Advertising & Public Relations

Brief Overview

Advertising
Advertising is in the business of promoting a product brand or service by creating campaigns and then disseminating that information through both traditional media (television, radio, and periodicals) and emerging digital technologies (internet which includes blogs and social networking sites, cell phones, iPods, and podcasts). Creative, smart, and fun people are drawn to the field of advertising and often like being in the “idea” business. Advertising agencies range in size and can offer a range of services including account planning, account management, media, creative, interactive, and production.

Public Relations
The business of public relations communicates an organization’s “story” or product with its key publics through various communications channels. The role of public relations has grown broader and includes: building awareness and a positive image for a client or company within relevant media outlets, monitoring media channels for public comment about a company and its products, managing crises that might damage a company or product image, crafting complex communication strategies, and building goodwill among an organization’s target market through various programs and events. Excellent written and verbal communicators, strategic thinkers, good listeners, research-oriented, and perceptive people are drawn to careers in public relations. There are many routes into the public relations field which include joining a public relations agency, becoming involved on the “client side” by joining corporate communications in either media or investor relations, or becoming a publicist working to develop communication strategies for a single individual.

Helpful Tips

Advertising

  • Read about the advertising industry and trends in advertising in: the Vault, WetFeet, Advertising Age, Adweek.
  • Understand the various positions within advertising and what you would like to do. Look at Your Big Ideas and click on one of the post-it notes to learn about the various areas of advertising: account planning, account management, media, creative, interactive, production.
  • Take the quiz developed by the American Association of Advertising Agencies at Your Big Ideas Quiz and discover which area to explore.
  • The advertising field is difficult to enter – try and gain an internship in the field. Even senior year you could join Notre Dame’s student run advertising agency, AdWorks
  • Attend Chicago’s Advertising Federation’s Career Day in February

Public Relations

  • Read about the public relations industry and trends in public relations in: the Vault, WetFeet, PRWeek, odwyerpr.com, PR Newswire, ragan.com.
  • Go to PR QuickStart and take the web-based tutorial on careers in public relations designed by the Council of Public Relations Firms and PRSA Counselors Academy.
  • Download PRWeek’s Career Guide
  • The public relations field is difficult to enter – try and gain an internship in the field.

Both Advertising and Public Relations Tips

  • Begin early researching advertising agencies and public relations firms within your desired location. Generate a list of companies using CareerSearch which allows you to search by location (city) and industry. Study the agency websites, clients, and positions.
  • Join a professional association as a student (see listings below).
  • Update your resume and have it reviewed at The Career Center. Use a 15 minute walk-in – offered Monday through Friday from 1:00 to 4:45 p.m.
  • Attend both the Fall Career Expo and the Winter Career and Internship Fairs to meet prospective employers.
  • Continually look in Go IRISH for companies posting advertising positions and apply.
  • If a company grabs your attention but is not recruiting at Notre Dame, look at the company website for interesting positions and apply online.
  • When writing a cover letter for a particular position within an advertising or PR, it is key to direct the cover letter to someone. Try and locate a hiring manager or someone within your area of interest by using their website, CareerSearch, and CareerShift Read more about cover letter writing.
  • Be patient – hiring in advertising agencies and public relations firms is considered “just in time” hiring. In other words, they hire on an as needed basis.

Networking

While both advertising and public relations have “just in time” hiring, it is never too early to begin networking. Find people in the industry and conduct informational interviews. Meet with alumni working in either PR or advertising. Often jobs never need to be posted because companies might have someone in mind from an earlier meeting or informational interview.

  • Irish Online – the Notre Dame Alumni Association’s online network of alums. Using the Directory Search allows you to search for alums in a variety of ways including by name, company, major, geographical location, and alumni club.
  • Linked In – online network of experienced professionals from around the world. The Notre Dame Alumni Network is growing rapidly.
  • Go IRISH – Employers who post positions on Go IRISH include contact information of their recruiter. Even if a job posting has expired the contact at the company is listed in the “Employer” link.
  • CareerShift – a national job-hunting website that allows you to search job listings from multitudes of job boards and company postings and obtain up-to-date contact information with email addresses.
  • CareerSearch – a powerful networking database that gives fast accurate up-to date information on potential employers and contacts in a wide range of industries and fields nationally.

Job Databases

Advertising

Public Relations

Both Advertising and Public Relations

Professional and Student Associations

Advertising

Public Relations