adminIt’s graduation season again and President Mugabe as the Chancellor of all State universities has since October been going round the country capping thousands of graduates.
In the midst of the flair and joy of graduation many questions and optimism linger on the mind of the graduates.
Now that I have my qualification, am I going to get a job? Have I made the right choice on my proven career?
The Zimbabwe Institute of Public Relations (ZIPR) also held its graduation that saw 100 practitioners graduating with diploma in PR programme.
While the graduation ceremony epitomised other graduations there were some key issues that came out of the event.
What clearly showed in most of the graduates was an eagerness to start working and more importantly an eagerness to uphold professionalism and ensuring the development of the practice.
Dr Maya Angelous, a US writer once said “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel”.
This statement by Angelous explains the mood at the PR practitioners’ graduation. Speaker after speaker emphasised the need to develop the PR brand in the country.
Most graduates expressed an intense desire to play their part in the development of PR more than focusing on who is going to employ them or their next move.
For this has a way in which it makes people, organisations and the industry, at large, feel after good PR work by PR practitioner.
Graduates interviewed felt that if they do not stand up to give value to their profession who then can value it.
This is critical if public relations is to soar to great heights in the country, most graduates felt that it was time for all true PR practitioners to continually hue and horn the values, skills and qualities of the PR profession.
Imposters have no place in the PR industry.
The graduation coincided with the institutes’s new thrust to reclaim some of the success it enjoyed in Southern Africa in the 1980s and 1990s.
The general feeling was that the institute should go beyond just creating PR membership but making PR stand out as the main communications strategic component in the country’s industry.
It was clear that there is a need for the creation and harnessing of the PR brand in the country.
One salient feature of the graduation was that it was more about valuing professionalism, ethical conduct and integrity of a PR practitioner and the profession as well.
It was felt that corporate identity, image and reputation aspects of organisations were being hampered by lack of pure PR practices and qualities.
With the influx of technology and the global village syndrome taking control worldwide, the PR brand can only be magnified further. PR practitioners have got to stand up and make an impact in all facets in the country.
Networking is one supreme quality of PR and the PR practitioners have got to take advantage of the networking opportunities that are abound in almost every facet to make the PR brand prominent.
Therefore the determination by the graduates to change the face of PR in the country and develop the brand for the good of the country’s industry’s image and reputation was spot on.
While rewards of hard work are important, PR practitioners shone with their graduation to enhance the PR profession for the development of the country’s industry, at large.
This article has been inserted by the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Relations. For feedback, comments and inquiries on the work of ZIPR, please email [email protected].
Online Reporter