Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Life Tips

I had my last public relations writing class today and my professor left our class with some tips about the real world. I'm certainly glad he did and I've briefly thought of these things before, but it was still an eye opener.


Most PR practitioners right out of college have a starting salary of $25,000. Our teacher used that number and started subtracting from it everything we will need to pay for when we're out on our own. It's not discouraging, but it was sad to see how poor I will be.



Other valuable tips he gave included:


  • Make sure you follow what a possible employer wants when you send a resume and cover letter whether it be copy and pasted into an e-mail or attached as a Word document.

  • If you get hired and the company gives you a cell phone and/or a laptop, it is for WORK PURPOSES only. You don't own that property and if you do inappropriate things with those items, it is grounds to be fired.

  • Employees should only write e-mails that they feel comfortable disclosing to the public. Dow recently fired 30 employees because of a wraunchy e-mail that had been forwarded around the company. E-mails, texts, phone calls, etc. are public records.

  • He highly recommended taking a $25,000 salary with health benefits over a $30,000 salary with no health benefits. You never know when something could happen to you.

  • Rule of thumb is to spend 25 percent of your income for living expenses.

  • Start a deferred income plan as soon as possible

  • Find a reputable financial planner to help you.

  • If you don't care who gets the credit than you'll accomplish a lot. Getting the work done is more important and while it may be hard to let someone else take credit for all the hard work you've done, don't let it consume you. There's more to life.

SONG OF THE DAY: Jason Mraz - I'm Yours

Today's Scripture: “…your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over” (1 Peter 3:1)


*imastar*