On October 25, TriSight Communications and USC’s PRSSA chapter (The Public Relations Student Society of America), held a speed-interviewing event at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.
Annenberg West Lobby
“On Your Marks, Get Set—Get Hired!” was designed to help students practice the interview process, and to help them create appropriate (and impressive) talking points to use in interview settings. The Annenberg West Lobby, where the event was held, was set-up with different tables featuring popular, but tricky, interview questions. Students were instructed to choose tables with questions that they were afraid of, or had difficulty with in the past. For example, “what are your greatest weaknesses?” and “why are you interested in public relations?”
One of the speed-interviewers in action!
Once the students chose a question, they sat at a table with three-four other students and a speed-interviewer. The speed-interviewers were industry professionals and professors at Annenberg. During the speed-interview, students were given two minutes to answer their question. After the speed-interviews were finished for the current round, the feedback round began. The interviewer provided each student at the table with individual feedback on his or her answer and tips for improvement. After feedback, the students switched to a new question and a new speed-interview round began.
A view of the West Lobby
The hour-and-a-half event allowed students to go through at least four interview rounds. Shilpa Gopinath, a second-year MA SPR student said, “I am so happy that we had an opportunity to attend an event like this. With six months until I graduate, this was an excellent exposure to the types of questions and answers we should be prepared for.”
The event was open to members of PRSSA, TriSight Communications, and students in the Strategic Public Relations Master’s program. Following the speed interviews, students enjoyed a catered dinner by Corner Bakery.
TriSight Communications V.P. of Finance, Jenny Savage, said, “Besides being the first speed-interviewing event we’ve had at Annenberg, this was the first event that we have organized jointly with PRSSA. It was wonderful to bring our two organizations together and to allow our members to network not only with PR professionals, but with each other.”
PRSSA's president, Lindsey Berg, participating in the speed-interviews!
If you missed out, don’t fret- TriSight and PRSSA are planning another joint event for the Spring Semester! Want to join TriSight or PRSSA? Contact us here.
