Spring PRSSA Agenda Helps Students Make their Mark

By Albert Le, senior public relations

With the slumping economy and scarcity of jobs, students expecting to land a job after graduation need to stand out from their competition.

This semester, The University of Texas at Austin chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America is helping students do just that.

PRSSA's spring agenda is focused on the theme "Making Your Mark," intended to help students make an impression on employers and an impact in their careers.

"In such a competitive industry, learning techniques to stand apart from other students and interns will increase chances of landing a job with a company," said Kelli Way, vice president of member services of PRSSA.

"It will also help students make a good impression with their bosses, and allow for an understanding of how to get unique opportunities to write and participate more at the workplace."

The mission of PRSSA is to provide a forum on trending topics and strategies within the industry, and offer professional development workshops, networking opportunities and office tours.

The first meeting of the semester, held on Jan. 26, featured Brad MacAfee, partner and managing director of Porter Novelli's Atlanta, Austin and San Francisco offices. MacAfee talked about finding insights and harnessing them to create successful public relations strategies.

Past speakers have included professionals from The Lance Armstrong Foundation, Cohn and Wolfe, Waggener Edstrom and T3.

Guests sometimes participate in interactive workshops geared toward job and internship hunting.

The semester-long themes are meant to keep meetings consistent while staying relevant and timely, according to Summer Allgyer, president of the Texas chapter. Previous themes included "Where are we heading?" and "Be Economy Proof."

"Our current theme builds on the two previous themes as a direction for what students can expect to do in order to stand out in their careers or internships," said Allgyer.

Meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. every other Tuesday. For more information, students can visit the Texas PRSSA Web site, join the Facebook group or follow the organization on Twitter.