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Professional Personal StyleYour guide to showing off your personal style at your next interview

4/9/2020

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By: Kassandra Dume

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Understanding a company’s values and persona can help you find your perfect interview style. Some businesses pride themselves on being a more lax and non-traditional workplace, so wearing an elevated casual outfit could work to your advantage in an interview

Congratulations! Your hard work paid off and you’ve got an interview for your dream job. You have a fresh copy of your resume, you’ve prepared questions to ask your prospective employer, and you’ve anticipated questions they will ask you in return. Now you’re just missing a professional outfit that doesn’t look like you borrowed it from your parents closet or threw it together in a hurry. Here are four tips to help you look and feel great at your next interview, while looking like your bestprofessional self.

Don’t be afraid of color and prints
There are no rules that say you can’t wear color to an interview; so incorporate your favorite hue or one that boosts your confidence. Wearing a printed shirt under a blazer or statement earrings with a neutral outfit shows employers you are confident and have a playful side.
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Find your fit

We don’t all have the luxury of having a tailored suit on hand for an interview, but that doesn’t mean you can’t look tailored with what you do have in your closet. Stay away from clothing that is noticeably too tight or too baggy; you want to look sharp. Find cuts and styles of shirts and pants that make you feel comfortable. Mix things up with a blouse with structured shoulders or flared pants.

Subtle flare
Whether it’s a frat, sorority, PRSSA club, or any other CSULB activity you’re proud of, if you have a pin or similar accessory, incorporating it into your outfit is a great way to start a conversation with your employer. It also gives you an opportunity to share your interests and achievements.

Details, details, details
Once you have all the pieces of your outfit picked out, be sure to take the time to look everything over to ensure the quality and cleanliness before you head out the door. Make sure every item is wrinkle-free and crisp. Make sure your nails and hands are clean, and are ready to shake hands. Take extra care to not have makeup or sweat on the collar of your shirt or on the sleeves. Keep your breath fresh and keep cologne and perfume to a subtle minimum.

Dress for success isn’t just a cliché phrase we’re all told as young adults; it holds a lot of truth. If you are trying to enter into a particular field of work, you want to dress like you’re already part of it. Taking the time to look put together demonstrates that you are serious about your goals and understand a professional appearance is part of any job, especially one in public relations.
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My Top Three Ways of Staying Organized and Sane: Balancing PRSSA’s Bateman competition, a full CSULB class load, and a “real job”

4/8/2020

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By: Jonathan Rulison

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Getting involved with different activities and jobs on and off-campus is a great way to learn public relations while expanding your professional horizons. But, as a developing public relations professional, you know how overwhelming life can get when you’re trying to balance everything. I’m the creative director of the 2020 PRSSA-LB Bateman team, I work two jobs and take a full 15 units. Here are 3 strategies I use to help me keep it all together.

1. Setting Reminders
If you have a phone, you probably have a reminders app. Use it! Whenever you’re given a task, get a homework assignment, need to remember a birthday or whatever else, set a reminder! You can set your app to remind you at whatever time or location you want and it takes a whole 15 seconds. Alternatively, you can use Google Calendar to input those same reminders and view everything you have to in a convenient calendar format. If you link it with your phone, Google Calendar can also send you time-based reminders to keep you on track. I’ve genuinely lost count of how many times these apps reminded me of something I had completely forgotten about, saving my life. Use them!

2. Department of Journalism & Public Relations resources

Odds are, if you’re in the JPR department, you’ve taken a lot of classes on the ground floor of the LA4 building. But you might not know what hidden gems lie upstairs. LA4-206 is the Lee Brown Study Room, it has a few sets of tables and chairs, some spare textbooks and a couple of Macs equipped with the Adobe Suite. Lee Brown is usually pretty empty, so it’s a great place to work independently or with a group, especially if you want to avoid the library crowds. Next door to Lee Brown is LA4-207, a computer lab that has enough Adobe-enabled Macs to keep a small class worth of people busy. With plenty of computers and printers, the computer lab is a convenient place to go whether you need to quickly use one of your free prints before class or spend a few hours creating the perfect edit for that video in Premiere.

3. Consistent communication
Communication is key! When you’re involved in a project with other people, you must stay in constant contact while working with them. Throughout your project, stuff is going to come up. Team members are going to get sick, software is going to glitch, life is going to happen, nobody can control that. But what you can control is how you respond to it. When things come up, let your teammates know! When you keep your teammates in the loop, they can budget time to help you out and keep things on track. When your team is informed and updated, your team is happy. When your team is happy, your team works well!

Remember, even amid your hectic schedule, try to take the time to do your future self a favor. You’ll thank me, and yourself, later.
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The Switch from Journalism to Public Relations Isn’t What It Seems

4/6/2020

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Some quick tips and a story from a student who made the switch 
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by Max Perez

I made the switch from journalism to public relations. If you’re a public relations major or professional, it only makes sense, but if you're in journalism, it’s a cardinal sin. I spent three years at Cerritos College studying journalism and working for the school newspaper TalonMarks to sharpen my writing and reporting skills, almost exclusively focusing on sports. I loved every minute of it, but the few things you hear about sports writing is: you’ll never make much money, you’re probably gonna have to move around, and if you want stability and money you might have to move to television. Which didn’t always sit right with me. 

Then came an associate in journalism from Cerritos College, and it was time to move to  California State University, Long Beach. I love writing, but when I transfered and I saw the option for journalism with an emphasis in public relations, I thought about how perfect an opportunity this would be to continue my education, while learning about a new field. After my first semester that major just became public relations and I haven’t looked back.

Aside from just curiosity, the move does make logical sense. While journalism is a field that is shrinking and seemingly losing respect by the hour, public relations is only growing. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2013 public relations professionals were making on average $20,000 more annually than their journalistic counterparts. They also showed that from 2004 to 2013 the number of reporters decreased 17 percent while public relations specialists grew 26 percent. It really is true that every single industry (including sports) needs some aspect of PR. 

Most of the time you hear about people switching to public relations from journalism, it’s 15 to 20 years into their careers. But I would recommend for people pursuing an education in communications who may be interested in public relations down the line, to start the switch now. Reason being it isn’t even a true switch. When it comes to journalism, of course a degree would help, but it mainly comes down to your body of work. The portfolio you’ve put together often holds more importance than your degree. And just in case you don’t know, school newspapers will accept writers from all walks of life and majors. You can pursue any degree you choose, and be building your portfolio simultaneously. For example, while I was taking written communication for public relations and public relations case studies, I was also working the Cross Country beat for the Daily 49er. 
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From writing to social media, any of the aspects of journalism you love or enjoy, you can find in public relations as well. Learning about PR gives you a larger perspective of mass media and communications as a whole and can widen your outlook on how things really come to be covered. Among the countless things to be said about this subject, overall public relations can satisfy any desire in mass communications. 
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  • Home
  • About
    • What is PRSSA?
    • Our Roles
    • Chapter History
    • Advisers
  • Membership
    • Become a Member
    • Benefits >
      • Events
      • Partners
      • Mentorship program
      • Conferences
  • Executive Board
    • Meet our Executive Board >
      • About our Board
  • Calendar
  • Bateman Team
  • Blog
  • Media
    • Newsroom
    • Gallery
  • Contact