Public Relations Application
Employment Portfolio
Instructions: The aim of this assignment is to prepare you for the graduate labour market by ensuring you can articulate the skills, knowledge and aptitudes necessary for the specific work placement you will be required to apply for. It will prepare you for making successful applications to employers or clients and establishing yourself firmly for early career development.
Solution.
Employment Portfolio
Analysis of Work Placement Vacancy
The Trainee Public Relations Assistant position, advertised by SW Public Relations, requires individuals with proper skills in client liaison and relationship building. The holder of this position is part of the ‘face’ of the organization and hence should have a better understanding of how to maintain proper relationships between the organization and public, to facilitate increased sales and profitability. Some of the skills that are being looked for by the employer in this case include: excellence in both oral and written English communication skills; proper skills in interpersonal relationships and negotiation; strategic thinking and effective analytical skills; and great organizational skills. The employer also needs an individual who is discrete, reliable, and upholds work ethics. In addition, they should be able to work under minimal supervision and to embrace teams. Such a position also requires an individual who is flexible and able to withstand pressure. Lastly, they should be able to multitask.
As required by the employer, proper communication skills are important in Public Relations as one acts as the spokesman of the organization and has to properly pass on the message of the organization to clients and win their buy-in on new ideas, projects, and products. I effectively exceed this expectation as I am a confident speaker and a good listener. The professional is also required to be highly sensitive of various linguistic and cultural nuances as this position involves communicating with different individuals using different mediums and across various territories (Swann, 2014, p. 63). I am an individual who pays attention to, and appreciates, the pressures and priorities of other people, and hence such considerations guide my decisions on what to communicate to them and to effectively meet their expectations, with the interests of my employer at heart. I have also gained a lot of experience in social media management from both online training and my former placement as I was able to establish the social media accounts of my former employer into effective communication channels, through which the major stakeholders could not only have a clear picture of what was going on in the company, but were also given an opportunity to contribute to the important issues within the company. This allowed the customers to develop a sense of belonging to the company and greatly contributed towards customer loyalty.
SW Public Relations also requires an individual with proper interpersonal skills. This has been part of my training during my Public Relations course. In addition, I underwent further training in interpersonal relations during my former placement. As Austin and Pinkleton (2015, p. 330) put it, Public Relations have all to do with maintaining proper relationships, an aspect that makes it paramount to develop proper interpersonal and negotiation skills. I understand that part of my responsibility would be to be cognizant of the relationship that I have with those persons that interact with the organization under which I work, with proper consideration of the contexts in which we interact, including environmental, professional, and psychological (McKee, et al., 2009, p. 117; Demetrious, 2013). On the other hand, my training in critical thinking and my experience as a team leader from my former placement have shaped me into a creative thinker, an aspect that makes me meet the expectation of a strategic thinker and an analytical analyst. My university education has also shaped me into an affective researcher and writer, as I was required to carry out researches on the class assignments and project topics and to present the findings in a clear manner to the educators and my classmates. I give attention to details and ensure that my research identifies and answers all the questions that are likely to arise.
Nevertheless,
even though I have previously held leadership positions that required me to
apply organizational skills, I do not have prior training in organization skills
as required by the employer. Nevertheless, I would meet such a requirement by
undergoing training in this area while employed in order to expand on the
foundation that I have already established through my leadership practice. This
will be achieved through attending a short-term part-time course in
organizational training at my current institution.
CV and Cover Letter
Skill-Based Curriculum Vitae
{Full Name}
Contacts
[The name and number of the street]
[Suburb]
[City]
[Mobile]
[Phone]
[LinkedIn Profile]
[Email]
Personal Statement
I am currently a student and I am looking for an organization that will offer me a greater challenge than my former placement, to facilitate my further growth in professionalism, and one that will allow me to exercise my proficiency in building relations and my creativity towards establishing a reputable image of my organization and encouraging loyalty among its consumers and increased awareness among potential consumers.
Skills
Oral and Written Communication Skills
- These skills were gained through my course training in university, and further furnished through my practice in my former placement as the Assistant Public Relations Officer. These skills allowed me to contribute towards establishment of a proper relationship between the organization and its external audience, including customers, the press, and the government. This allowed it to grow into a competitive figure within its industry.
