The stress of attaining a job in the “real world” is seen on the faces of students everywhere on campus. No one feels like they are doing enough, learning enough or getting enough experience and those that are doing those things are afraid to be just like everyone else. Seniors are opting out of their spring break plans “in case” they have interviews and staying in on weekends to send out their resumes. I have even decided to take my first 8 a.m. to ensure that I am learning the absolute most that I can each day.            

Then I started thinking (on my cold walks to class at 7:45), that maybe this isn’t such a bad thing. Maybe this economy has made us stronger candidates, more competitive and more eager than we would have been if we had graduated four years earlier. Sure I’m pretty upset that I don’t get to fall into a “senior slump” and party all day and night, but in the end the class of 2009 will be better for it.

I was fortunate to attend a presentation by Lindsey Pollack in the fall of this year and her book Getting From College to Career has been very helpful to me in the stressful time (www.gettingfromcollegetocareer.com). The book has everything from cover letter writing advice to job search websites and is great for anybody who is at a transitioning point in there careers. Maybe if recruiters recognize the drive from the class of 2009 and we do happen to get jobs, we’ll look back and be grateful that we graduated in tougher times.

Amidst the onset of last week’s “Bloody Monday” with a reported 65,400 job losses haunting national headlines, and Macy’s announcement this week to cut 7,000 positions, the word “surrender” should’ve been tattooed on the whites of my desperate job seeker’s eyes.

I represent one of the thousands of public relations seniors who (despite years of preparation at our prestigious communications schools) exhaustedly anticipate to graduate and (fingers-crossed) land any sort of ‘communications’ job in the statistically worst economy since the end of WWII. In five months, my hopeful, idealist self has been molded into a cynical realist, as distant thoughts of success have left me feeling discouraged and ready to abandon communications as a discipline altogether.

            As the black, bold “MASSIVE JOB LOSSES” sans serif text glared at me through my CNN Money Homepage this week, impulses were many. Should I run to the counseling center to fill out last-minute applications to grad schools, thus giving the economy a chance to get its act together and prepare for my grand entrance into the workforce two years down the road?…perhaps. Did it cross my mind to take a job at the campus pub in order to sharpen my waitressing skills for a realistic future in the city? You betcha!

            Instead, I clicked through the hundreds of PR blogs and websites as part of my continued ‘job search’ until I came upon a post about the “T-Mobile Dance” and creative public relations.  As Lulu’s “Shout” song reverberated through the Liverpool Street Station and the 350 hired dancers transformed the English train station into a Broadway-esque interactive dance performance, I simply could not stop watching, laughing and sending the link of the T-Mobile stunt to anyone and everyone I knew. The responses from all who watched were contagious; we were inexorably ecstatic and wanting to uncover everything we possibly could about T-Mobile’s “Life is for Sharing” campaign.

            Now I have read feedback that’s referred to the pr stunt as ‘unoriginal’ and ‘done before’ but in my eyes, a new client, a new place and new consumers inevitably heed creativity and media awareness. Every idea stems from another and I can only give props to Saatchi & Saatchi’s work for T-Mobile, truly making the fun and connection of dance come alive within the Liverpool station. Public Relations is the art of awareness based on the principle of research, but in my opinion, the original action is what sets creative, successful public relations apart from the rest.

So what…other agencies have used dance and live production to stir buzz and gain publicity for a client. But guess what? It works!

PepsiCo’s Silver Anvil Award winning “Smart Spot Dance” for instance was rated one of the most successful campaigns by the PRSSA, engaging the public to move and share in fitness and fun together. It’s no secret that dance, spontaneity and public intervention, if executed efficiently, as T-Mobile’s surely was, will stir positive emotions for a company and create smiles and conversation weeks, even years after.

            It was after my eighth replay on YouTube that I realized, as hard as it is to find a job in communications with this economy, it’s worth a try to be able to express my creativity and passion for branding, non-traditional and social media as a part of my occupation, the way that the practitioners behind the “T-Mobile Dance” did so well, and to actually get paid for it.

Sure, it may be an uphill battle to find the type of creative communications position that I want in this desolate economy, but it’s worth persevering, no matter how discouraging, to reach what I want to pursue.

            So thank you, Saatchi and Saatchi. As critics must realize that results are what matter in creative campaigns, so I realize that the ability to create impact and follow my passion is what keeps me atop the pr bandwagon even through economic crises. Thank you, Saatchi for reminding me of why I’m even on this search to begin with. Someday, I myself will organize 350 dancers in an English Train Station, create trust and excitement in my own client’s brand, and spread smiles across the world for months & years to follow- all with the click of one YouTube “play” button.

Until then, jobs.com, mediabistro & prweek…Let’s Dance!