The Benefits of Site Visits

Understanding a field before starting to work in it is crucial to leading a successful career. What does an average day on the job look like? How is the company culture? Am I asking the right type of questions?

Fortunately for students, Chico State’s Department of Journalism and Public relations provides numerous opportunities to network and get to know the field. One of these opportunities is through site visits.

Students visit with J&PR alumna Kari Miskit, Director of Public Relations at Visit Sacramento
Students visit with J&PR alumna Kari Miskit, Director of Public Relations at Visit Sacramento

On site visits, professors and advisers within the department take groups of around 10-20 public relations students to visit two to three companies in one day. The visits are usually a combination of PR agencies and corporate in-house sites, and they are often at the workplaces of Chico State alumni. Students get the opportunity to tour the office, get to know the company and meet staff who give them guidance for life after graduation.

This can be an incredibly rewarding experience for students planning to enter the public relations field. They learn best practices for landing a job, expand their knowledge on different industries and even meet with human resources to discuss job and internship opportunities

Students visit with J&PR alumna Kelsey Eidbo, Senior Account Executive at Infinite Global
Students visit with J&PR alumna Kelsey Eidbo, Senior Account Executive at Infinite Global

Most of the department-organized site visits have been in San Francisco and Sacramento given Chico’s location, but there were two trips to New York in spring 2011 and 2016. This semester there have already been site visits to both San Francisco and Sacramento.

On the San Francisco site visit, students visited Getaround, Foursquare, and Infinite Global. In Sacramento, they were able to tour Fleishman Hillard, 3Fold Communications, and Visit Sacramento. This is a great mix of agency and in-house PR setting. Each company offered a unique insight to students on public relations and opportunities within the field.

The Chico State Department of Journalism and Public Relations prides itself on being an informative segway from college life to career life. As a student within the department, I can say that the program has prepared me well for my job search after graduation. In order to grow and build your skill set, it is important to take any opportunity to learn that is thrown your way.

Written by Cassie Porter, Editor

 

 

 

 

 

 

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