Interpersonal and Negotiation Skills
- These skills were gained through university training as part of my course and through continuous professional training in my former placement. I was able to use my interpersonal training to effectively contribute towards turning around the image of the organization as perceived by the consumers, concerning the high cost of its products, establishing a proper understanding of the high quality of the products and the company’s respect of their interests.
Computer skills (Word, Access, PowerPoint, Publisher, Excel)
- These skills were gained right from high school where I received basic training in Microsoft Office packages. I later built on these skills by undertaking training at the university level through a program by the Information Technology Student’s Association, to which I was part. My proficiency in these packages has further increase through constant training and interaction with newer versions of the Microsoft Office toolkit.
Social Media Management Skills
- I gained these skills by taking online courses by Eric Schwartzman a communication consultant. To add on this, I was introduced to social media courses at the university, which allowed me to sharpen my skills even further.
Education
- [Enter qualification name, institution, and date of start and end of period of study]
- [Enter qualification name, institution, and date of start and end of period of study]
Cover Letter
The name and number of the street
Suburb
City
Mobile Phone
Dear Sir/Madam
Re: Trainee Public Relations Assistant Vacancy
I hereby write to apply a position of the Trainee Public Relations Assistant in your organization. I was previously placed as an Assistant Public Relations Officer at a manufacturing organization, where I gained experience and developed my interpersonal and communication skills. As much as this role was enjoyable, I am currently looking for a greater challenge, one that will offer me an opportunity to exercise my creative thinking and interpersonal relationship building. Enclosed is my CV, which shows the skills that I will bring to the organization. These include:
- Communication skills
- Interpersonal skills
- Negotiation skills
- Social Media Management Skills
- Computer Skills (Word, Access, PowerPoint, Publisher, Excel)
I am professional and enthusiastic, and hence I believe I will effectively fit into the team culture of the company and contribute to its current success. I welcome any opportunities to engage in further talks with your organization in order to discuss the expectations and requirements of the position.
I look forward to your response. Thank you.
Yours Sincerely
(Sign)
Enter Name
Reflection
Short-term Goals
- I would wish to take part in the exchange program before I graduate so that I can travel abroad and learn new aspects of public relations management within a different culture.
- I would like to attend a training course in organization as a function of management in order to gain organization skills as they would be important in my future practice of public relations management.
Long-term Goals
- I plan to join the Management Student Organization and the Public Relations Students’ Association in order to create a network of partners who may be of great help in my future practice by providing me an insight into different approaches towards the common challenges that we face in the profession.
- I would wish to learn for a Student Leadership position in my institution in order to exercise my interpersonal relations and my creativity.
To
take part in the exchange program, I will have to join the Exchange Programs Department and to pay the required fee for me
to participate. This will put me in line, among other students, for selection
for exchange programs, according to the countries of preference that one has
selected. On the other hand, I will have to liaise with the departmental head
of the Business Administration Department to establish how I can attend a short
course in Organization as part of Management. Joining the student organizations
is an easy task that only involves registering as a member by paying for the
registration fee for those that charge a fee, and taking part in all their
activities. I intend to maintain active membership in order to identify and
create partnership with excellent students in the respective fields. Lastly, to
achieve a student Leadership Position, I will be required to create a manifesto
that focuses on the interests of the students and provides amicable solutions,
and to register myself as an aspirant in the Student Government. I will then be
required to create a campaign team that will ensure that I push forth with the
correct message that addresses the needs of the students without disregarding
the interests of the institution. I will have to gather funds from different sources
in order to finance my campaign activities such as the printing of posters, brochures,
and banners.
References
Austin, E. W. & Pinkleton, B. E., 2015. Strategic Public Relations Management: Planning and Managing Effective Communication Programmes. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge.
Demetrious, K., 2013. Public Relations, Activism, and Social Change: Speaking Up. 1st ed. London: Routledge.
McKee, K. B., Richardson, K., Hinton, M. & Lamb, L. F., 2009. Applied Public Relations: Cases in Stakeholder Management. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
Swann, P., 2014. Cases in Public Relations Management: The Rise of Social Media and Activism. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.