Communication Advisory Council Member Keith Lindenburg Shares Career Advice to Communication Students.

            Early Friday morning, guest speaker Keith Lindenburg made an appearance in Patrick Harwood’s multimedia reporting class to speak with students about life in public relations and communications. Lindenburg is currently the corporate communications leader and chairman of the
Communication Advisory Council. He has had a career in Communications for more than 25 years.
            He started out as a trade journalist before working for major companies and PR agencies. He said he was interested in advertising but it was a tough market for that career route. Because of this, he got into journalism and found a job writing about certain products. “I had no idea what a press release was,” said Lindenburg.

Lindenburg also said that the more exposed he was to public relations the more he liked it.  At IBM, he became the chief spokesperson and in charge of operations for the corporate communications team. He managed the PR agency of IBM and also worked as the managing director for the public relations for Deloitte. He managed all the media relations and hiring opportunities for Deloitte.

Lindenburg said that there are three pieces of advice he would give to students majoring in communications.

First, he spoke about relationships. Although PR stands for public relations, he also said that it stands for personal relationships. Personals relationships can be involved with the media, a client, and even with your team members. Networking is a great way to get your name out there in order to encounter new opportunities.
Lindenburg also suggested that as students we should take advantage of the communication department's advisory council. There are many members who have connections to many different companies around the world. He also mentioned the Mentor Protégé Program in which a higher-level professional guides a student.

Lindenburg also said that writing skills
 are a huge advantage to be more
hirable. He says you want to present
information in a professional and skilled
 way, showing a potential employer that
 you can write eloquently. There are many different way of writing and a good writer will be able to write effectively given and task. Lindenburg said, “ How can you be humorous with only 144 characters?” A good writer will be able to handle that request and will be able to get to the point and be interesting while writing.

Lindenburg also stressed interpersonal skills. “Be a chameleon and be able to adapt to any situation,” said Lindenburg. Also, he said it is important to say what you can do for a company during an interview. Be desirable.

Lindenburg closed with the question “What are you passionate about?” Passion can be natural or learned. However passion is obtained, it is what will make one successful.