How to Start a Career in Public Relations
Public relations is the umbrella under which media relations, publicity and corporate relations all fall. Basically, it is the job of handling the relations between a company or organization and all of its publics: customers, shareholders, investors and, in some cases, the government. To be successful in public relations, you need to have a wide variety of skills. If you are interested in a career in public relations, here's what you'll need.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- writing skills
- telephone skills
- outgoing personality
- confidence
- persistence
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Required education. If you are looking to go into public relations right from college, the following degrees will help you: public relations, journalism, marketing, business, communications and English.
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Writing skills are required. You need excellent writing skills to work in public relations. You will be writing press releases, white papers, FAQs, articles, pitch letters, interviews, corporate profiles and more. Consider gaining this expereince by volunteering, interning or writing for school publications while in college.
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Working the telephone. One thing that you won't be told while in college is that the majority of your time will be spent on the phone while working in media relations. If trying to get the media to cover your story, first, you email the reporter you want to talk to, then, if appropriate, you call to follow up. Not all reporters want to hear from you and not all will be civil. It's important that you enjoy phone work and that you can remain calm under pressure. Being persuasive helps, too.
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Persistence is key. There are a finite number of reporters in any given niche and what seems to be an unlimited number of companies and PR people. Remember that reporters get emails and calls from dozens of PR people every day. You have to break through the noise. You must be able to follow up when required, be able to draft an interesting story pitch and work within the reporte's timeframe.
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So, how do you get a job? Usually, the entry level position in public relations firms is an admin or account assistant position. You'll most likely be creating media lists, calling to verify that your lists are current, photocopying and mailing stuff. On occassion, you'll be writing press releases and news alerts, providing support for your clients and pitching reporters as needed.
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Create a professional portfolio with samples. In your portfolio, you'll want to showcase writing samples of which a sample press release is the probably the most important. They must be perfect and in the correct format. Rely on your expeirence when crafting the samples for your portfolio, and ask others to review your samples.
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The second most important piece of your portfolio is press hits. Where have you gotten coverage for your clients? If you need clips as proof of your work, one of the best things you can do here is volunteer with a small nonprofit and offer to do free public relations for it. Help it get it covered in the local media and put these clips in your book. Good press hits can be the difference between getting the job or losing it.
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Finally, continue to volunteer, take classes, get a degree or certificate and do what you can to make sure that you really want to work in public relations and that have something to show a potential manager. Later you will be rewarded by attending trade shows, handling special events and having the thrill of seeing your hard work and your client in a major publication.
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Tips & Warnings
Seriously, you need to LOVE the phone.
PR people never say NO.
Learning sales techniques will help with pitching media.
Don't say you love an industry just to get a job. If you hate high tech, for example, it will show in your work.
