Life After the BPR
Mark Day // April 25, 2012
While we are in the Bachelor of Public Relations (BPR) program at Mount Saint Vincent University, we are wholly consumed with what comes next. We ask ourselves, and each other, the same questions over and over again: What company do I want to work for? What job title do I want? How much money do I want to make? The problem is, we are still in the program. We have only an inkling of what comes next.
So, what is life like after the BPR?
A survey of 94 graduates from the co-operative education program at the Mount, from 2008, 2009, and 2010, showed that 84 per cent of those who graduated are currently employed in their field of study. This fact should help settle our minds, but it doesn’t. We are PR students; we need to know things before they happen.
“Everything you are doing in school should be a stepping stone towards what you want to do when you finish,” said Janine Basha, recent Mount graduate from the Masters of Public Relations (MPR) program.
“Current students of the BPR should really know what they are doing before they do it. It’s the nature of the field.”
Knowing which classes to take and which not to take is not a problem for us; the program is well-organized and structured so that no one accidentally wanders down a terrifying trail of academic confusion. If only life after the BPR was as structured and organized as the BPR itself.
The co-op survey mentioned earlier shows statistics that would calm even the most anxious nerves, but the alarm sounds when you read it closely. The survey covers the years 2008-2010, and the question it asks is “are you currently employed in your field of study?” Well, what if those students from 2008 didn’t gain employment until 2010? How long will we have to wait for that dream job, or even a decent job?
We have all heard the horror stories. A friend of that guy that was in one of your classes last semester knows a girl who did the BPR program last year and could not find a job anywhere so she went back to school. We are all so hungry for knowledge of what is to come, and yet the only news we hear is the worst news possible.
“We all had these lofty expectations of what jobs we were going to get and how quickly we were going to get them when we graduated,” said Basha. “The problem is that the economy right now is such that the jobs we all want and expect are just not there for the taking.”
The way it seems is that the worst is yet to come. We are all at our maximum stress levels, and before we know it, the program will be over. We will be left to our own devices. We are not alone in our struggle, however; every student in every post-secondary program is feeling the same crunch. We can blame the economy for that.
The worst, however, is in not knowing exactly what we are heading for. Basha waited only three months before finding her current job as Client Services Coordinator at Trampoline Branding in Halifax. Though she took many steps toward finding a job, what eventually landed her the position was a combination of luck, determination, and good timing.
A follower of Trampoline Branding on Twitter, Basha happened upon Trampoline’s announcement of a hiring contest. A well-written contest entry tweet on her behalf started a process that landed her the job.
“By fluke, I was on Twitter when the tweet was posted [by Trampoline] and it showed up in my feed in real-time. I spent about 15 minutes coming up with something clever to write.”
Basha went on to say that Trampoline was searching for Social Media Interns, the basis for the contest. She fit the bill perfectly, and her wit grabbed their interest. While she didn’t “win” the job, she did win an interview. Ultimately, she found herself as a graduate of the MPR program finding a job through Twitter.
This is terrifying. Finding a job via social media is no big surprise – it is 2012, after all. If she had not been on Twitter that day, however, would she have a job now? An incredibly smart graduate of a masters program finds a job through social media after exhausting most real world opportunities. So, what does that mean for us in the BPR program?
As it turns out, the situation is not as bleak as one may think. As future PR practitioners, we have to be thinking about the future. The BPR program, and our co-op experience, will give us some of the skills we need to succeed.
“While graduating in an economic downturn, it’s important to remember that you have already developed a resume, a cover letter and interview skills during your co-op experience,” said Kirsten Somers, Student Coordinator in the MSVU Co-Op Office. “If you demonstrate competency and initiative in a job, it’s likely that your employer will notice.”
Those are skills that we will develop during the program, but there are also some skills that we must develop ourselves.
“One simple tip we would recommend is for students to facilitate their own job search during the co-op process,” said Somers. “We find the students who look for their own job… seemed better positioned for the job search when they graduate.”
We are still going to have those hard days every now and then. Oh, who are we kidding, the entire program is likely the most mentally taxing thing we will ever experience. We are in public relations – we’re trained in crisis management. All we have to do is present the best version of ourselves, and build on our own unique skill sets, and we will survive. With a little luck, a lot of determination, and practical application of what we have learned, life after the BPR will be exactly what we make of it.
