AGENCY FIELD TRIP

Recently, the class left our typical learning environment, boarded a school bus and headed to downtown Toronto to visit a couple Public Relations Agencies.

 

The field trip was a very informative, positive and an eye opening experience. Overall, both agency visits were very enlightening and I could speak highly of both but I was overly impressed with the second stop at Hill& Knowlton agency. Only knowing the basic information and intimidating facts about agencies prior to this field trip, I had no desire to work at a firm or agency. Hill & Knowlton possessed an exciting atmosphere and work ethic that knocked my socks off and ultimately changed my opinion and outlook on agency work. I was impressed with their think bold and big attitude and the high standards they adhere to and the variety of work that they work on.

 

Hill & Knowlton is Canada’s top-rated public affairs and public relations consultancy. They have a network of 83 offices in 46 countries and nine Canadian offices. H&K offers small-agency focus with large-agency resources. The agency works alongside with a variety of large scale clients including Bell, Virgin, Ducks Unlimited, Royal Canadian Mint, Mental Health Commission of Canada, etc.

Hill & Knowlton showed me the importance of branding yourself and being different, from how you present yourself to the experience you have listed on your resume. They value their employees and the experience they bring to client work. Appropriately delegating team members to client projects allows the company to benefit and make use of all employees’ individual talents. Showing this understanding of their employees’ individual skills, made me really take notice of their appreciation of all skills their team members have to offer. This in turn would make all team members feel valuable and essential to projects.

 

I was impressed with the positive environment within the agency. While sitting in the presentation, I was able to take notice of employees walking past and noticed a continuous positive vibe from every person that walked by. The two H&K employees that were in the presentation to speak of their involvement within the company were also very optimistic and mentioned how they thoroughly enjoy working within the agency. They spoke of how they appreciate the variety of work they are able to work on which allows them to continuously stay focused on projects as they do not find themselves bored of repetitive work. Even when asked what they do not enjoy, they couldn’t even speak negatively about anything other than an administrative task of calculating account hours.

 

The high standard they adhere, quality of work, variety of client projects and continuous dedication to cooperative work in a bold and different approach is definitely motivating. Many classmates were turned off by the agency environment; felt it was overwhelming, intimidating and strongly believe that it is not a place they plan to work at. Coming from previously working in the news industry, where it is a busy and competitive work place- an agency just might be a great fit for me in the world of PR. Having previous media experience will still allow me to work within media relations (which I desire) while improving on other various PR skills. The fast paced environment and high standards is an environment I would definitely excel in and look forward to one day having the opportunity to work within an agency and learning from senior coworkers who offer great expertise to a variety of work.