Our writers at Her Campus American had the great pleasure of having American University’s own Adjunct Professor Rajul Mistry speak to us at our weekly meeting. Professor Mistry teaches SOC’s Entertainment Communication course and has spent the last five years working at National Geographic as the Director of Communications & Talent Relations for the Nat Geo WILD series. Professor Mistry is an AU alum and just like many of us, began her career path by interning.
Professor Mistry shared with us her advice for undergraduates looking to pursue a career in the field of communications.
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Flexibility. It is really important to be flexible in the communications world. Most public relations and journalism jobs, especially at the entry level, are not the typical 9-5 Monday-Friday job. You have to be willing to put in more time, work on weekends, early mornings and late nights.
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Put your best work first. Your co-workers and people in higher positions than you are constantly judging your character, professionalism and ability based on the level of your work. By putting your best work forward you have a greater chance of being promoted.
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For seniors. Professor Mistry expressed that undergraduate seniors who are getting ready to graduate tend to stress a lot about finding a job. “Don’t stress it so much,” she says. “It will all work out in the end. One job leads to the next. Jobs happen for a reason. Relax a bit and enjoy college.” She laughed and said that of course jobs won’t “just fall in your lap,” but if you put in the time and energy without overstressing, the results will follow.
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Looking for a PR job. Graduates looking for jobs in public relations should start their career in an agency job for one or two years. Then once you develop the initial skills and pitching experience you should look for an “in-house job” where you can move up faster in the company.
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Getting your first job. Professor Mistry’s first job out of college was an agency job. Although she didn’t love working for an agency, she said without the experience she gained from working there for a couple of years she wouldn’t be able to perform as well at her role at National Geographic.
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Getting promoted. According to Professor Mistry, in the communications world for the first five to six years, you should be getting promoted about every two years. Once you begin moving up the the journalism ladder and are in more of a director or administrative role, it takes longer to be promoted because you are already in such a high position.
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Digital media is a changing industry. Over the last four years, social and digital media have begun to play an enormous role in every industry, especially in PR and journalism. “The biggest change in the PR industry since my first job at NBC has been [the introduction of] social media,” said Professor Mistry. Social media is now a large part of the business strategy of PR. In PR positions, almost every pitch to bloggers and journalists is now done through email. PR people are constantly working with the social media editors on a daily basis to ensure that everything is being communicated to the public in the same way.
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