To quote Charles Darwin; “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” So, the time has come for me to say with mixed feelings that I am leaving my position with Thornley Fallis.

I have learnt so much in the year I have been a part of this office and organization, about my career but also about myself. I want to keep this short and sweet, so here are just a few of the lessons I’ll take away.

• Be honest, with others and with yourself. Even when it’s hard to stand up and take accountability, it goes far in this world and will be recognized by the people who count.
• Never be afraid to admit when you are wrong or that you need help. None of us has the answer to everything, and being part of a team means sharing and exchanging strengths.
• Laugh. Life is about making connections and enjoying yourself. Take the time to get to know your coworkers, and share a smile once in a while. Even if it means someone completely covers your office with candies when you are away as a joke.

You can follow my exploits at www.BoardroomBlogette.ca, or JennOuellette on Twitter.

I suppose there is nothing left to say, so, play me out Shirley!

Jennifer

(Note: This post has been edited and cross-posted from my personal blog.)

It’s been three month’s since I dove head first into PR agency life, and I have to say it turns out I’m a pretty good swimmer! There is some good, some bad, but nothing sums it up better than slightly misquoting one of my favorite films; “Thornley Fallis, I think that this is the start of a beautiful friendship.”

One of the things I have had to get used to is learning to negotiate a new work/life balance. I rarely leave at 5:00pm, and when I do I usually take home work with me or access it remotely. I’ve become a bit of a hermit, and have had more than one phone call/email/tweet from friends asking where I am and if I am still alive. But on the flip side, I have really started to appreciate that time I do spend with people I care about, something as simple as going to see a movie becomes so much more enjoyable than before when I had a lot more free time and took it for granted.

I think that as long as you are doing something you love and that interests you everything else will fall into place. I get invited out to some pretty nifty Toronto events such as Thirsty Thursdays and Third Tuesday, and have been able to coordinate some really great media interviews and press coverage for some of our clients to date. It’s a great feeling, and I can’t wait to see where I am in another three months, let alone after a few years of their mentoring combined with trial by fire opportunities for me to prove myself!

To all you account coordinators out there, I hope you’re having as great a time as I am!
(And remember, when a good book and a bubble bath fails to calm you after a long stressful day a glass of dry red wine might just do the trick…)

It’s been a little over one month since my first day working at TFC, and so I thought it would be a great chance to reflect on my impression of agency life so far.

I was pleasantly surprised (and a bit overwhelmed) at how fast I was thrown into working on projects. My first day felt like; here is your office, here is the kitchen, here are your supplies and this is how we track time (that’s another matter in itself). And then, I basically got straight to work! This past month I have had the opportunity to do a number of different tasks;

• Writing pitches
• Doing research into locations for upcoming venues
• Working on media lists
• Media monitoring

Since I work on consumer, health and food clients there has been a fairly good variety and I’m really enjoying it.

I don’t think I would be able to manage all of the different tasks and files on my desk if I wasn’t an organized and structured person who loves a bit of chaos thrown into her life. I stay organized by keeping a spreadsheet where I list tasks that need to be done, and the deadline I need to have it completed by. This way I can start my morning by planning my day based on what deadlines are quickly creeping up on me. (And trust me, they can creep up quickly!)

In all, I’m very happy with my experience so far. I think the best part is that I feel like I’m a part of a great team, and am really looking forward to continuing to learn and grow in my role here.

Any advice on what I should look out for in the coming months?

A Day In the Life…

Okay, so I know the title of this post is “A day in the life”… but honestly each day here can be so different. In PR you have to expect the unexpected. Working on the agency side, you have to do some serious juggling because different clients want different things…usually all at the same time!
But wait, there’s good news! Because before you know it you can go from an inexperienced graduate… to balancing the demands of the job…to showing someone else the ropes!

And with that as a lead-in, here is a quick rundown of some of the things I have done in my first 8 months as a PR Account Coordinator.

Media Monitoring: Something that is a constant in my day. I use things like FPInfomart, Cision and Google News to see if there were mentions of our clients, and sometimes their competitors, in the media.

Media Lists: Another staple in my Account Coordinator life. Oh media lists! Having a running list of targeted journalists, editors and reporters is a necessity for pitching.  That said, creating a media list is not the most exciting of tasks, and sometimes they can take a while, but they are definitely important.

Podcast Production: Once a week, I get to do my own little project. I produce a podcast and vidcast for one of our clients.  I take an audio or video file, add in music to the right places, edit it, cut out the mistakes, adjust the audio levels and just make it sound great.  I then upload it online and enter in all the important information and finally, publish it. I really look forward to this because I get to pop on my headphones and create something, all on my own, from start to finish.

