Another interview, this time with Matthew Watson of Rainier PR. Matt only started working at Rainier this year after finishing his Public Relations degree at Huddersfield University. He also compiled a useful list of the top PR bloggers in the world.

1. How is work at Rainier going?

It’s a very exciting and very busy time at Rainier and fortunately I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon. There’s a great team of people who have taught me a lot in the past five months. One of the things that I have enjoyed most is putting things that I have studied at University into practice and the strange buzz you get from your first ‘proper’ piece of coverage.

2. What is your role and what kind of things do you get up to during the average working day?

I work as a consultant at Rainier PR, which is a business-to-business tech PR agency and part of the Loewy group. As Jed said, everyday working in PR is different. One day I could be taking part in a faux protest or writing a chapter for an eBook, and the next I could be visiting a TV studio or staring at my monitor, open-mouthed, because Perez Hilton has used my press release.

Just as important though, are the more day-to-day, bread-and-butter tasks such as writing press releases, monitoring blog posts, pitching to journalists and collating coverage. Like most things in life I think it’s important to have a good mix. If you drink only champagne, you’ll soon crave water.

3. Would you ever consider in-house?

Possibly. I like the idea of focussing all my attention on one client and seeing your efforts benefit the company. But equally I think working with several clients gives you the opportunity to do lots of different things and enjoy a bit of variety.

4. What skills do you think are required to do what you do?

PROs must be willing to work, and work hard. No matter how confident, articulate or creative you are if you aren’t willing to put the effort in then you won’t get the results your clients want. That said it’s important to know when to stop, something’s not right if you’re working late every night.

5. Did you know what you wanted to do after leaving University?

Before University I studied business, IT and media at a-level. I didn’t know much about PR, but I knew it was a good mix of those three interests, so I thought I’d give it a go.

I really enjoyed my course, but it was a work placement during the summer after my second year, that really helped me make up my mind. Returning to University for my final year I was fired up and very eager to get a job in PR. I had a think about how I could do that and decided to start writing a column for the student newspaper, read more PR blogs, and write more posts about PR on my blog.

6. Do you plan to stay in this sector of PR?

I think I’d definitely like to stay in tech PR. I’ve always had an interest in technology so it made sense for me to go into tech PR. Whether or not I want to stay in B2B or try B2C I’m not sure. Fortunately at Rainier, I get to take part in brainstorms with Custard PR, the company’s B2C sister agency, which gives me a taste of consumer PR.

7. Dream job?

I’m not really sure what my dream job is. I like the idea of having a business, but not yet. I have a theory that a lot of PR bloggers are either business owners or would one day like to be.

8. How did you end up getting your role at Rainier?

A throwaway tweet mentioning that I’d had an interview at a tech PR company and hadn’t got the job prompted Stephen Waddington, one of the MD’s at Rainier, to send me an e-mail inviting me to have a chat with him. The timing couldn’t have been better, as I was sitting my final exam when he e-mailed me. I quickly arranged a phone call and set a date for an interview. Fortunately I was already planning to go down to London, from Huddersfield where I was at University, as I had an interview with Mantra PR – one of Rainier’s sister agencies! The interview went quite well and I was offered the job. I started the day before I received my exam results and haven’t looked back.

9. Best and worst parts of the job?

The best parts are getting the chance to experiment with social media and getting advice from people who have been in the industry for years and are still enjoying it. That’s very encouraging.

The worst part is getting up on a Monday morning after having a lazy Sunday lie in. Fortunately my commute is only about 15 minutes, if the tube isn’t delayed!

10. Brand you most admire?

I love brands. It’s becoming something of a cliché but one of my favourite brands is Innocent. As a company creating a new market for fruit smoothies, they clearly acknowledged the need to have a recognisable brand. Other companies can easily copy their products, packaging or marketing, but try as they might they cannot copy Innocent’s brand without it sticking out like a sore thumb.

11. Something anyone going into PR should know?

You can never consume media in the same way ever again.

In my first year of University my tutor told my class that we’d soon start looking at everything from a PR perspective. I thought that sounded ridiculous but it’s true. Reading a newspaper or watching the news now becomes a brainstorming session. Rather than looking to be entertained or educated, nowadays I can’t help but think that’s a good angle, I wonder what agency did that, that’s a clever idea for a survey, I wonder if XYZ could news jack that, or how are they going to defend themselves against that?

Sometimes I just do the crossword or stick MTV on.

12. Tool that is the most useful for your work?

My mobile phone. Having access to my e-mails, my calendar and the web wherever I am is fantastic, and helps me react much faster to client requests. Plus having Facebook in my pocket is quite cool.

13. Any advice to students applying to graduate entry-level jobs?

Start applying early, in fact if you’re in your final year start doing it now. I began apply for grad jobs at Christmas, and I’d already missed a few graduate schemes by that point.

If you don’t get a place on a graduate scheme or don’t get a job straight away it’s not the end of the world. Keep applying for jobs, aim high and don’t give up.

14. Anything else you think might be useful.

Take the time to help PR students out. As a student I interviewed PROs for my dissertation who could have quite easily turned me down. I think it’s important to remember that you could one day work with or work for those PR students. So take a few minutes and help them out.