28 September 2009

As promised here are the exciting snaps from Freshers’ Fair. The idea behind having a stall at the fair was to promote our department amongst both new and returning students. We also wanted to recruit some new blood so that this year we can have a bigger team to call upon if we need help with events and campaigns. The fair was also an opportunity to network with other departments, societies and students.

I arrived at the Fair at around 9.30am to set the stall up. I was told I was on table 155 which was on the raised platform of the Metceno. After half an hour printing off some posters to make the stall visually interesting, I meandered my way through all the other stalls, by the time I had reached our plot I had enough free pens to supply an infinite amount of monkeys, enough free lollipops to de-tooth Janice Street Porter and enough two for one offers to satisfy Victor Meldrew. Alarm bells began to ring in my head as I realised I had nothing free to give the freebie hungry masses, I rooted through my bag and found a half eaten egg Mcmuffin, a toothbrush and a copy of the student newspaper “Leeds On”. I decided to finish the calorie laden breakfast bun, brush my teeth and indulge in some light frophy reading. I would rely on my charm and my Lord Kitchener posters to draw in a crowd.

Although the pitch was not the best, there was a steady flow of students and many that were caught by my handy work with Microsoft WordArt. The sign read “Are you Studying Public Relations? Marketing? Events Management?” as although we are formally a P.R unit, it would be nice to involve a broader spectrum of the business courses in the department. Many students were interested in what we had achieved last year so I showed them the work I had put together in my online portfolio.

The Fair didn’t really get going until the afternoon, so instead of just sitting on my backside reading the paper and updating my Facebook status with some witty prose I decided to have a chat to the stall next to me. The society on my left was called the “Apologetics Society” and the society on my right seemed to be the “Campaign against everything including having a shower society” and although many of their causes seemed worthy, the fact one of the lads was wearing a beret put me off slightly as i’ve never got on with freedom fighters much before. So instead I kicked up a convo with this guy.

Now although I do not agree with Carnell’s beliefs that Charles Darwin was a fantasist and God made the world in seven work filled days, he was a very interesting guy to chat to, and if anyone is interested in voicing their opinion or belief on how the world was made or any other of the big questions, the Apologetic Society meets the last Friday of every month at the Civic Quarter room CQC515. I won’t be buying a t-shirt as I am a follower of the work of Richard Dawkins and Carl Sagan, but I may well just pop along to the little monthly swaray for a healthy debate.

The day was a great success, I got to speak to lots of first year P.R and Marketing students about where I see the department going this year and how they can be apart of it. I also spoke to a few third years who seemed keen to get involved if they can spare the time. I also made contact with the Photography society who told me they would be more than happy to offer their services for future events and campaigns, as well as Jacob from MetAir the new radio show, who was very interested in joining forces with our department to make sure the voice of the Students Union is heard by the Leeds Met Students.

One slightly sore point from the Fair was the presence of an online Poker website who had a stall directly opposite ours. Just look how busy it was!

The rotund gentleman had the fresh faced tax dodgers eating out of his hand, with glamorous promises like “It cost’s nothing to enter and you can win up to £25,000″ he

worked the floor like a slightly better looking John Mcriock. It made me quite uncomfortable to think some students may think their student loan and online poker make easy bedfellows .Who needs to join a society or department that may aid me in getting a first class degree when I can play poker online and get a first class gambling addiction? Don’t be taken in by this portly fellow, instead why not sign up with this young gentleman.