Pitching: Pitching, for those who don’t know, is basically calling up a news publication and (gently) persuading them to run a story on one of our clients. This is something I have mentioned in previous entries and it is something that I have just started to get comfortable with.  I don’t do it very often, but when I do, even though it can be nerve-wracking, it can also be very rewarding. It’s a great feeling knowing you were the one who got a client in the paper.

Brainstorming Sessions:  I really like these sessions because 1) You get to see how creative and intelligent the people you work with are and 2) You get to contribute ideas of your own to new projects.  As an account coordinator, a lot of time is spent working at a computer, so this is a time when you really get to let loose, bond with coworkers and express your opinions….even if you’re the smallest one on the company totem pole!

There are, of course, other things I have gotten to do, like participate in a video shoot and help out with a contest, but generally, the things I mentioned above are what my days usually consist of.

As a student and job-seeker my main goal was to find out what a typical day looked like working at an agency. But the answers I always got were “PR is not a 9-5 job” and “There is no typical day in PR”.
I could not agree more.
I think a lot of people see PR as something that is exciting and non-stop 24/7. It’s not, but really, what is?  In the end though, it’s the less exciting periods that help you realize how lucky you are when you do finally get to do the exciting stuff that’s worth writing home (or…just blogging) about. When you win a new client, get a story in the paper, when your event comes to fruition or when that small contribution you made to a project you thought didn’t matter at all gained you so much appreciation from your coworkers, that’s when you know it’s worth it.

How I Got Here

Wow!  I am so thrilled to have received such great feedback on my very first blog post.  Thanks to everyone who commented! I was so nervous to start blogging and all of you have reassured me that it was DEFINITELY the right thing to do.

Before I begin my post I just wanted to wish fellow PR Girl Kerri a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Now on to the post. I’m really excited about sharing my thoughts and experiences, but I wanted to do it properly, so I thought I would do a 3 part “series”  about how I got here, my first impressions of PR and social media, and what I do day to day.

So, here’s How I got here:

As I said in my last post, in my third year of studying psychology and behavioural science, I decided to make the switch into marketing.

That summer I was lucky enough to get an internship in the marketing department of a financial planning and corporate finance company and at the beginning of the school year, I made the switch into marketing.

The internship was good work experience, but I felt like I didn’t get a chance to learn about the industry. It was only after a couple weeks in classes that I really knew I was in the right field. I loved my classes, I loved the work we got to do and I loved that I was actually good at it!

I thought about it, but I didn’t apply to any post-graduate programs. I decided I would jump right into the working world, get some experience and then perhaps, later in my career explore the option of doing a Masters.

Although I applied to both advertising and PR companies, I was always more drawn to Public Relations.

I knew that a lot of people were simply sending out resumes and cover letters, but I wanted to do something more to stand out. I decided to make a website for myself highlighting my experience, background and school accomplishments.  It worked! I was offered an interview at Thornley Fallis. Even though I had no idea what social media was, they liked that I had done something different that showed I was in tune with the idea of supplementing traditional communications with online channels.

So, in my case, I didn’t have any PR experience, nor did I know what social media was.

That said, although all PR agencies are different and some do not focus quite as much on social media, I do think it’s important to have at least some social media knowledge as a PR student. You don’t have to have your own blog or 500 followers on twitter, but having an online presence (that isn’t just facebook), can only be an asset to you.

And the fact that you’re reading this blog means you’re already ahead of the game!

I definitely want to talk more about social media tools and establishing an online presence… and I will in my next post on my first impressions of PR and social media.

And keep the questions coming!

Very few people know this, but PR Girlz was actually a big part of my inspiration for wanting to become a public relations professional.

I’ve been reading PR Girlz now for more than 3 years. Somehow, I found this blog even long before I had any interest in social media or blogging. I Googled “women in PR” or something to that affect. This was back when I was in my 3^rd year of Journalism at Ryerson and I was pretty certain that j-skool was not for me, so I decided to look around for information about other careers that might be of interest. Long story short – here I am.

What made me think about this?

A few weeks ago I had an encounter at a workshop I attended. There were about 12-15 of us sitting in an average sized boardroom. There were communications people from all types of organizations – agencies, non-profits, large corporations and clearly, from all levels of experience. It was a fairly informal presentation, but there were still speakers at the front who, like most presenters, hope that you’ll give them your full attention. Most of the audience obliged this un-written rule; however, there were a select few at the opposite end of the table who choose not to.

Two fellow ‘PR girls’ (although I’m hesitant to call them that – you’ll see why as you read on) felt the need to carry on a side conversation throughout much of the presentation. Now, in a room that small, whispering is very distracting. So much so, that everyone around the table made efforts to turn and glare at the culprits – which they appeared not to notice.

My reason for describing this example this that this is what I consider to be a very poor ‘PR Girl.’

