BBH Account Planning Bootcamp picks Himani Gupta

Once again, a BICster has been chosen for the selective Griffin Farley Search for Beautiful Minds program, BBH's intensive program for strategic planners. The bootcamp is in honor of Griffin Farley, a Strategy Director at BBH New York who dedicated much of his time to aspiring planners/ strategist hoping to break into the business. One part learning experience and one part networking event is a free crash course in planning from some of the top planners in the industry. 

Last year,Maxime Menant and his team won for its "Most Culturally Relevant" strategy. He met up with Himani at the mixer on Friday, July 24th, the night before the bootcamp began. Those who make it to the next round get to present at Google headquarters later that week. 

A big BIC congratulations to Himani for securing this spot and for using her summer vacation so productively!! 

What do PR Recruiters REALLY want?

An early morning focus group of industry PR pros organized by BIC Board Member Donna Renella gathered on Thursday, June 25th, to discuss the most current and desirable recruitment profiles for in interns and full-time hires. This lively discussion was hosted by Danielle DeFabbio at DeVries Worldwide and included PR experts Maya Kalkay of Burson Marsteller, Sheridan Falco of Cohn Wolfe, Kristen Pairano of Golin, Shazzia Khan of Havas, Elizabeth Adams of Ketchum, Allyns Melendez of Quinn, Keri Watkins of Ruder Finn, Bryn Davis of Weber Shandwick as well as CCNY Professors Lynn Appelbaum, Angela Chitkara, and Nancy Tag. There was great agreement that ideal candidates needed to have passion that was not just displayed during the interview, but in the work itself. Outstanding candidates also must have an ability to discuss industry trends and how they relate to specific agencies, positions, and tasks -- in other words, a clear ability to "connect the dots." Because BIC is a portfolio based curriculum, participants exchanged ideas for style and substance of student portfolios as ways for BICsters to distinguish themselves from other graduates receiving more a more traditional public relations education.