Getting Value of Professional Associations

As a member of the CPRS Ottawa Board of Directors and a PR Student, I am continuously encouraging more student events and student involvement on the Ottawa chapter.

However, there is not a large amount of students getting value out of our local professional associations with two universities and one college . There are hundreds of students who are expecting to seek employment in the next few years but are not becoming apart of the few professional associations within our city.

I can see what CPRS has offered to me as a student, such as:

• Personal Contacts – I have become good friends with many of my fellow board members and chapter members that I have became friends with since joining. I know if I have work questions or industry questions I can go to them for help, which is really big benefit for junior PR professional.
• Informative PD Sessions: I know, I am in school most of the time, why do I need to go to another lecture, but PD sessions are cutting edge. As educational as my program as been it can take years to change school curriculum, where PD sessions are up-to-date reflections on whats going on now.
• Leadership Opportunities – I have volunteered both as a board member and leading event aspects such as the volunteers for the February Conference of 2008 and the marketing for the CPRS Ottawa PuRe Elements Awards.
• Networking Opportunities – events organized at least twice a year that allow me to stay connected with the personal contacts I have made.
• Future APR – once I have reached five year s in the industry I am hoping t o receive accreditation as a professional public relations practitioner.

I get value out of these opportunities, but what would you like to see out of a professional association as a student?

Generation Y and Social Media

This past week, Bob Ledrew, Cait Lafleche and I spoke at an IABC Senior Communicator’s dinner to discuss youth and social media. Many issues arose during our discussions, but one in particular has stuck with me. With our current media landscape, people are always under surveillance from pictures at a party to a comment on a Myspace page and all of it being documented. I understand this now as I begin my journey as a public relations practitioner on how important my activities can be for my own personal brand and the company I work for in the future.

However, I still have a hard time with this because I grew up using different types of social media and it shaped part of my identity especially when I was young girl confused and unsure of my future. I remember using ICQ when I was in high school and pretending to be the other Katie Boland, the actress from Zack Files, because at that time I wanted to be an actress and I didn’t understand what I was doing could be wrong. Or the personal entries I wrote in my livejournal for over six years and how it kept me close with my best friends despite being in different cities.

All these things are true and they shaped the person I am today, and I have a hard time if an employer would judge me on my behaviour when I was nineteen and the person I loved broke my heart. I have grown a lot in the last few years, and I know that how you handle things can be a true reflection of who you are, but I think judging people solely on things that may have happened a few years ago is not fair, especially for someone my age. When you are young, a lot changes in a year.

Many people have their opinions about this, what do you think? What is fair game for employers to judge recruits on?