Trip: Public Affairs Event—National Media, Inc.
Host: Robin Roberts P’10
Alexandria, VA January 12th and 13th, 2010
By: Nicole Mott ‘10
Around the time of finals I found an email from Pam Keiser about a Public Affairs Site Visit Event for two days in the DC area over winter break. Considering I had no job lined up (as of now, hopefully this will change sometime soon) and I would be home in the DC area for winter break, I thought why not? I responded, and within 45 minutes Pam let me know that I was the ninth of ten spots to be filled!
As the date got closer Pam sent the group emails informing us about what a great program that this Public Affairs Site Visit was turning out to be. The group turned out to be ten seniors, girls only… the question was, is this because no male students are interested in the Public Affairs industry or no one was quick enough to respond? Hard to say, but nonetheless it was a great group and an amazing experience. I would describe this event as an externship, but instead of one student there were ten and instead of sophomores we were all seniors.
As the itinerary began to become more set, I realized that this event was shaping up to be an awesome opportunity to not only hear some insight about the Public Affairs Industry but to also make contacts with very experienced professionals, in an area I am interested in living next year.
We had a full schedule filled with great speakers lined up by our host and president of National Media, Inc, Robin Roberts P’10. Mr. Roberts went above and beyond. He lined up information sessions about communication strategies, an overview of the public affairs industry in DC, public opinion polling, media research, and even a tour of the Capitol.
The night before, I was feeling very anxious and my ever so subtle mom reminded me that I still don’t have a job and this is a great experience to network. She told me to really be aggressive and put myself out there, because as we all know networking is EVERYTHING in the stressful job search. So after that pep talk with my mom, I got a few hours of sleep and woke up excited for this two day experience. I packed up my car with enough clothing options to allow for a two week trip; I’ll admit it was a little too much for a 36 hour event, but regardless I was prepared.
I drove to National Media’s headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. I met the other nine Bucknellian girls and Mr. Roberts, in the ever so trendy brick building of National Media, Inc. Our first day was packed with presentations. First from the Managing Partner of a new joint company of National Media, known as Purple Strategies, about the importance politics takes in the public affairs industry; then from the VP of Research about media research in public policy campaigns; and lastly from the President of Ayres, McHenry & Associates about public opinion polling. I was impressed how great of an experience it was to be talking to so many successful professionals in a small conference room with only nine other students.
That night we all stayed in an extremely cute hotel in Old Town Alexandria, Hotel Monoco. After settling into the Hotel, we went to meet Mr. Roberts at an Italian restaurant to have time to talk more with him about the different speakers throughout the day.
The next morning we meet back at National Media, Inc’s Office to speak with the Digital Director of National Media. He was a young employee and gave us some helpful websites to check out and some good advice. The websites he told us about were:
- www.mashable.com (a social media website)
His advice to us, which really stuck with me, was to take down all of the stupid pictures tagged of you on facebook. He said that if we’re not smart enough to protect ourselves on facebook then how should he believe we are smart enough to work for him? We then met with the both republican strategist and the democrat strategist of the new company, Purple Strategies. They told us, jokingly (kind of), that they were looking to expand more and to give them our résumés… so with my mom’s voice in the back of my head I decided to “take advantage of this opportunity that has been given to me” and I handed them my résumé at the end. I introduced myself and have been in further contact after the end of the industry site visit because now they know who I am. All in all it was an amazing experience and one that I would never imagine being a part of if I hadn’t simply responded to Pam’s email.
This entire experience was made possible for our group of Bucknellians both by Mr. Roberts and a donation by alum, Lynn Kippenhan Lewis ’79. Many thanks for both for their time and donations for allowing some senior Bucknellians such an amazing experience. Even if a job doesn’t flourish out of this experience, as I have learned and heard over and over again, it is so important to make contacts! NETWORK! It is much easier for an employer to delete your résumé via email than it is from them face-to-face.
Take advantage of events, career fairs and speakers that Bucknell enables us to network with.
P.S. The deadline to sign up for the upcoming D.C. Career Fair is 2/24…Don’t miss your chance!