As part of the Association for Women in Communications Washington State University Pullman chapter, we went to Seattle to tour four advertising, public relations, and social media agencies over Thanksgiving break. We toured C+C, Essence Global, Project Bionic, and Media Plus. The agencies we toured varied vastly in size, from 14 employees to over 70 employees. As both of us are multimedia journalism majors, we were not really sure how these agency tours would benefit us, but we thought we might as well go.
During the tours, we learned that advertising and public relations careers are more complex than we had originally thought, and the reality of the industries was not what we were expecting coming into the tours. For instance, we did not realize there could be an entire agency solely dedicated to managing social media. We asked people at multiple agencies if a journalism degree met the qualifications to work at these agencies because their jobs were not focused on journalism, and we were the only journalism majors in the AWC group who went to Seattle. At Media Plus, they said any communication majors, regardless of the specialization, were better than non-communication majors. In fact, Project Bionic’s photographer, Annie Lalish, did not receive a communication or photography degree when she went to college. She was self-taught. This experience showed us that our options are not limited.
Maybe an advertising major would have known how much time and work goes into a company’s social media, but we were astonished. Social media requires so much planning, from knowing which hashtags should not be used because of trending news to making sure that simple errors like a typo never occur. As Project Bionic’s CEO Josh Dirks said, a company is only as good as its last tweet or post, regardless of how long the company has been working with a client. Sometimes, companies rely on social media influencers to promote a brand or product, and employees at two of the agencies stated that it is difficult and time-consuming to work with influencers. Not all influencers agree to work with a brand, and if an influencer does something controversial, that can be detrimental for a brand that has partnered with them.
We also learned a considerable amount about professional development, from resume tips to interview advice. At Essence Global, we learned that it is important to tailor not only our resumes, but also our cover letters, to the company we are applying for. They also said it is helpful to make two resumes—one that is black and white and one that is more creative and colorful. When applying for a creative job, the creative resume is probably the better one to use. But when applying for a less creative job, such as a data-driven job, it is better to use the less flashy resume.
Although we did not know what to expect going into the tours, we gained insight into other aspects of the communication industry that we had never considered, and it has really opened our eyes to the types of careers we can someday hope to have.
About the Authors
Madysen McLain
I’m a junior at Washington State University majoring in Multimedia Journalism. I was born and raised in Washington state. I have a passion for writing, whether it’s for the student newspaper or writing for my personal blog. My dream job would be to write for a travel magazine, like Sunset Magazine. A fun fact about me is I played three varsity sports all throughout high school.
Cheryl Aarnio
I am a junior majoring in multimedia journalism at Washington State University. I hope to be a book, magazine, or newspaper editor. My hometown is Kirkland, Washington. I have always been enamored with other languages and hope to be fluent in French one day.
1 thought on “Students Experience Industry Life in Seattle”
The more things change, the more they stay the same. That chestnut still rings true.
When I graduated from journalism school, I was totally unaware of all the different opportunities that are out there. You hear about the flashy communication careers like reporter or news anchor, but when you stop and think about it, there is always a need for people with communication skills in all industries. I never thought that spend my early career as a technical writer for a major insurance company, nor that I would work for a small community bank helping bankers with written communication, developing an intranet, managing internal communication and, finally, developing and creating the bank’s social media program.
AWC is a great resource for finding out about different career options because our membership encompasses all communication disciplines!