Here’s why: These girls were representing their agency as attendees at the event, in a public space, in the presence of other fellow agencies and PR community members. Quite frankly, their behaviour was rude and disrespectful to everyone in the room. And what they did not seem to notice, is that everyone else noticed. Everyone in that room will now have a lasting impression of what that agency is like – did I mention we were all wearing name tags with our organizations printed on them?

All this really got me thinking about what it means to be a PR Girl. Never once in my reading of this blog did I ever get a sense that what I witnessed at the workshop, was part of being a successful PR Girl. So, here is what a PR Girl is to me:

1) Classy – Now I don’t mean that we all come to work every single day dressed to the nine’s like we stepped out of a fashion magazine. I mean that we are respectable in the way we present ourselves, in the office and in the community.

2) Smart – We are not the ditzy PR girls sometimes portrayed by Hollywood. I work with people who have Master’s degrees, undergrad degrees and many years worth of experience to back it up – there are no airheads around here.

3) Respectful – A good PR girl recognizes the value of building relationships and being respectful to everyone we cross paths with. This goes for the guy asking for change outside to subway, right up to the VP of a new client.

4) Friendly – We are not entitled. We are not snotty. We were personable and friendly. A hard-ass, uppity PR girl might get results for being pushy with media, but it won’t win any brownie points on the relationship building front.

5) Strong – We are classy, smart, respectful and friendly – but don’t think that means any one is going to push us around. We know our business, we love our business and we are good at what we do. And we know it.

So those are my thoughts about what a PR Girl really is.

Did I miss anything?

Right now I’m smack in the middle of working towards a Master of Arts in Communications and Technology. Lucky for me, much of my learning and studies are applicable to my job, for example, the consulting course I am enrolled in. For one of our assignments, we were required to select a chapter from our text and write a discussion paper about the content. I chose to look a chapter about women in consulting. I thought this was an interesting topic because of the growing number of women in the public relations field (over 70% now).

The author of the chapter suggests that women are particularly good at consulting because we understand the value of relationships and emotions. Now, that’s not to suggest that men aren’t good at consulting or that they don’t understand the value of relationships and emotions – simply that women tend to come by this more naturally. Women are biologically hardwired to want to make connections with people and build relationships on trust and mutual respect, an important skill in consulting.

The chapter also suggested that women are well suited for PR because they are able to balance work and home life by recognizing that we wear both hats, all the time. We are able to look at our lives as a whole and realize that we can’t exactly just break off pieces whenever we choose. This is also important because work and family life teaches us effective multitasking, allowing us to apply work strategies at home and home strategies at work. Ever worked out a critical path for your week including dinner, after work events, cleaning, grocery shopping etc etc? I have.

And the last very important point I enjoyed in the chapter was the value of women learning from other women. In the consulting world, because there are so many women now, there is an opportunity to learn from lots of amazing, strong and smart women. So in my opinion there really isn’t a better place to meet these women, observe them and learn from them!

First, I’d like to apologize to all of our faithful readers. Our site has had some issues and wasn’t accessible for a little while, but we’re back up now and ready to roll – PS – if this happens again, please let us know

So, now that all the techie stuff is on par again, I’m thinking it’s time to get posting again – regularly. As the newest member for the PR Girlz team, I will be taking it upon myself to ensure there is at least one new post a week – it may not be most engaging post you’ve ever read, but it will be interesting, informative and from the perspective of a PR Girl. So be warned, this might be a link to an article, a video, or anything else we’re in the mood for, but we hope you’ll enjoy it.

I’ll also be doing my best to rally the troops around here with a little positive reinforcement to get the Girlz on your good side again!

Looking forward to it  

-Kerri

What do you get when you bring together interesting and approachable women in technology, great food and a lively speaker? Last night’s 2nd Toronto Girl Geek Dinner!

At one of Toronto’s more esoteric meetups, I had the pleasure of meeting some inspiring women (and a couple of guys, too) from fields as diverse as romance literature and robotics. 

Why I loved it:

• It was completely acceptable to talk about Facebook at length with people I had just met.
• The food was amazing. 
• Leila Boujnane from Idee (last night’s speaker) is a fascinating character and entertaining speaker.
• I think I’ve been convinced to go to a ’shopping class’ on Second Life.
• Wobbly jelly.

I’ll keep you posted on the next event (and we can discuss what I mean by ‘wobbly’).

I need a change of scenery.

After much thought and consideration, I have decided to change jobs and move over to the non-agency side of things. I have taken a position in the communications department of the Canadian Cancer Society.

During my four-year tenure with Thornley Fallis, I have learned a great deal, worked with some wonderful people who have enriched both my professional and personal life.

I have cleaned out my office, packed up my plants and 10 pairs of black heels.

Poor Jos won’t have to harass me to post anymore…

So off I go, into the world of non-agency PR, maybe in the future the girlz will let me report back as to how the other half lives…

Many thanks,
Camille