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Olympiad Winners Get Career Boost
Laura-Elena Culiţă, Cristina Negraru
This time last year, Nicoleta Deliu was a member of the team that won first prize in public relations in the Communications Olympiad, an annual student contest. Today, she is a junior executive for GMP, a prominent public relations agency.
Looking back, Deliu says she got to spend time with friends and do something serious by having fun. It also turned out to be a golden career opportunity. “We were assigned to work for Rosia Montana Gold Corporation and the first thing we did was to go to Rosia Montana and the situation. After the visit we understood the project and we were able to put it together,” Deliu said.
It took many sleepless nights, walks in the forest, lots of phone calls and e-mails to gather the inspiration and information necessary to mount a campaign, but eventually it all paid off. “I understood what a public relations plan means and how important is to make something with enthusiasm and to be noticed by somebody in your field,” she said. “The Olympiad was a test that I didn’t know I had been given but it seems I passed. Now I’m working with real professional people in communications.”
Philosophy student Roland Niţă also saw the contest as a challenge when he joined a team in 2005. “I wanted to see how I could manage in a field of which I had no idea whatsoever,” he said. Niţă’s team won a prize and now he’s working as an editor for Media Image, the company for which his team mounted their campaign.
Teamwork is Vital
Asked what he learned, Niţă singled out the importance of teamwork and modesty. “I think teamwork represents the key to success. Personal egos should be out of this competition but the team ego is a must.”
Cristina Dandu, now a freelance illustrator, was one of a team that took the top prize in advertising in 2004. She viewed the contest as a chance to have fun and meet friends but also as a great personal challenge.
“At the beginning, we divided responsibilities, we bought food and decided to make our headquarter in one girl’s apartment. We did almost everything at the last minute as it was difficult to find a proper idea and we underestimated the time for the production part of the campaign,” Dandu recalled.
Dandu’s team came up with an unusual presentation which caught the judges’ eyes. “Even if we were the last to send the campaign presentation, when we had to show it in front of the board we coordinated ourselves very well. Our passion and enthusiasm for advertising were what mattered.”
Dandu said winning helped her professionally but she warned this year’s participants not to expect too much. “If you are one of the winners, it doesn’t mean that you will receive lots of job offers. You have to keep searching for them, you have to be dogged,” she said.
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