On Monday October 8th, The Pittsburgh Penguins PR team visited students at the West Virginia University P.I. Reed School of Journalism. This was the second time Jennifer Bullano and Jason Seidling had visited the Public Relations Student Society of America at its WVU chapter. They discussed things such as how they got their current positions, what they look for when hiring interns and some of the interesting things they get to do while on the job.
Something that I found particularly cool was when Mrs.Bullano talked about how close she works with the team and especially the players and coaches. She mentioned after being there for a few years they are all like family and she knows many of them personally and has a connection with them that goes past just work. For someone like me who wants to work in sports it’s neat to think that some day I could be in her spot, talking to and getting to know players and coaches on a personal and professional basis.
Not only does she get to interact with these professional athletes but she also gets to travel with them. Who wouldn’t want to travel for free all over the country with professional athletes that you might consider friends? Sounds like the perfect job to me!
But Mr.Seidling did remind us that it’s not all fun and games 100% of the time. They have to keep track of statistics during the game, have media guides and sheets prepared for every game to hand out to reporters, and must give out credentials before every game to allow the media into the building along with many other things that change day to day.
After all of this they explained what they look for in candidates when hiring interns. Students at the junior or senior level in college to them are seen as mature and are whom they are looking to hire. Also prior internship experience is a must. When looking for internships and jobs after graduation experience is everything and it is what will put you a step ahead of the rest of the group.
What I took away from this experience was a good amount of new knowledge. I will be graduating in May and I have to understand that finding my dream job might be difficult but it is also doable. Even if your first job is not your dream job see where it goes because you never know where it could eventually take you.
If you want to check out a video of the speaker event you can go to WDTV.com Clarksburg.