Hello from New York
It was only recently after completing my first placement in London I began to think about the broader picture and where I would like to spend my third year - a 48 week placement. No surprises, New York constantly sprung to mind, I know it would be big but it is worth a shot.. I would be living a dream.
It was only yesterday that I found out the true power of the internet, emails and connections. As you will know, I travelled to New York in December 2010. On our third day we went to the Colony Music Store near Times Square. It was here that I began to talk to a man, I started chatting away only to find out he was originally from Leeds and lived in New York. It gets better, he worked in PR at an international company called Ketchum. I was amazed, it was at this time I had began to finalise my UCAS application and I began telling him how I’d applied to do PR at Leeds Met. (http://www.ketchum.com/ - if you’d like to research them).
We ended up speaking for nearly an hour but sadly he didn’t have his business card with him so he told us his name and told us to email him if we ever needed anything. When I got home and finally sent off my UCAS form, University and PR began to look promising. Its funny how somebodies name and company can become stuck in your brain, because you are so interested or intrigued. I researched online for Roy but sadly had no luck on Ketchum’s website and had put it to the back on my mind.
It was only recently that I decided to research into Ketchum again to find out about the company, their views and their clients. I knew it was going to be a long shot as I have began to understand how quickly things can change in PR, people can move jobs and things can develop but I decided to email the companies CEO, Ray Kotcher. I explained my situation, what I was looking for and just asking for advice. I mentioned Roy and how I had met him, to see if he could help me find his contact details. I guess I wasn’t expecting anything big however, the next day I awoke to an exciting email - it is that email which made me write this blog post.
Firstly, I recieved an email from Lindsay in the recruitment office at Ketchum explaining all of the graduate programmes and how they could help in the future but sadly they offer nothing I was looking for. It was the next email I recieved from Roy Edmondson which amazed me, Roy, the man I had met over a year ago. The email was titled ‘Hello from New York’ and Roy had sent me a lengthy email about how ‘amazing’ he thought it was that I remembered his name and the company and how he remembered meeting my friends and I in the Colony Music Store near Times Square. I found it amazing how quick and easy it had been to reach Roy through the company and that Roy remembered me.
It was great to hear from Roy and its great to now have his contact for the future, if I ever need to know anything. It was this email which made me realise how important it is to make contacts, how easy it is and how you should never forget or assume somebody else has forgotten.
