Women In Corporate
Adrienne Rehm, Marketing Manager at Herman Miller and Kelsey Schultz, Brand Marketer at Amway, joined us to discuss the corporate communications world. Rehm and Shultz highlighted the pros and cons of corporate communications and working in corporate versus agency. Within a short hour they shared their memorable and cherished aspects of working in corporate communications and shared insight of entering the workforce for our graduating seniors.
Working in Corporate
The benefit of earning a degree in public relations is that you become amazing communicators and are able to delegate for the company and become somewhat of a middleman to connect each department when working on a project. Another great benefit of earning a public relations degree is the ability to be a chameleon and being able to work and fit in with so many different people, especially when it comes to giving presentations and being able to deliver the rationale behind each strategy and communicating that thoroughly.
A difference between corporate and agency work that Rehm and Shultz shared with us is that agency or firm work is often based on how much client work comes in and the deadlines come much faster. With in a corporate setting their objectives are often much larger and deadlines are set much farther apart as every step needs to be approved by so many different departments and people.
Women in Corporate
We’ve all heard and maybe some have experienced some difficulties with being a woman in a corporate world. Rehm and Shultz have faced some of these challenges and have found ways around these obstacles. Tip: Never end your sentence with a question mark. Say what you want to say and just end it. There’s no need to question it. Make others take you seriously.
For Graduating Seniors
As a graduating senior myself, Rehm and Shultz provided great insight into how to successfully make the transition from student to career and all the steps in between. After frantically trying to figure out life after graduation Rehm of Shultz comforted us all by telling us, that it’s okay to not have a job waiting for us at the end of the graduation stage. While both of them started their careers immediately after graduation they spoke on having wished they hadn’t jumped right on the “adult train.” While looking for a job is an extremely important component to graduating college, Rehm and Shultz told us to take advantage of the opportunities that come about whether it is to travel or to take on other opportunities. Tip: Don’t lose sight of that dream job but don’t miss all the opportunities that will come your way to get there.
A special thanks again to Adriene Rehm from Herman Miller and Kelsey Shultz from Amway for providing GrandPR will great insight and advice into the world of corporate communications.
Lauren Krzesicki is senior at Grand Valley State University earning her degree in Advertising and Public Relations. Lauren is an Account Associate at GrandPR and a member of Grand Valley’s PRSSA chapter. She is currently spending a semester working as an Associate at local PR firm 834 Design & Marketing. In her free time she enjoys taking pictures, browsing Pinterest and catching up on industry news.