Adam Lewis is the first student to take me up on my offer to promote guest posts from students. Here's his post:
Entering the PR industry from a different perspective: Differences between the UK and the USA
The USA and the UK are two countries that have been closely linked throughout history. However, despite this there are the obvious cultural differences. In the USA there are common-held beliefs of what the UK is like and what the British people are like. For example, I don’t have particularly bad teeth, I am not a butler/nanny and don’t say the phrases “What, ho!”, “I say!” or “old chap”. The differences in culture can equally be applied to PR students, entering the profession and the industry itself.
I recently wrote a blog post posing the question “Is a PR degree the best way to get into PR?” This caused fierce debate mostly with American visitors to the site believing that a PR degree was almost a must to get into the industry with the skills gained from the discipline. However, the important difference between the two countries is that in the UK, a student has as much chance entering the profession with the degree than without it. To Dirk Singer of Cow PR, “all things being equal, the fact that someone has a PR degree would make no difference either way to me”. Similarly, Stephen Davies of 3W PR believes “My opinion: it doesn’t matter”. The UK university system is slightly different from the US. After achieving their A-Level grades (at 18), students then apply to specific courses at 6 universities. The course is sometimes specific to the industry e.g. someone studying medicine will almost always become a doctor. However, students studying the humanities and arts like English, History and Geography can enter a variety of industries including PR. This means that where their degree is from is often more important than the actual discipline e.g. English student at Cambridge University more likely to get into PR than PR student at “University of back-beyond”. Even more important is what the student has done outside of university and what previous experience they have of the job.
After talking with Katalyn Yenne, a senior PR major at Ohio Northern University, students who graduate in the discipline of PR have a greater advantage over those who do not in the USA. “As a public relations major, you learn that writing is the number one skill needed to succeed in the field. Where I attend college, there is special emphasis placed on writing, ensuring this skill is honed before we graduate.” Katalyn also emphasized the importance of experience, especially the value of internships believing that experience is now separating students from undergraduate young professionals with the person who has the most experience and best credentials obtaining the position, despite where they attended college. With PR ranking as one of the most popular career choices for graduates in the UK, the situation is similar to the USA with students who have that experience of working in the industry definitely having an advantage over their rivals.
Similar to the US, before a UK student has even graduated, they will start the application process. They can either apply through recruitment services, or the increasing (and often more successful) approach, directly through the company. As far as I know, there isn’t the same PR networking events that are available in the US where students can make contacts with professionals. Depending on how big the company is and how thorough their recruitment process, the UK applicant will go to a number of interviews and tests until they are finally (and hopefully) handed a job.
One thing which is remarkable about the UK industry, even as a student who hasn’t even entered the profession yet, is that the majority of PR jobs in the UK are in London. Although there are brilliant agencies throughout the UK the majority of companies and often the biggest are located in London. Although I expect the biggest and best PR agencies are located in the big cities of the US, I don’t think it is to the same degree as what exists in Britain. After graduating I plan to work in London, not because of my love for the city but purely because I want to receive the best training possible to become the best PR practitioner I can.
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