We are celebrating staff development again: Orchard account executive Harriet Black has gained the Chartered Institute of Public Relations PR Diploma, receiving a distinction for her main project which focused on ethics in public relations.
The benefits of studying public relations
We’re big advocates of training and development at Orchard, so today’s post is from Cat, our senior account executive, and her experiences studying for the CIPR’s Advanced Certificate in Public Relations. We also can’t let this opportunity pass by without congratulating Cat on her distinction, a grade that only seven people in the UK achieved on the course this year.
Having graduated from Portsmouth University in summer 2009 with a degree in media studies I had already made peace with the fact that I would probably never end up with a job in the fiercely competitive media industry and that my degree would be the last qualification on my CV.
Back to School
After four long years away I went back to school last week but this time not as a student. I had been asked to speak to year 13 students at the Guernsey Grammar School & Sixth Form Centre so I could share pearls of wisdom about working in the local media industry.
In the days before giving the talk I had re-traced my journey over the last couple of years which included completing a degree in media studies at the University of Portsmouth, work experience placements at BBC Guernsey, Channel Television and student radio station Pure FM, and a stint working as a broadcast journalist at Island FM before landing a job at Orchard PR as an account executive earlier this year.
But, it was as I stood before the students in the lecture theatre that I suddenly remembered just how lost I had felt four years earlier sitting in exactly the same spot. At the time it seemed that getting a job in the media industry would be impossible, but I know now, from my own personal experience that it is not and that Guernsey has a thriving media industry, particularly PR, with plenty of opportunities for willing and enthusiastic candidates.
Do PR qualifications have any real value?
My instant response to this question is quite simply, yes. Is that because I spent four years studying (one of which was a placement year in industry) for a CIPR approved public relations degree? Perhaps. However, when taking a moment to re-evaluate, I don’t think the answer is quite so clean cut.
