As sick as I was, I made it to class this morning, and I’m glad I did.
Christine brought in five speakers; all graduates of our program and all working in the industry. We had Jill Yetman, a consultant at Porter Novelli, Amy Schlinder of Frontier College, Nekeisha Mohammed, communications officer at the Sunnybrook Foundation, Olivia Yu, consultant for Environics, and Tracy Pederson, event manager for the Retail Council of Canada. They all spoke to us in detail about how they found their jobs and how they use the skills they learned at Centennial in their day to day tasks. Although I thought I was fairly uninterested in working at an agency, I found the two speakers from agencies to be bright and interesting. They gave us a lot to think about, and I took many notes. Good thing too, since my analysis of their presentations is worth 10% of my final mark in the class!
Due to Britain’s new gambling laws, there will now be one American-style supercasino and 16 smaller venues scattered about the country. Paddy Power and other bookies were taking bets on which city would win the bid, with London and Blackpool being the frontrunners, but, surprisingly, Manchester took it. I think it’s a very strange decision, but it will create a lot of jobs. Not that it doesn’t have its critics.
In sports: remember last week when Stephen Colbert took a challenge from the Mayor of Oshawa? Well, Colbert’s team, the Saginaw Spirit beat the Oshawa Generals 5-4 so now Oshawa is declaring Stephen Colbert Day.
Hi Lindsay,
I’m glad the session was helpful. When I was in school, I swore off agency too (it’s too cut throat, etc, etc, etc), but agencies are a great place to work.
I love what I do and where I am, and I’m certain that agency allows you to learn more in a shorter period of time, and in the end, that means more opportunities further down the road.
Good luck year and remember – always ask questions.
Cheers,
Olivia
Hey Lindsay – Great blog. Keep in mind that even if you’re not 100% sure what you want to do, an agency can open many doors.
If non-profit is up your alley, look for an agency with a Causeworks practice. Or if corporate is enticing, check out agencies with large corporate clients to learn corporate process…who knows, you could eventually move over to the client side.
Like Olivia, agency life is for me. I love the pace, not to mention the opportunity to work with amazingly creative people. I feel strongly that it’s a great experience for anyone starting out in their PR career. Good luck.
-jy
Olivia and Jill – thanks for your insightful comments. I really did enjoy the session, and wish that it could have been a little longer. I know that we all wanted to pick your brains a little more.
Since then, I’ve been doing some research on the different agencies in the city and have found some very unique, interesting companies that look like they’d be really wonderful places to work. You have both definitely put ideas in my head!