Opinions on a degree in advertising or PR?

[LisaR]

I've been perusing College Confidential and so many are dead set against degrees in those fields. I'd love to hear how the Dis feels on the subject? Is it really that difficult to succeed in? Anyone work in the industry that can confirm the trend for new hires? Thanks!

 

[kirstenb1]

I don't have any personal experience with either. But many years ago I was working at a brand new museum. We'd worked with an ad agency, and I was remarking to a co worker that advertising looked really interesting.

He used to work for one of the ad agencies in town, and said the work was very unstable. If they lost a major client, there were lots of layoffs.

 

[Princess Dolly]

I have a BS in PR. I do not work in the field, but I use a lot of what I learned every day. I had planned on going to law school, but the timing never worked out so this was my fall back degree. It has worked pretty good for me.

Not all PR programs are created equally, however.

Advertising is a tough, tough field, and it's pretty specialized.

 

[Ginny Favers]

My major is in public relations. I never worked for an outside ad agency, only for the in-house ad agency for large companies. We would collaborate with outside ad agencies on large projects but mainly I managed everything from radio to tv to collateral to public relations to direct mail to ad placement.

I think it's fun work. I've worked for many industries so some are better paying than others. But there are many different aspects of advertising and public relations, and what I have noticed is that companies are consolidating positions and wanting jacks-of-all-trades. Before, there used to be a copywriter, a designer, and a marketing coordinator... but not anymore. They don't just want someone to coordinate-- they want them to write and design it, too. So I recommend getting a wide variety of training, including graphic design and writing... which will make you a much more attractive candidate.

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

One of my closest friends has a BA in graphic design/advertising. From what I've heard, it's a field that relies very heavily on making connections. She interned her senior year of college with a company in Miami and they offered her a fulltime job upon graduation. She works long hours, but loves her job.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I have a degree in PR, and worked in the field for seven years. Besides having good writing skills, you have to be very organized, detail-oriented, and able to meet deadlines. You also have to know your products (or your client's products) in depth, and how they differ from their competitors. You can take more knowledgeable technical people with you to meetings and product demos, but you have to be ready for those last-minute fact checking calls from editors. They're on a deadline and don't always have time for you to find someone else to take the call. This was the part of the job I didn't like. In my area (Silicon Valley), many PR jobs revolve around technology. I'm not particularly interested in technology. I'm not passionate about the inner-workings of a semiconductor chip. I found that I didn't enjoy learning about this stuff and having to pretend it was the best thing in the world. I did my internship at the American Cancer Society and loved, loved, loved it! I found I could really get into the personal stories of the people we served, and writing about fund raisers and events came very naturally to me. Unfortunately, jobs like that are hard to come by, and they paid about half of what the technology companies paid.

My point is that PR can be a great career, if you find the right place to work.
After working a few PR jobs that I didn't like, I ended up working as an executive assistant for a bank president. He liked my PR/marketing background and had me write speeches and presentations for him, in addition to my other duties. He also asked me to review press releases and proof the annual report. One of our board members needed a press release for her small business, so my boss asked me if I would help her out. That job was a nice mix of being able to use my skills, without having to worry so much about the details. Several people I graduated with are still working in PR and have done very well.

My advice would be to research open positions in your area. Find out what kinds of companies tend to hire PR people. Also, look up PR agencies in your area. Look at their clients lists and determine if they meet your interests.

 

[LisaR]

I have a degree in PR, and worked in the field for seven years. Besides having good writing skills, you have to be very organized, detail-oriented, and able to meet deadlines. You also have to know your products (or your client's products) in depth, and how they differ from their competitors. You can take more knowledgeable technical people with you to meetings and product demos, but you have to be ready for those last-minute fact checking calls from editors. They're on a deadline and don't always have time for you to find someone else to take the call. This was the part of the job I didn't like. In my area (Silicon Valley), many PR jobs revolve around technology. I'm not particularly interested in technology. I'm not passionate about the inner-workings of a semiconductor chip. I found that I didn't enjoy learning about this stuff and having to pretend it was the best thing in the world. I did my internship at the American Cancer Society and loved, loved, loved it! I found I could really get into the personal stories of the people we served, and writing about fund raisers and events came very naturally to me. Unfortunately, jobs like that are hard to come by, and they paid about half of what the technology companies paid.

My point is that PR can be a great career, if you find the right place to work.
After working a few PR jobs that I didn't like, I ended up working as an executive assistant for a bank president. He liked my PR/marketing background and had me write speeches and presentations for him, in addition to my other duties. He also asked me to review press releases and proof the annual report. One of our board members needed a press release for her small business, so my boss asked me if I would help her out. That job was a nice mix of being able to use my skills, without having to worry so much about the details. Several people I graduated with are still working in PR and have done very well.

My advice would be to research open positions in your area. Find out what kinds of companies tend to hire PR people. Also, look up PR agencies in your area. Look at their clients lists and determine if they meet your interests.

