Due: Dec. 7 (uploaded by 11:59 pm) 

As a core assignment for this course you will conduct a 30-minute, in-depth interview–preferably in person, otherwise via phone—with a working professional in the field of public relations and write an analysis of the interview. The interview is semi-structured, allowing you to incorporate your own questions. 

The aim of this assignment for you is to get a deeper appreciation of what it takes to work in today’s public relations field. I encourage and challenge you to make the extra effort to get in touch with someone who may be a potential professional contact or someone whose interview will be a nice addition to your portfolio. 

Post your interviewee choice (name, professional title, company) to the discussion board on CourseDen. Your interviewee may not be a student, or work for the University of West Georgia, and students cannot interview the same person. Try to get in contact with that person ASAP, as public relations professionals keep full schedules and may be hard to reach (phone calls may work better than emails). The earlier you start planning, the more likely you are to succeed. If you would like me to help connect you with someone, I'm happy to help, but you'll need to ask early. I have a number of friends and peers working in PR at various places.

Below is a list of questions to help you get started.  I encourage you to work in some questions of your own specific to your interviewee. 

1         “Can you tell me what a typical work day looks like for you?”

2         “How long have you been working in public relations?”

3         “What jobs did you hold before this one?”

4         “How were you ‘trained’ for this job?  How about for working in public relations generally?”

5         “What are some of the major challenges of your job?”

6         “How do you know when you’ve been successful in your job?”

7         “If you could change something about your job, what would it be?”

8         “How has the public relations environment changed since you began working in the field?”

9         “How has the work itself changed since you began working in public relations?”

10     “What do you think the future of public relations looks like?”

Upload the following, as a single document, to CourseDen.

Reflection paper (5-8 pages NOT including cover page)

•       Cover page including
•       Your name
•       The name, job title, and company affiliation of the media professional you interviewed
•       Explain why and how you picked this person (2-3 sentences)
•       Describing the time, place and context of the interview (2-3 sentences)
•       Provide a brief introduction (1-3 paragraphs) that serves as a summary of the interview
•       Identify three key topics or themes invoked by your interviewee
•       For each theme, make three different connections to topics covered in class readings, projects, discussions, or videos. Be specific (consider referencing specific discussion topics, page numbers in the text, etc.).
•       Your reaction to this person’s job (Does it seem satisfying? Would you like to do this type of work?  Would you like to work in this organization?) (1 paragraph)