Post Graduation: Stay Local or Big City? by Christie Bradley Audrey Pannell, a 2009 Auburn graduate, went from intern to Public Relations and Social Media Coordinator at Wilbanks Agency in Birmingham, Alabama. Wilbanks Agency, Alabama‟s leading public relations and marketing agency, is a 7 -year-old company. The agency employs a team of four full time and two interns. Pannell, a Birmingham native, feels she had an advantage by working at a smaller public relations firm as an intern instead of moving to a larger city. “I helped with a multitude of tasks such as writing press releases and creating proposals. I was told responsibilities that needed to be performed, yet I was also asked for my opinion,” Pannell said. Along with local success in public relations, Pannell is also the public relations and social media chair for Catalyst of Birmingham, junior board member for the Autism Society of Alabama, a member of the Rotoract Club of Birmingham and many others. She also recently won Ms. Young Hot Birmingham Professional by raising $5,360 for the Autism Society of Alabama and writes for The Pillars, LLC, an online business magazine. Pannell attributes her internship and field success to skills learned in public relations course work at Auburn, specifically, Robert French‟s Style and Design class. “After working in the public relations industry for more than a year now, I am extremely grateful for my education at Auburn. Auburn is the college pioneer of social media. I‟m really not sure where I‟d be without Robert French‟s class,” Pannell said. Pannell feels that working at a smaller firm right out of college has given her more exposure to the business world with more hands on opportunities most interns don‟t get to experience. “During my time at Wilbanks Agency, the company name changed from WilbanksElam to Wilbanks Agency. Implementations now had to be made for the company logo, Web site and all other company materials. Since we did such a fantastic job with the logo, we then applied the new logo by designing and creating new business cards for three of our employees,” Pannell said.
The internship program for public relations students at Auburn puts the cherry on top of the résumé. The department goal for students is that the internship will end with a job offer. “There are some things that just cannot be taught inside the classroom. Sometimes you just need to be able to learn them on your own. This internship proved to be one of my favorite „classes‟ I took at Auburn,” Pannell said.