I attended an awesome public relations networking event at San Jose State’s Dwight Bentel Hall on April 30th, hosted by PRSA Silicon Valley led by its president, Jeannie Entin and PRSSA SJSU led by its President Teairra Brown. Speakers offered valuable tips on landing jobs. Hoffman Agency sponsored it with a table and nice giveaways.
The messages that resonated the most with me were to be curious and do your homework before a job interview.
Mark Lewis of Waymo public relations was the first to bring this up. He emphasized that curiosity is important during interviews and after you start work. “Interns for example, can notice trends and leverage them.”
Lewis said that after you start a job, work to connect the dots between things. Edelman VP of U.S. Corporate Technology Michelle Tran agreed saying that the most important thing is curiosity during and after the interview.
Charlene Gage of Stanford University public relations spoke of the importance of using a “+1” strategy at work. When she is at a job, she thinks, what idea can I add to this to make it better? How can I improve things? Most speakers were SJSU graduates. Gage said one of her favorite classes at SJSU was PR writing because she used the skill at an agency job she got after college. My favorite class at Ohio University E.W. Scripps School of Journalism was publicity writing so I could relate.
The event featured a unique set of fireside chats with experienced communications or partnership experts from A-list companies 49ers, AWS, The Bay Area Host Committee, Edelman, Mindshare PR agency, and Stanford University.
San Jose State students from sophomore to seniors filled the room and the food spread was impressive from gourmet pizzas to fruit and cheese platters. I found it easy to get there from the Light Rail station by the San Jose Civic although looking at the VTA map I could have gotten off at any of three different stops.
Most of the students I met had impressive work experience, from the Hammer Theatre to reporting on policy news on SJSU’s YouTube news channel. One student had an AMD internship lined up for the summer. I asked several how they got their jobs and most said they worked because it was a class requirement. San Jose State has always been great at requiring students to get experience before they graduation. Keep that up!
Courtney Ksiazek of the Bay Area Host Committee, which to me is most known for bringing the Super Bowl and FIFA World Cup to Levi’s Stadium in 2026, told an interesting story about how she did an extra task during a job. She hosted a group that needed to take a tour or check something out on a hot day. She raised her hand to help out. A year later, a person from that tour called her saying she was an ideal fit for a job.
Many panelists mentioned how AI plays a part in their jobs. Edelman VP Michelle Tran mentioned (Anthropic’s) Claude twice.
Nate Racela of the 49ers corporate partnership sales team said that he cuts big deals with companies like universities and that an organization would need to talk to a human before say, handing over a million dollars for a deal. AI can’t broker big deals like people can, he emphasized.
I thought that AWS’s Ari Entin who did the chat with Racela and Ksiazek was quite effective because he asked really good questions and listened to what they had to say. I’m a bit biased because Ari was my IBM San Jose co-worker. Wilson Craig, SVP and GM of Mindshare PR of Los Altos, California, also offered valuable tips about job hunting and described how his agency uses AI to service clients.
After the fireside chats, Jeannie Entin announced at the mixer that the deadline for diversity scholarships from PRSA and PRSA Silicon Valley was extended to May 15. Apply here.
Aliza Bolliger, Media Strategist at the Hoffman Agency commented, “In terms of the event, I found it to be very inspiring (so many students showed up!) and a great opportunity for both professionals and students to connect with each other. To see students from varying majors come explore more about PR and ask questions, I am very excited about seeing what the next group of professionals may offer.”
I loved the food spread, mix of people, the number of people in the room and the location especially the proximity to my favorite public transportation which is Light Rail now. (Sorry BART. It used to be BART to Berkeley.) The rolling chairs were comfortable and interesting. Once I figured them out I found them useful for turning my whole body towards the speaker.
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Michelle McIntyre, PRSA Silicon Valley’s new editor-in-chief, is a Saratoga, Calif-based PR consultant and IBM vet. DM her on Facebook or LinkedIn for a meeting to learn about her PR services.
Photos by Michelle McIntyre: 1) Ari, Nate, Courtney. 2) Mark, Charlene. 3) Aliza and coworker from Hoffman Agency 4) Me (Michelle) and Courtney: We both went to Ohio University! 5) Wilson and Michelle T., 6) AMD intern and SJSU student and AMD’s Mike Sanchez who is on the PRSA SV board
As an aside, thank you to many who spent time fact checking this story including a PR rep. from the 49ers.
––––––––––– MMC ––––––––––––– Michelle McIntyre Communications 