For the past few weeks, I’ve been meaning to write this piece. I’ve seen it with friends from both my universities how hard it is to get your first job, I often hear it from students who reach out to me after reading my blog pieces. So, I knew I wanted to share some actionable advice to help recent PR grads with their job hunt, but I didn’t really know what the best way was to present it – should I share my experiences and my advice, should I add in some research, should I interview someone...

And then I thought, what better way to give you some actionable tips than asking the people who have made a name for themselves in the industry?

So I decided to reach out to the experts in my social community and ask them a simple question on Twitter:

In 140 characters, what is your top tip for PR grads to get their first job?

I was again amazed at how willing people are to help and share advice! In the Slideshare below you can see that I have managed to curate the expert tips from CEOs, agency owners, educators and some very notable influencers in the PR industry, all thanks to Twitter in a matter of just hours. This is just one more example how social media breaks all barriers (use it – that’s one advice).

In a recent podcast by the Harvard Business School, Richard Edelman – CEO of the largest PR consultancy in the world – talks about four main factors that affect trust in business. One of them is leadership, which in itself is not that surprising, however what’s interesting is that CEO trust, which was recovering from a low point in 2008 up to 2011, has gone backwards substantially.

As the 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer has found, focusing extensively on operations and making a lot of money is no longer key – it doesn’t earn you a better reputation anymore, nor any credibility.

According to Richard Edelman it is engagement and integrity that really matter – engagement related to absolute transparency and sharing of data and information, and integrity related to putting customers ahead of profits, treating employees well and making the supply chain good.

For business, Edelman has found that trust is built through specific attributes, organised into five performance clusters and ranked by importance with integrity and engagement leading the pack, followed by products and services, purpose and operations.

What all these have in common is that they evolve around people. Trust is about them, not you.

After the PR interviews with Richard Bailey, Pippa Hanson and Jessica Hodkinson, it's time for interview number four in my blog series"Why Work PR?".

Today, a dear friend of mine - Chryssa Skodra - shares her amazing international career experiences with us! I thank her very much for this very personal story that I am sure you will learn a lot from! 

Before getting to the interview, the way Chryssa and I met and how our relationship has been progressing, is an interesting story on its own. Two years ago, I was working on a cross-border management project with students from Finland and The Netherlands. It was an exciting 6-month real world experience. One of the girls from my team - Tuula - was from Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences in Finland and as we got to know each other, she said I had to meet her PR and Communications lecturer Chryssa, with whom we apparenlty shared so many things in common. It was Tuula that introduced us virtually and then arranged for us to meet face to face when I travelled to Finland to present the results of the project. Chryssa and I immediately bonded. We really are passionate about the same things, we are very like-minded and we have been in regular contact ever since then, working on various projects and sharing ideas. I am so happy to have met Chryssa - my digital soulmate :)  

Have a look at ther website and blog posts and connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter. She really is a PR extraordinaire and a tremendous digital storyteller you would be lucky to have in your network, as I am! 

Why Work in Public Relations: Interview with Chryssa Skodra

1. As a short introduction, can you tell us a little bit about you and what you do?

I’m a PR professional from Greece living in Finland for a decade. A communication and media expert by education and profession, working in higher education since 2010 as well as a PR entrepreneur and digital storyteller. I have been blogging since 2003 and I am a brand ambassador for a variety of lifestyle and technology brands. Academically, I hold a Bachelor of Science in Communication and Media, a Diploma in International Project Management and a Master of Music in Arts Management. In addition, I’m a certified Entre-Coach (coaching young entrepreneurs) and an Accredited Lecturer in Intercultural Management and Organizational Culture by The Hofstede Centre. 

Last week, the CIPR published the results of its annual State of the PR Profession survey. I must admit, the results are frankly sad: from a clear inequality pay gap of £8,483 in favour of men that is purely based on gender, not service, seniority, parenthood, or a higher prevalence of part-time work amongst women, to 51% of senior managers in PR saying that they are "extremely stressed" or "very stressed" in their roles.

Steven Waddington wrote a terrific post about these and the other eight “area of pain in public relations”. I encourage you to read it, however what I want to focus on today are the findings and key learnings PR students should take into consideration to help them prepare for their next journey – getting their first PR job after graduation and excelling as a PR professional.

I would imagine that reading through the survey results, you are probably asking yourself: Why do I even want to work in PR?

And rightly so… Yes, the industry is indeed facing some serious issues. Yes, it may not be easy to solve them. And yes, you’ve chosen a challenging career, but you have a role to play too, because you the ones who will be shaping the future of the industry. Isn’t making an impact better than just having a job?

You’re studying PR. You’re in your final year. You’ve read a lot about why work in PR. You’ve already made the decision that PR is the right career for you. Great! But now you’re a little lost. You want to get into the industry, but what’s next? How do you get a PR job after graduation?

No worries. At the end of this post you’ll find a list of the 2015 PR graduate schemes in the UK currently open for applications.

These PR graduate roles are run by some of the best PR agencies not only in the UK, but in the world, so competition is tough. You need to be prepared for that. But if you’re driven enough, nothing is impossible.

There’s one thing you need to bear in mind though – the deadlines are quickly approaching. For most of the positions you need to submit your application by the end of January (which is two weeks away). Don’t worry though. It’s absolutely doable. You just need to be motivated.