As an initiative by the Department of
Sociology for students of 2nd year Sociology pursuing a paper on
Public Relations (PR), two ex-Christ University Students who Studied MA Applied
Sociology, Medha and Yudhvir were asked to talk to students about how PR functions in the field. They are currently working with one of the leading names in the field, Edelman. Though the
classroom is a very important place to gain knowledge and form a strong base
for our future employment opportunities, often we need to know what’s happening
out there in the field. So to bridge the gap between academics and the field, this
interaction took place.
Initially the discussions were about what
kind of work they are given in the office and what are the kind of expectations
that the organization they were working with had of them. They talked about the
kind of work they had to put in on various projects and spoke about how they
approached projects. They discussed the steps that are taken with the projects
that come in and how occasionally one’s unique way of thinking is what can
contribute to the projects that they are working on. They also spoke about how
PR can be pressurizing and can have an impact on one’s social life but the work
can be engaging and enjoyable.
According to our guest speakers, they
describe PR as a form of storytelling which has an intention of creating an
impression to the public. Based on the demands of the clients, the stories are formed.
Occasionally, PR professions with minimum information from clients should have
the ability to create a narrative to influence the public opinion of them in
positive way. We also found out it’s a field which involves meeting top
management level in various organizations, travelling and attending various events.
Students of Sociology often go through this
anxiety if they’re going to get placed over an MBA or a M. Com student, the ex-students
were able to give us some amount of hope that we are strong competitors for
students of other departments as the company that came in for placements hired
more students from our department than some of the students in other
departments which specialize in such managerial and corporate based knowledge.
They also spoke about how much of what they
learnt in class helped in the Field. The seniors confessed that none of the
theories that we learn in class can really be directly applied to understand
their field or work, But then they admit that the theories that they learnt
were influential in forming a base for their understanding of the field and
alter it for it to work. A strong base in theory can sometimes provide us with
deeper insights, which seem to be required in PR.
So this was an informative and productive
session for not only the students who want to do PR but any student who wants
to take up a job in the near future. From their exposure to the field, they
were able to bring out the relevance and value of a sociological understanding
in the Corporate word which definitely gives us hope of a future in this
competitive world.
Report by Dheeraj
