The first post in Marcomblog happened on Saturday, November 13, 2004. We’ll celebrate our third anniversary in just a few months. That’s a long time ago. Many students have passed through my classes and participated in our social media activities. So, I had this funny idea. Hundreds of those students have graduated and gone on to careers in public relations and marketing communications. Why not hear from one of them? I asked Mary Kneeland (MK) if she would write a post reflecting on the transition from student to practitioner. Here it is.
Welcome Mary Kneeland Metcalf back to Marcomblog.
Currently I am experiencing a lot of firsts in my life. 
First big move, first time living alone and out of the south, first time without the parent’s money, first job … and the list could go on forever. After graduating from Auburn last year, I was offered the job of a lifetime: working for Edelman with their me2revolution group.
I was, as you will be, given the tools during my time to make myself unique among college graduates looking for PR jobs. I was given the incredibly powerful knowledge of social media.
Out of my first job sprung my first conference, BlogHer. And out of that came the opportunity to meet in person some of the practitioners that take the time out of their lives to teach us some of their vast knowledge. Josh Hallett and Susan Getgood, both Marcom contributors, were present. The whole weekend, all I could think about was this transformation I had just made from student to practitioner.
From this conference and the subsequent online conversation, I learned many valuable ideas from which we all could really benefit. Take some time to read Susan Getgood’s post on the weekend. Follow all the links and you will get a good idea about the conversation that took place after BlogHer.
At the most basic level, the most important thing I took from the weekend is that relationships matter. If you take the opportunity that you have been given with the PR curriculum at Auburn, you have the chance to form relationships with some of the most powerful people in the business.
No example of this is better than my classmate, Christi Eubanks. Christi searched and searched for the right jobs coming out of college. She is the one of the best writers and strategic thinkers that I ever came across at Auburn. She had all of the tools to make a hugely successful practitioner. After months of searching and unsuccessful interviews, she dedicated herself to updating her blog and getting involved with the ongoing public relations conversation online. A few weeks later, Christi now has a dream job working at Converseon in New York City with Paull Young and Constantin Basturea, two influential practitioners. I am confident that if you ask Christi why she got her job, she would say her involvement with social media.
Use this time now to stay ahead of the learning curve by dedicating time everyday to reading the blogs of those who spend their lives learning about the power of social media. Form relationships with the contributors of this blog, because these are brilliant people. Then, one day, you could be lucky enough to work for one of them. Social media is here to stay and if you want to be a player in the PR world, you have to grasp it now. Do not throw away a chance to learn the ins and outs of this vast world. To steal Seth Godin’s idea, don’t settle with being good enough.
Best of luck to you guys this semester in Style and Design. There will be moments where you will want to pull your hair out and just start crying. (WARNING: If you guys do this, leave the room because the #1 rule is that there is NO CRYING IN LAB!) I promise you that if you commit yourself to truly understanding the information that is being thrown at you at warp speed, you will be many steps ahead of the thousands of people across the US graduating with the same degree.
And always remember, relationships matter.
I’m very grateful to Mary for making the return visit to our class activities. Last time we saw Mary around these parts, she was leaving
comment number 7243 on Dave Forstrom’s post -
Tech PR…What Do You Want to Know? Now, she’s back as a guest contributor. This makes me very happy. Thank you, MK. I appreciate you returning to the loveliest village and to Marcomblog. Please visit her blog, too. Mary’s writing about life as a southern transplant
Displaced in Chicago.
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I would have made a great hippie if I’d been out of pre-school in the 1960s. I did march against nuclear power in a 300,000 protest in Washington DC one year. I might have been 15 years old but I was fervent with the cause. By then we were all trading our ideals for power suits and getting ready for the Miami Vice look of the 1980s.
