The countdown begins...

There are only five days to go until the much anticipated PR Alumni Reunion on Saturday, 26 March 2011. As most of you will already know the event will be taking place at 11h00 at the Atrium, which is situated on the 2nd floor of the Administration Building on the Cape Town Campus.

The event promises to be a highly entertaining one with Siv Ngesi as the MC, who will have guests in stitches and Shen Winberg who will spoil guests with his musical talent. Aside from the great networking platform which this event provides, guests will also be able to gain some insight into the PR industry with talks by e-TV news journalist Lance Witten and Wesley Lynch, founder and CEO of Realmdigital.

There are loads of great prizes up for grabs, so don't forget to bring along your business cards and pop them into our fish bowl for the lucky draw and you could be the winner of an Apple iPad sponsored by Digicape. If you're not as lucky to win one of our stunning prizes, not to worry as there are loads more items in our lovely goodie bags which will have your friends and family drooling with envy.

If you haven't yet RSVP'd, you best get a move on and contact coolsaetl@cput.ac.za asap. Please keep in mind that this event is open to Public Relations Management Alumni only, i.e. individuals who have actually graduated with a degree or diploma in PR. We look forward to welcoming all you fellow alumnus back to your academic home.

Follow us on Twitter  @pr_chatbox and our Public Relations Alumni Reunion Page on Facebook for regular updates.

Some of our great sponsors for the event are:

     

The blog must go on...

Saying good bye is funny thing, it's the end of something and the promise of new adventures. PR graduates understand that feeling, a mixture of sadness and excitement when you walk onto that stage and collect your diploma or degree. I said good bye to CPUT a few months ago but did not want to make an official “adios” on the blog until I handed it over to someone as passionate about PR Chatbox I as am.

I am delighted to hand the blog over to Deirdre Porthen, PR lecturer and soon-to-be social media guru, and her assistant for 2010, Graye Morkel. I am excited to watch as they build this blog as resource for PR students, staff and alumni.

When I started PR Chatbox I was a B Tech PR student working as an assistant to Prof. Johann van der Merwe with an interest in social media. I heard student complaints and witnessed the pressures that lecturers face as day-to-day admin form mountains on their desks, but what bothered me the most that there was the lack of student pride in the department. PR students and graduates do the one thing we would never do to our clients; we badmouth our course and department. Ironically we all carry the qualification, name of the department and institution on our CVs so instead of complaining we should building the department and profession. I believe that as PR students and professionals we need to ‘do PR for PR.'

Graduation Day 2009

Today was graduation day for the Public Relations Management department (PRM) and the graduates did the department proud with four students achieving Cum Laude.

Rachel Finch, Mandy-Lee Graham and Tarin Johannessen achieved a Cum Laude pass for their National Diploma and Monique Boucher achieved Cum Laude for the B Tech Degree in Public Relations Management. Graduating with a Cum Laude means that the graduates maintained an average of 75% throughout their term of study. Well done guys!

B Tech Class of 2008 (from left): Monique Boucher, Simoné Swanepoel, Candice January, Liezl Hohne, Angelique Jordaan, Lounelle Nortje and Rene Strydom

Hats off to all the graduating PRM students of 2009. Graduating means that all those late nights of cramming, bottomless coffees, missed parties and hours spent in front of the computer were worth it after all!

B Tech Class of 2008 (from left): Cassie O’Neill, Monique Boucher, Simoné Swanepoel, Candice January, Liezl Hohne, Angelique Jordaan, Lounelle Nortje and Rene Strydom

Please send your PRM Graduation 2009 photos to theprassistant@gmail.com and they will be add to the slide show and this blog post. Please include full names.

Working in London

By Andrea Desfarges, PR graduate

London might seem like the ideal way to gain experience, travel and make money simultaneously – and it can be – but there are some things you should know that they don’t tell you in the brochure.

London is laden with immigrants; Polish, Turkish, Brazilians, Algerians, Australians, you name it. So it makes sense that visas, bank accounts and skilled work is harder to come by as a foreigner since, right or wrong, preference is given to British born residents. The credit crunch has magnified this problem as there are fewer companies hiring.

Make sure that your paper work is sorted out beforehand, register with top pr and marketing recruitment agencies and try and set up interviews telephonically before you fly out. Be flexible with the type of role that you want, but make it clear that although you’re prepared to learn and work hard, with a qualification and some work experience you should be earning more than a basic wage. Which, by the way, is £5.70 per hour or approx £16 000 per annum for a professional pr job. It might sound like a lot but when you’re earning pounds, you’re spending pounds.

I waitressed for a few months until I was finally offered the type of role that I was hoping for and many South Africans end up doing that permanently or working in a call centre. But with nearly 1 500 PR agencies based in and around London there is no reason that you shouldn’t find a job in PR if you persevere.

It’s not all doom and gloom. The standard of work is very high, the client lists are fantastic and the media industry is one of the largest in the world. Once you’ve worked in the UK it is accepted that you can work in any country, while unfortunately South African references mean nothing.

And once you do start earning an average wage, a comfortable standard of living is more affordable(Electronics, clothing, food, cars.

One of the main differences between working in the UK from working in SA has to be timing. Things generally work at a faster pace here. And we’re not talking CT – JHB different pace, we’re talking about all emails actioned ASAP and deadlines reached long before the due date. If asked, one needs to be able to organise an interview with a journalist within an hour, or solve problems on the spot.

Pro’s to working in the UK:

The late Summer sunsets at 22h00 and good music festivals

A Saffa (South African) bar or shop is never far away, so you won’t miss your biltong

The ease of travelling around Europe that is cheap and quick

Large Saffa community and exploring a new pub scene

Pubic transport

Not having to worry about installing burglar bars or constantly getting your bag snatched

Con’s to working in the UK:

Say good bye to the heat of the sun and purchase a raincoat

You often have to share housing as rent is so expensive

Starting right at the bottom with low wages and long hours

You will always be treated as a foreigner

About Andrea Desfarges:
Andrea completed her Diploma in 2003 and in 2004 spread her wings to the small island of the UK, managing to land a position in the PR department of KPMG London. In 2005 Andrea started her own small business, Red Box PR, which specialises in media campaigns, experiential marketing and brand management. In 2008 she was nominated as one of the top consultants in the UK by the PR Week Awards.