If you’re a college graduate today, congratulations! You understand the digital landscape better than most. You communicate and know how to research via social media, text and email and you know more about technology than most professionals age 40+. The public relations industry is fast-moving and competitive, yet there’s always room to learn more. It is no longer just about press releases, press conferences and event planning!
There is always room to improve your expertise and prepare for your career in public relations. Thanks to the internet, there are more ways than ever to level up and impress your future employer! Here are a few free courses to improve your skills.
1. Media Writing & Editing: writing skills for media is always essential whether it’s for social media platforms, press releases or drafting a blog. This media writing and editing course is taught by Assistant Professor Nicole Kraft at the Ohio State University. There are no requirements and it’s a self-paced course with a commitment of 3 hours a week.
2. Advertising & Digital Marketing: It’s no surprise that advertising and digital marketing both fall hand in hand with public relations. This intermediate-level course will have you diving into digital integrated marketing and prepare you for all you need to know about advertising and marketing.
3. Graphic Designing: Knowing how to do graphic design is always impressive and allows you to become an extra helping hand on your team with creativity. This course is the perfect certification program for those at a basic level to gain more experience on everything they need to know about graphic design. It’s completely online and you don’t have to have any previous knowledge whatsoever.
4. Social Media: It’s not enough to be tech savvy, you have got to be social media savvy too! Here’s another free certification course that will guide you on how to navigate different platforms and utilize social media for marketing purposes.
5. Strategic Communication: Better your communication skills and learn how to think outside the box with this effective strategic communications course. You’ll get a free shareable certificate through this program as well!
These are just a few types of certifications and courses we recommend to pursue if you want to stand out when applying for your dream job. There are many online courses you can take to spend your free time in a better way. There’s never a limit to gaining knowledge!