Landing a job in PR
A little over a year ago I was a junior in a small college in Pennsylvania looking for my first internship in New York City. Despite many of my professors suggesting I keep it realistic and look for internships in Pittsburgh, I was determined to go to Manhattan. I worked on getting my resume out by any and every means possible. After some diligent job searching, Eric Yaverbaum got in contact with me to discuss my resume. A few interviews later, I accepted a summer internship at Ericho Communications, and I was the happiest girl in PA for landing a NY internship.
On my flight out to New York City I was imagining what my internship would be like. Although I hoped not, I was half expecting my experience would be similar to my fellow colleagues’: filling paper, making coffee, and mastering the Xerox machine. Imagine my surprise when I found myself pitching our clients to editors and producers by week two! By the end of the summer, I not only secured a few placements, learned how to draft up a media kit, and accompanied my supervisor to interviews at Fox and Condenast publications; I also made some great professional relationships with my co-workers who taught me more in those few months then my 3 years majoring in Public Relations!
After leaving NYC that summer I went back to PA for my senior year. And what was the first thing I did after graduation? I packed up and moved to New York City. After chatting with Danielle about finding a job (yes for better or for worse I moved to New York without a job) she offered me an opportunity to freelance for a few months at Ericho. I have now been working here since June and I am on board till November to work on a couple campaigns we are doing. Working at Ericho has been an amazing professional experience. They expect their interns to do real Public Relations work and in the process, it is impossible not to learn about a million new things a day. It is so refreshing to work amongst co-workers that are willing to help you, and truly want to see you succeed. Not to mention a CEO who has the rare traits of approachability and a great sense of humor.
Deciding to move to New York City was probably the best decision I could have made for my professional career. I truly do not believe that any other Public Relations experience could have taught me so much and have gotten me to where I am now as a PR Professional so quickly then Ericho.
What was your first PR job like?

I participated in a fabulous webinar yesterday from 
In a recent