From Journalism to PR in a Week

Lee Bierton, a journalism graduate from the University of Lincoln spent a week with us at Shooting Star, and here are some of his thoughts on transitioning from journalism to a career in PR.

 Coming from a journalistic background, it has been an interesting week seeing life from the other side and one which has reaffirmed my decision to transition from a journalism degree to a career in PR.

In order to do that, getting work experience in the industry continues to be vital for my job prospects. Having narrowly missed out on jobs owing to my lack of experience compared to some others, it really is a case of the more the better. Getting even a week of work experience on your CV can be the difference when searching for jobs.

The week in general gave me a great insight of the PR industry in a growing company. Having done some work experience elsewhere in the past, it was refreshing to be given more responsibility to write press releases and see more of my work published. In particular I was met with a more client-facing role which included speaking to clients directly which, while intimidating at first, is far less daunting after you have done it a few times. The team was friendly and welcoming from the moment I walked through the door, and it was a pleasure to work with them.

My overriding feeling as my seven days come to an end are that I am confident that PR is an industry that I am interested in moving into, and hopefully with this week under my belt I am one step closer to achieving that. It’s a move that I would recommend to any journalism student seeking to utilise the skills from their degree in a different industry.

LB