Why I quit my job to pursue a career in public relations

Credit: www.inspiredbythis.com

The first thing that comes to my mind when someone talks about Public Relations is an image of Samantha Jones from Sex and the City wearing a fashionable suit in her corner office.

Now, I know that Samantha Jones is not a typical publicist. Nonetheless, I find her amusing, but this is certainly not why I chose to pursue a career in public relations.

My educational background is a Bachelor in Commerce, majoring in Marketing and International Business. With my degree, I started working in a marketing department for a financial services company.

The first year was great, but I quickly realized that it wasn’t a job I could do everyday. It wasn’t challenging to me, it didn’t make me feel useful, and I certainly wasn’t passionate about the work I did.

I felt that my purpose was to ‘make things work’ for our financial consultants’ marketing materials. My feedback wasn’t valued and I didn’t feel that I was contributing to society as a whole. My heart wasn’t in it, and I knew I had to quit.

For many months before I resigned, I searched for another job, and it seemed that everything that interested me was related to communications. I was familiar with the Creative Communications program at the Red River College as I’ve had friends graduate from this program, but it didn’t seem right for me. I would have to sacrifice two years of my life, and I wasn’t ready to commit this much time, especially because I knew I wanted to uniquely pursue Public Relations.

During a lunch outing at Stella’s at the Plug In center, I noticed a Public Relations Diploma Program flyer on my way to the washroom in the University of Winnipeg's Buhler centre. I read the program outline, and all the courses piqued my interest. 

Perfect! I was so excited to have found this flyer and as a popular saying goes: Everything happens for a reason.

Needless to say, I am currently a Public Relations student at the University of Winnipeg. I’ve come to realize that I am extremely passionate about public relations and I am eager to begin my career as a public relations professional. 

Why do I like public relations so much? Good question, here are a  few reasons:

Credit: constantcontact.com

1. I adore building relationships with others and helping people get their message out.
 
2. Most people hate this part, but I LOVE researching. I love finding the small details others wouldn’t think are relevant.
 
3. I would rather find new ways to communicate with people then market products/services to them.  

4. Being creative, being organized, being timely and being committed are all qualities that I possess and that are important in public relations.

5. Public Relations is an ever-evolving field and I adore learning new things on a daily basis. Did I mention I religiously read PR Daily?

Public relations isn’t for everyone, but if you’re passionate about communications, building relationships and telling great stories to others, you may have found your calling.

#pluggedingal #PRrocks #UofWPR