#4PRQs for: Ali Gee of FleishmanHillard Fishburn

For the first #4PRQs (Four PR Questions) in 2017, I'm incredibly lucky to be interviewing Ali Gee, deputy CEO of FleishmanHillard Fishburn. Ali has more than 20 years’ experience in agency side and in-house. She was previously CEO of Fishburn, which merged with FleishmanHillard in January last year. Before joining Fishburn, Ali was Executive Vice President at Edelman. Ali has shared some incredibly interesting and valuable insights with me.

MK: What was your way to the industry? 

AG: I did a post grad and managed to convince my teacher, Kevin Read – now at Bell Pottinger – to offer me a job in his agency as an account manager having never done a day of proper PR in my life. I was horribly underqualified and had to fake it till I made it for years.

What piece of advice, regarding career, would you give your 20-year-old-self?

Take a year out before starting work – there’s never a good time later. Choose opportunities to work at the best agencies because they will reflect well on you. And hold on tight – however hard it is, keep going if it’s adding to your experience.

Choose opportunities to work at the best agencies because they will reflect well on you.

How can PR graduates take advantage of the social and digital platforms, in order to gain attention of the agencies and other potential employers?

Being aware of the conversation on key industry issues makes you much more compelling at interview.  Following interesting players in the market helps form your own opinion and gives you insight into the culture of the places these people run.

Being aware of the conversation on key industry issues makes you much more compelling at interview.

What is the most undiscovered area in the industry that could be used as a dissertation topic?

Measurement – how can PR credibly measure the value it adds and the risk of not doing it.

***

You can find Ali on LinkedIn. Make sure you follow FHF on Twitter. You can visit their webiste, too. Noteworthy is the fact that the agency is now opened for the applications for their Graduate Scheme.

Four PR Questions (or #4PRQs) is a weekly series on the blog. I am on the mission to help PR graduates (including myself) make right decisions about their future careers, by asking industry leaders for an advice.

Would you like to give me a feedback or feature in the series? Drop me a line to kl.marcel [at] gmail.com or tweet me @marcelkl. Thanks for stopping by, have a splendid day!