After completing a Masters degree in Professional Communication and lecturing undergrad PR at a university for a semester, I came to a startling realisation: what you learn at university is just not enough to prepare you for the real world of PR.

Don’t get me wrong; a university degree is almost essential in today’s job market.

But theory can only take you so far.

Medical students do long practical placements, so do teachers. So it is silly to think that students of one of the arguably most practical disciplines- communication- only get a few days of interning here and there.

Almost weekly when I was a university lecturer, I had students come to me and ask me ‘how they could get their foot in the door?’ ‘How could they strengthen their essential skills?’ ‘What is it really like to work in PR?’ ‘What do you do all day?’ ‘How could they be excited about the prospect of working in PR, not petrified that they will tank once they have a job?’

That is why we hold Red University.

For those who haven’t attended yet, it is an informal afternoon where you can ask all the questions you haven’t asked your lecturers, and you’ll get the answers from people who have worked in the industry longer than they’d care to admit.

We dedicate a lot of time to media relations/ publicity, which is still an essential part of our work. We tell you how you need to write a media release because we have written thousands, and we know what works and what doesn’t. We also tackle the most challenging and scary part of publicity: pitching. Being a great pitcher can make a career- and again, we can tell you what works and what doesn’t.

We also have a great Meet the Media panel, so you can get the other side of the equation.

And we also spend a lot of time on how you differentiate yourself from the hundreds of other people searching for a job in the industry. We provide opportunities for networking and lots of time for questions.

But is it worth it? Maybe you should ask one of our newest team members Maddison Grey. She attended Red Uni in November and, after putting into practice what she had learnt, she secured a full time PR Executive role with us. That is why we hold Red Uni.