During the Fall 2021 semester, I was lucky to take Hawk Communications, which gave me the opportunity to work with the Garden State Wine Grower Association and The School of Communication and Media at Montclair State. For both clients, I assisted with content creation for marketing purposes, but overall, I learned a whole lot more.
While completing weekly tasks assigned by these organizations, I also gained more knowledge about teamwork, leadership and accountability. Everyone was part of two account teams,
which gave us all the chance to bounce ideas off one another and really help each other with tasks, time management and advice. Working with these clients also made me learn more about myself. It helped me step up and speak up. I learned that it is important to share ideas and perspectives. It’s not just about completing tasks that are assigned, but suggesting ideas and being creative. It is also important for everyone to step out of their comfort zone, show leadership and accountability, to get questions answered, and to share ideas.
We all face unexpected obstacles and challenges. COVID-19 is still relevant, people get sick in general, and there are other classes and responsibilities. Time management is always key in life, but especially when working with a team or completing tasks for other people/companies. The part about “life getting in the way” is that it does improve your problem-solving skills. I feel like I am very organized and independent, but this semester, working with clients and in a team challenged those traits. It made me learn how to adjust and work with other people’s schedules, work styles and their own obstacles. It can be a learning process, but communication and collaboration as a team is important.
Overall, working with these clients gave me my initial hands-on experience in the field of
public relations. It helped me learn and opened new doors for other opportunities and connections. I think it also showed me more of what I want to do and don’t want to do, what I enjoyed and what I didn’t. For example, I still want to be in the field of PR, but I feel that social media management isn’t my favorite task, and I am ready to explore beyond that! Moreover, this Hawk Communication class isn’t just about the academic credit, but about that hands-on experience, too.