My Summer Job vs. My Major

Sitting in a gray, sadly decorated cubicle for the past two weeks has got me thinking- how in the world does my current summer job tie into PR and how will it be able to help me in the future? Although it's not a dream job, I am extremely grateful and lucky to have had this opportunity... It IS funding my entire trip to Rome this upcoming fall semester, to say the least.

This is my second year working at the Pennsylvania CareerLink as a summer case manager, a vague title that could use some explaining: I am part of a summer staff that runs and supervises a youth work program that places at-risk and low-income kids in different types of summer jobs. Half of my time is spent in the office, while the other half is spent visiting the kids at their various job locations. Myself and the rest of our small staff monitor the progress and behavior of the kids, while also maintaining balanced communication with parents, job-sites that employ the kids, and state and county workers who fund the program.

I work with people much older than me, most who have degrees in fields such as psychology and social work- very fitting for this type of job. As someone just a few years older than the kids I supervise, I was definitely intimidated when I first began. However, after returning for my second year, I'm much more comfortable and am also beginning to see how I can use this job as an advantage when it comes to my Public Relations major.

The first and most obvious connection between the two: The need for great communication skills. This job requires me to communicate with a large number of kids and their parents to ensure they have a successful experience in our program. Things that we discuss are extremely confidential in nature, such as income, public assistance, and work history. I need to create a open and trusting flow of communication, and that sometimes can become extremely difficult.

In PR, our main goal is to advocate for our client. In my case, I am advocating for the 100-150 kids in our program. I am the middle person when it comes to problems in the work place and often have to delegate between advocating for the youth and for the work site itself. Crisis communication skills often come into play, and I constantly find myself thinking about the best ways to communicate to different groups of people, whether it be the kids, their parents, or the public.

Any office job is beneficial to college students because it teaches us the basics- answering phones, using the fax machine, simple office etiquette, and what it's like to live in a cubicle for 9 hours a day. These things are all important to know and experience before entering the big, bad, grown-up world.