Exelon’s Howard Karesh and Laura Micheli managed to pull off a very engaging presentation to us that proved to be extremely helpful in many ways. They explained right off the bat that corporate PR deals more with the reputation of a company and that the stakeholders and tactics involved are different compared to the agency side. At the beginning, Howard said, “It’s about storytelling,” which was something that stuck out to me personally from the entire presentation. It brings about the idea that this job is about presenting a good reputation while stressing the fact that the reputation of the company matter, and it deals with seeing the company through many perspectives. With corporate public relations, you are putting all your energy into one brand or company, whereas with an agency you deal with many clients.

Howard and Laura also explained about what the work is like that they do. Some of the work at Exelon includes employee communications, media relations, etc. They do a lot of different types of writing in each area. This showed us that there are lots of different types of work done through this corporation and every day this work varies. There are regular tasks each day along with irregular jobs, which is something to expect working at Exelon. Also, each day’s work schedule is ultimately determined around the plenty of meetings held which is another part of this job to expect.

There was a lot of sound advice given to us through Howard and Laura’s presentation. A good portion of this advice deals with how to treat employees. They are adults and it is important to treat them with respect, while being honest and telling complete stories.

Some other skills that are important to have before entering the job scene are strong writing skills and general common sense. Most skills are learned on the job, and this includes common strategy, how to present things clearly, and how to deal with different parts of the job. Overall, it was emphasized that writing is the single most important skill to have in this field. Other tactics that are helpful as a college student would be to network, pay attention to your own reputation (like how you appear through social media), have a good attitude, and take advantage of internships.

Overall the visit to Exelon was extremely beneficial and provided our chapter with plenty of useful information.

-Sonal M.

Do you think the catch phrase ‘Billion designers of Windows 7′ represents the product itself? Do you think that the promotion of the product online and during football games will be effective?

It doesn’t seem like they did a lot of promotion through social media, do you think that they will lose some customers if they do not promote to social media users?

I also found the actual commercial on youtube.com. I think it would be insightful to get other people’s perspectives on the commercial itself.

By Kendall K.

To see the Youtube video:

The article provides a great insight on the value of social media as a tool but addresses the need to maintain actual human relationships.  Read the article here, and thanks again to Kellyn W. for the article!

Best,

- Ashley P. (VP)

Edelman HR Rep., Heather Crowley, speaks at DePaul's PRSSA chapter meeting (Photo: A. Porter 04/23/09)

For those of you who weren’t able to make Thursday’s meeting, we had a guest speaker come talk to the group about resumes, cover letters and interviewing.  Heather Crowley, an HR Representitive and Recruiter from Edelman, provided us with many great tips.

When discussing resumes, Heather emphasized the importance of neatness and conciseness.  In many cases, your resume will be reviewed for about 10 to 20 seconds…so make it solid.  Include information about your education first, followed by any experience and lastly, and tranferable skills.  Provide accurate information, but leave room for “conversation starters.”  In other words, don’t give too much info. in a resume, just highlight the important things.  Lastly, unless you have 10+ years of experience, your resume should not exceed one page. 

Concerning follow-ups, Heather said that there is a fine line between appropriately following-up and over doing it.  DON’T call recruiters everyday or bombard them with e-mails.  DO find tasteful ways to stay in touch, and have a reason to contact them (i.e. –> If you noticed that their company recently won an award or took on a new account, use this as a conversation starter).  While you definitely need to keep in touch with the recruiter, or whomever else you’re contacting, do so in a respectful way.

Lastly, Heather talked about the importance of social media.  She recommended that if you don’t already have a Twitter account, you should start one!  Also, read blogs and if you’re feeling up to it, start one of your own!  Having the ability to utilize social media makes you much more marketable.

Overall, we couldn’t have been happier with Thursday’s meeting!  Thank you to all of you who attended, and please feel free to leave any questions or comments!

- Liz L. (PR Dir.)

DePaul’s new “social network” known as Demon Direct offers the entire DePaul community to browse and view every registered organization by name.  Any possible organization – religious, political, social, etc – is included and searchable.  Organizations can post flyers on a virtual bulletin board for all students to view and students can pull up news and participate in discussions on any organization’s page. 

Although not a “traditional” social network allowing users to customize every aspect of their experience on the site, it provides an incredibly rich and detailed resource for organizational information that has been previously unheard of.  Also, whether or not DePaul had initially intended, the use of Demon Direct is likely to reduce paper flyers on campus, making the immediate availability of detailed information far more sustainable.

Social networking and media are trends have become an integral part of life not only socially but professional as well.  The fact that DePaul decided to take the step forward and implement it into student life is an ingenious and very socially aware move on the university’s part.  This process of streamlining how organizational information is distributed can only benefit DePaul, its student organizations, and the student body it serves.

- Ashley P. (VP)

* Click here to view DePaul’s PRSSA chapter profile on Demon Direct!

Although this page is fairly empty at the moment, I - and other members of our chapter – will post regularly on events we are involved with as well as other campagins and events of interest within our region.  For more information, please email us at:

blog.depaulprssa@gmail.com

Best,

- Ashley P. (VP)