I recently finished a post-graduate degree in public relations and corporate communications at Centennial College. It was a crazy year filled with many late nights and even more new friends.
I’ve recently been reflecting on what I learned over the past year and thought I’d share, so here we go!
You can accomplish a lot more than you think
I surprised myself a lot in the past year with how much I could get done in a short amount of time. My to do list was often long and daunting, making it very easy to feel overwhelmed, but I got everything done. There was not one single time I handed something in late and I was proud of all the work I submitted.
Along the same line, I realized how quickly I could produce quality writing. During my writing class, we would have in-class writing assignments that were due at the end of class, which was two hours long. This time constraint made me focus and realize I could do so much in so little time. This skill is really helpful in public relations, since it’s such a fast-paced field, but has also helped me make the most of what little time I have outside of work to write for myself.
Teamwork can be challenging
Throughout the year I had the opportunity to work in many different groups, with many different people. Each person has a different working style, which can lead to conflict. Over the year, I learned how to work with people who were similar to me and liked to get things done ahead of time, but also with people who liked to leave things to the last minute. While this caused me a lot of stress initially, over the year I began to learn how to work with different types of people and manage conflicts. I feel much more prepared for similar challenges that lay ahead in the working world.
Having good friends is important
There is a lot of value that comes from having good friends. They offer the chance to relax and have a laugh or they can provide much needed support when you’re feeling stressed out. Lucky for me, I met a lot of really great people this past year who helped me get through the piles of assignments and laughed with me late into the night as we finished a big project. I can’t imagine that my year would have been so much fun without them.
Overall I had a fantastic year and would highly recommend a public relations post-grad to anyone looking to get into PR.
