Industry Networking

By Shanlee Bratten '15

Bradley University Smith Career Center sponsored the PR Chicago Agency Tour on Friday, February 27, 2015.  Department of Communication students spent the day in Chicago visiting public relations and advertising agencies. The trip proved to be a terrific networking opportunity and gave students vital information about the world of professional communications.   Accompanying the students was Dr. Ji Young Kim from the Department of Communication and representatives from the Smith Career Center.

Freshman public relations and marketing double major, Anitza Martins, attended the trip not knowing much about public relations.

“Seeing all you can do in PR was eye opening and beneficial,” she said.

The students arrived in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. for their first stop of the day at Hill + Knowlton Strategies, a leading international communications consulting agency, providing services to local, multinational and global clients.  An HR representative from the firm provided advice regarding interviewing and resumes, which advertising major Airin Virgilio ’16 found particularly helpful.

 “It was information coming directly from the type of employer that I’m looking to interview with someday,” she says.

Their next stop was at Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations and communications firm and one of the top three public relations firms in the industry. 

The students could tell that the agencies were genuinely glad to talk with Bradley students.

“They were very engaged and accommodating and willing to encourage us and help us in our careers,” Martins says.

“They all made us feel welcome,” Virgilio adds. “The people in those agencies are willing to help you get where you want to go.”

The final agency visited was Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide.  Martins felt the employees were easy to relate to. “These people were actually in our shoes 5 years ago,” she says.

Virgilio says, “I could tell that it was somewhere I could fit in.”

Students were given contact information from every agency and were encouraged to contact them in the future.