Here's how you can advance your career in Public Relations through continuous learning and upskilling.

Like any profession, it is important to upskill and continue to boost your professional development. A few steps for advancing your career and professional learning include: 1. Keeping up with the trends through research, webinars, conferences and more. 2. Explore courses, professional certificates and certifications. 3. Networking is your best avenue to learn, expand your skills and hear practical work experience from other professionals. 4. Find a mentor. I recommend seeking more than one mentor across fields and disciplines throughout your career to engage with different perspectives. 5. Embrace technology. Understand how it may be shifting and impacting PR and how you can leverage it to further your work.

This is so key in this industry. Trends emerge and dissipate so quickly in the world of media and PR, and a good communicator understands how to adapt to whatever trends are relevant now. On top of that, it is key to know which trends are fading fads vs here to stay. I've found that the only way to know that is with experience and curiosity (and even still I get it wrong a lot).

This is relevant in so many industries, but especially in the world of business, marketing, and PR. As a young person (or really at any age) set aside a portion of your time towards building your network. Reach out for coffee meetings, go to events, send that DM, etc. Your future self will thank you, and over time, you'll find that that investment will compound.

If you work in PR, you generally have at least a *bit* of creativity. The best thing you can do is lean into that and build your brand in public. Talk about what you've learned; what mistakes you've made; new projects; etc. Over time, you'll have developed an audience of your own, and whether you work for someone else or work for yourself, that is a huge asset that will result in real dollars one day.

It's easy to end up just going through the motions. Doing things the way they've always been done at whatever organisation you're working at. Fostering an atmosphere where not only your creativity but that of your colleagues can be a huge boon for everyone involved, leading to huge improvements in processes, unique approaches to problems, and in the long run, changing 'the way things have always been done' for the better. You can practice harnessing your creativity outside of work too. Write a short story. Make a TikTok. Review an album, or a film, or a game. Open your fridge and think of a recipe you could make with whatever's in there! Practising creativity everywhere will help you in your PR role.