Formal Training vs On The Job Skills

Throughout my learning at university, I have often been advised that many public relations professionals have often not undergone university degrees, and have instead simply undertaken on-the-job training. Within my placement I have witnessed this first hand as all of my colleagues have been thrown into careers of promotions and events management, and have no university education in the area.

Now that I have been working for a few weeks, it is obvious to see how this is possible. My co-workers have all had to learn the importance of documents such as media releases, media kits, and event run sheets. When you are placed in a situation, where you learn through practice rather than theory, it becomes a necessity to learn quickly through practice. This is an area in which I feel I have been able to assist in my placement. Both Metric Promotions and Pilerats are relatively young businesses and I have been able to suggest the most appropriate and professional use of these documents for different aspects of the business.

In addition to this, I now fully understand the importance of writing at a professional level. On my first day, I was asked to write a blog post for the Pilerats blog. This was something I found somewhat challenging, even though I believe that I am a competent writer, I was now required to write in a less formal, more relaxed manner. I found this a contrast to the usual professional, formal manner in which I have experience in writing for university. I hope to be able to inject more personality into my blog posts I write in the future, and I think this will be a great chance to get more practice in writing.

Here is a link to my blog post if anyone would like to have a read!

http://pilerats.com/fashion/as-bad-as-i-guana-be

I have some exciting opportunities lately, which i will share with everyone in the next few posts.