Ellie Hernaman created boutique agency Truffle PR at the age of 25 after working for some of London's top PR agencies
Think creatively and use Twitter to stand out from the crowd: It's a tough time for juniors at the moment with so many people competing for so few jobs. Have you thought about doing something a bit more creative to get yourself noticed? We receive around five CVs a day and we're always so busy that it's difficult to find the time to read through them all properly, but we do take notice if there's an extra edge to prospective employees' introductions. For example, last week we received a link to an animation that a graduate had made. It was quite simple, must have taken her longer to put together than simply writing a CV, but it won her our attention. Also, it's a good idea to contact companies via Twitter as it shows that you're on top of the social media matrix. This is an area that PRs are moving towards, and in fact one of the reasons why I set up Truffle PR as the previous agency that I was at didn't value social media as a tool to drive business for clients. It's the best way to speak to someone directly. And in an industry where time seems to always be so precious, it's refreshing to receive a 140 character introduction.
Expand your contacts book by networking: Another thing to do is to go out and do some networking, and always, always ask people for business cards. At Truffle PR I encourage our team to go to at least a couple of events per week and we have a little competition between ourselves on how many business cards we can get. We recently moved offices to a beautiful building in Soho called The Soho Collective, which is split up into three floors. One floor is used for freelance journalists, another for Truffle PR and another for events. The Soho Collective will soon be hosting fortnightly networking nights for people in the media.
Sam Holl has been working in PR and communications for seven years, specialising in high profile consumer campaigns for the public and private sectors. Sam is an associate director at Kindred
Try not to go to an interview empty-handed: One of the real essentials we'd be looking for in grad-level hires is a real passion and enthusiasm for the media, and a desire to find out how it works (some knowledge is helpful too). It sounds obvious but when you turn up for interviews take anything you can show that emphasises this passion and enthusiasm - student paper clippings are great, as is any coverage secured on work experience placements. You wouldn't believe how many people turn up empty-handed - try and always have something to show.
Jonathan Lomax is deputy chief operating officer at MHP Communications. As well as advising a range of clients, Jonathan oversees all recruitment for MHP, one of the country's largest PR and public affairs companies
While most of us carry a small list in our heads of things we wouldn't like to work on, it has to be limited: One of the advantages of working for an agency is that you get exposure to lots of different industries and companies. Some you will love, others you may not really care about while some you may not agree with. Most good agencies would have procedures in place to ensure that you had a good mix of clients and you could flag up any real concerns about particular issues. We want people to be enthused about what they are doing for clients, and having significant moral qualms about a client is a pretty big enthusiasm killer.
But you've also got to be realistic. While most of us carry a small list in our heads of things we wouldn't like to work on, it has to be limited. I interviewed one recent graduate once who basically found the profit motive unappealing and therefore didn't want to work for any private enterprise - the interview didn't last that long. So be honest with yourself, think about what you would and wouldn't like to work on, and if your 'qualms list' is getting longer and longer consider an in-house role where your area of work is likely to be much more defined.
Jon Cope is course leader of the BA (Hons) Public Relations degree at University College Falmouth. Prior to his career in higher education, Jon worked in public relations for a range of statutory organisations and PR agencies
A qualification can show how committed you are: In terms of convincing organisations of the seriousness of your ambitions, it might be worth you undertaking one of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations awards. Even if you haven't completed the advanced certificate or diploma-level qualifications, it will show a willingness to undertake continuing professional development. Also, a portfolio is definitely a good idea, as is a blog and Twitter account.
Many companies are paying their interns: In four years of teaching PR at University College Falmouth, we have never failed to obtain a placement for a student who has actively sought one out. However, very recently, this practice has come under intense scrutiny and the industry is attempting to find ways of ensuring that unpaid workers are not being exploited. Many agencies now pay their work experience staff.
Ravi Pau has three years of experience in PR. He is currently working as an account executive at Lawson Dodd
Work experience can be dull but also very valuable: The best advice I can give is to be enthusiastic. Be really keen, and make lots of friends. I still remember my first work experience, which was for a week. It did mean two days of packing envelopes but it also meant a couple of days of getting really valuable media relations experience.
Agatha Chapman-Poole, a former BBC TV presenter and journalist, owns Chapman Poole Communications which she formed after working for global and national marketing and PR agencies
PR offers a fantastically varied career: I would say PR offers a very varied career path, as there are so many areas you could choose to specialise in, plus the job itself has so many different aspects: client relations, journalist relations, writing, generating 'big ideas', events, crisis communications and so on.
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