Thank you for this! I am sharing it with my daughter. Your experience with the American Cancer Society vs. the technical field is exactly what I think is important for her to read. She has very specific things/places that she wants to advertise or promote. That's fine but like I am trying to remind her, if you aren't going to be open to working in a field you aren't interested in (technology) than you might as well look at different majors. Technology is where it is at and if the thought of working in that area repulses you, hmmmm.........maybe look elsewhere? Kids! On the plus side, she is very organized, excellent written and oral skills, and an extremely motivated individual. She could make it work if she really wanted to but I want her to look at it from all angles.

 

[lemondog]

I was a writer at an ad agency for 9 years. My degree was a BA with Spanish major, business minor. Go figure. I found working the creative side of advertising fun but stressful, you must be able to "create" under pressure. I agree also that if the agency loses a big client many times the team for that client loses their job as well. If I were to do it all over again I would try to get in to the corporate side of marketing.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Look at this company. It is global & huge.
http://fleishmanhillard.com/


My youngest is going to do something similiar. Right now she wants Communications coupled with Business however she is only a HS Freshman and is finding it hard to combine the two as a double major.

I think it is great field if that is the direction you want to go. My youngest is a good with writing, speaking, making scripts, ads, etc...Who knows where she will end up?

Good Luck to your DD!

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Thank you for this! I am sharing it with my daughter. Your experience with the American Cancer Society vs. the technical field is exactly what I think is important for her to read. She has very specific things/places that she wants to advertise or promote. That's fine but like I am trying to remind her, if you aren't going to be open to working in a field you aren't interested in (technology) than you might as well look at different majors. Technology is where it is at and if the thought of working in that area repulses you, hmmmm.........maybe look elsewhere? Kids! On the plus side, she is very organized, excellent written and oral skills, and an extremely motivated individual. She could make it work if she really wanted to but I want her to look at it from all angles.

Glad my post was helpful! I'm giving the same advice to my DS13. He has plenty of time to decide on a career, but he thinks advertising would be fun. He is insanely creative and very bright, but I want him to understand that he won't be shooting commercials for Coke and Honda right off the bat. If he stays in our area, he will most likely start out designing ads for technology journals. There are still jobs out there in the more mainstream and human service-oriented industries. You just have to be willing to move to where those jobs are, or accept that the pay won't be as good. When I interned at the Cancer Society, my boss told me that she made less than $30,000/year as Communications Director. In a tech company, a director level person with her experience would be making upwards of $75,000, and that was in the mid-80s.

After having my son and quitting my executive assistant job, I started working as a special ed preschool teaching assistant. It was a total departure from my previous experience, but my son had been diagnosed with autism and I became very interested in the special ed field. Believe it or not, I'm still using many of my skills. We frequently get called upon to take minute-by-minute data on certain students. The behavior specialist needs classroom data to establish behavior patterns and write plans for the kids. She can't be in every classroom at the same time, so the data collection usually falls to the teaching assistants. My data is detailed, and I keep my opinions out of it. I think it comes from my journalism training. You learn to make observations and record them, without adding any editorial commentary. The behavior person loves my data, and has asked me to help train assistants in other classrooms. So, despite not actually working in the field anymore, I do feel like my PR degree gave some good basic skills that I've been able to use in lots of situations.

 

[mom2rtk]

My degree is in Communication Studies. I worked for an ad agency straight out of school. I only needed 6 months to decide it wasn't for me. It is a highly political field, fully of much gamesmanship and BS. And I hated that. I ended up selling health insurance and eventually pharmaceuticals and was much happier.

Is she the sort that can roll with game playing? I wasn't and couldn't stand the industry.

 

[LisaR]

Glad my post was helpful! I'm giving the same advice to my DS13. He has plenty of time to decide on a career, but he thinks advertising would be fun. He is insanely creative and very bright, but I want him to understand that he won't be shooting commercials for Coke and Honda right off the bat. If he stays in our area, he will most likely start out designing ads for technology journals. There are still jobs out there in the more mainstream and human service-oriented industries. You just have to be willing to move to where those jobs are, or accept that the pay won't be as good. When I interned at the Cancer Society, my boss told me that she made less than $30,000/year as Communications Director. In a tech company, a director level person with her experience would be making upwards of $75,000, and that was in the mid-80s.

After having my son and quitting my executive assistant job, I started working as a special ed preschool teaching assistant. It was a total departure from my previous experience, but my son had been diagnosed with autism and I became very interested in the special ed field. Believe it or not, I'm still using many of my skills. We frequently get called upon to take minute-by-minute data on certain students. The behavior specialist needs classroom data to establish behavior patterns and write plans for the kids. She can't be in every classroom at the same time, so the data collection usually falls to the teaching assistants. My data is detailed, and I keep my opinions out of it. I think it comes from my journalism training. You learn to make observations and record them, without adding any editorial commentary. The behavior person loves my data, and has asked me to help train assistants in other classrooms. So, despite not actually working in the field anymore, I do feel like my PR degree gave some good basic skills that I've been able to use in lots of situations.

That's too funny because her fallback is special ed teacher! You two have too much in common. Want to adopt her........and pay for college?