A conventional three-year degree course is more of a marathon than a sprint.
I’ve seen students begin strongly but lack the passion to sustain this to the end. I’ve seen yet more begin slowly but come good at the end.
Most students probably view the year in the middle as the unexciting bit: it’s not new, but nor is it near the end.
That’s why your second year is the most important of the three.
You’ve adjusted to higher education by surviving year one. You’ve worked through the doubts and questions about whether you’re on the right course.
Year two is your time to make progress without the imminent pressure of graduating (or the self-imposed pressure of believing that only a First/Upper Second counts).
You’re familiar with your surroundings, your classmates, your lecturers, the routine. You should have learnt a lot about yourself and what motivates you. It’s time to start putting some lessons into practice.
If you’re studying public relations, that means gaining work experience in different sectors. That means applying lessons to ‘brand you’ and exploring how to develop professional relationships.
Who does this well?
Lucy Hayball has won our #bestPRblogs contest while still in her second year (of four: she’s about to spend a year working in the PR team at L’Oreal in London).
She was an outsider to win the contest as she’d started her blog during the year and had taken time to find her voice.
She’s not a show-off. She’s not a know-it-all. Instead, she’s a thoughtful learner who took us with her as she made connections, applied for placement opportunities and built her personal brand.
Most impressive of all, she did it alone. No classmates were in competition to produce better blogs; no tutors incentivised her by assessing her efforts; the placement year application process is solitary (she’s potentially in competition with her classmates).
I’ve spoken to Lucy about her year, and these are the lessons worth capturing from her year two experience:
- Keep learning
- Be humble
- Push yourself
- Experiment to find your niche and your voice
- Find your community and be supportive of others
- Busy people find time
She made the long journey to spend an afternoon with me at the Search Leeds conference yesterday (where we met someone who’s achieved spectacular success in the five years since graduating with a PR degree).
Lucy knows she’s still a work in progress and there are many tougher challenges to come – but she has the ability to see the bigger picture.
Only at the end did I think to check her age. She turns 20 next month. So she’s achieved this as a 19 year-old.
That’s worth noting – and her achievements are worth celebrating. Youth and wisdom: what a great combination (as we saw from most of the speakers at Search Leeds).
PR Studies 
Leave a Reply