Communication Newcomers Share Their Experiences and Advice

With the new school year beginning and communication majors pondering their futures, CommPRO thought it would be timely to ask some new practitioners about their early work experiences and what advice they would offer those still in school.

Front and center is making the adjustment from the classroom to the workplace.

“The transition from school to the workforce was definitely an adjustment for me as well as challenging in some ways, particularly when it came to establishing a consistent routine and maintaining a healthy work-life balance,” notes Taylor Johnson, a recent University of South Carolina graduate who now works in development for Oliver Gospel, a major Columbia, South Carolina-based nonprofit.

Johnson notes that for a while, she was still operating on a college schedule, going to bed around 1 a.m. and not waking up until 10 a.m., which quickly became difficult to maintain while adjusting to the expectations of a full-time job.

“Learning how to structure my time, establish a consistent schedule, and separate my work life from my personal life was an important part of that transition. It took some adjustment, but those experiences helped me develop better habits and become more intentional about managing my time and responsibilities.”

Jeremy Ruthstein, a recent PR graduate of Columbia College Chicago who has done agency work, agrees. While college gave him the foundation, he had to learn a lot about the pace and expectations once he was actually doing the job.

“School gives you a good foundation,” he says, “but once I actually started working in the industry, I quickly realized that deadlines, clients, and real-world expectations are a lot different from what you experience in the classroom. You have to be willing to adapt, learn a lot on the fly, and become comfortable figuring things out as you go.”

For Ruthstein, being able to adapt quickly is key. When you’re first starting out, he says, one major challenge is learning how to balance different priorities and deadlines.

“You might be working on a press release, responding to a client, building a story, and managing social media all at once,” he says, emphasizing that it takes time to get comfortable with that pace and learn how to manage multiple projects.

While he expected PR to involve a lot of writing and media relations, Ruthstein says he didn't realize how much of the job would involve managing different personalities, priorities and unexpected situations.

“Every day could be a little different,” he reflects. “One thing that came as a welcome surprise was the amount of storytelling you must do, whether it’s for internal consumption or external communication.”

The new practitioners also discovered that their work environments turned out differently than they expected.

Johnson admits that before entering the workforce, she pictured a more traditional office environment, something similar to a scene from The Office, minus the constant humor and personal interviews, with cubicles lined up and coworkers regularly interacting throughout the day.

“In reality, technology has significantly changed what the modern workplace looks like,” she acknowledges. “Communication and collaboration often happen digitally, and many workplaces look very different from the traditional office environment I imagined.”

She says that has been an interesting adjustment and has shown her how much technology continues to shape not only the work we do, but also how we interact and collaborate with one another.

“I do not necessarily mean that in a negative way,” Johnson maintains. “While there is certainly a part of me that wishes things were sometimes as simple as they once were, and the writer in me will probably always love a good pen and paper, there are many surprisingly good things to the modern workplace.”

She points out, for example, that the ability to work remotely can be convenient and provides a level of flexibility that being in the office does not.

“Technology also allows us to instantly connect with coworkers, ask questions, collaborate on projects, and communicate, even when we are not physically in the same place,” she says.

While the work environment may look very different from what Johnson originally imagined, she has come to appreciate both the conveniences and opportunities that come with the way we work today.

Helping fuel those additional opportunities has been the growth of social media, which, according to Ruthstein, has greatly accelerated how quickly information moves.

“It has made communication much more immediate, and that creates both opportunities and challenges for PR professionals,” he says. Ruthstein observes that younger professionals just starting out often have a strong instinct for how people consume information today, especially through social media, creating new and unique angles for getting messages out.

Like other newly minted communication professionals, Johnson and Ruthstein are also grappling with artificial intelligence and how to effectively use this rapidly evolving technology.

“When used to enhance rather than replace someone’s work, AI can be a great asset,” Johnson points out, noting that AI can save time by assisting with proofreading, creating templates, organizing ideas, streamlining project workflows and other activities.

“However, I also think there is a risk of work becoming less personal and authentic when people rely on AI to create stories or do the work for them,” she says. “In a field centered around communication and storytelling, maintaining a genuine human perspective is especially important.”

Ultimately, Johnson believes the value of these tools comes down to how they are used.

“They should support creativity and efficiency, not replace authenticity, critical thinking, or the human element behind the work.”

Ruthstein agrees, maintaining that the rise of AI tools creates both a challenge and an opportunity for people entering the field.

“They can make certain parts of the job much more efficient, but I think there’s also a need to make sure the work still feels original, accurate, and human.”

He believes learning how to use these resources without relying on them too heavily will be an important skill for newer PR professionals.

When asked what advice they would give communication majors still in school, Johnson urges them to take full advantage of every available opportunity.

“The real world is where you truly begin to learn, grow, and discover how to thrive in your field,” she maintains. “Looking back, I wish I had fully realized just how valuable internships and other opportunities available during college could be, not only for networking, but also for gaining real-world experience and developing as a professional.”

Johnson notes that she still regularly applies and references things she learned during her internships in her work today.

“Those experiences taught me so much and helped prepare me for the workplace in ways that the classroom alone could not,” she says.

“Take the opportunities when they come your way. You never know which experiences, connections, or lessons may have a lasting impact on your career.”

Johnson's second piece of advice is for students to continue using their professors as a resource even after they graduate.

“Those continued relationships and connections with professors can be so meaningful and invaluable to your careers,” she says.

Ruthstein also urges communication majors to get as much real-world experience as they can while they're still in school.

“Take advantage of internships, do some freelance work, join student organizations, become active on social media. Anything where you’re actually writing or communicating for someone else,” he says.

“And take writing seriously. Even with AI becoming such a big part of the industry, being able to write creatively and communicate an idea is still one of the most valuable skills you can have in PR.”