A career in public relations is one which is among the most competitive, most industrious, and most enjoyable of jobs, according to the many who hold a coveted career in publications, anyway.  This makes sense, as PR is rife with responsibilities, those that can make or break a company.

A career in public relations means helping a company or organization establish, maintain, and/or enhance a reputation.  It means being either a public relations specialist, a media specialist, or a communications specialist (all variations on the same title, really), and working in advertising, the media, the community, in a milieu of interested and/or invested individuals and groups, in political circles, and anywhere where two or more parties are interrelated—say, in a business to business situation, a private and public connection, or a consumer and business relationship.

A career in public relations will typically require such endeavors and tasks as writing, public speaking, interstate or international travel, program orchestration, presentation design, contact and liaison, and information disbursement.  A career in public relations involves, as the
Public Relations Society of America explains, many possible manifestations—the PR agent working in a range of capacities and with such organizations as “public information, investor relations, public affairs, corporate communications, employee relations, marketing or product publicity, and consumer service or customer relations.”

A person in a career in public relations can expect to earn his or her salary, one which implicitly covers the standard work week plus the unexpected, the overtime, the emergent, and the critical.  He or she can expect to start at an entry level when first venturing into the career in public relations, and then can move as high as vice president of a company, usually, devising the overall plans and working with other PR specialists in researching, developing, and implementing the communications plan(s) most suitable.  Commensurate salaries, then, start at about 20k and can reach to 250k, respectively (according to Public Relations Society of America and Bureau of Labor Statistics), depending upon the region where he or she practices his or her career in public relations.

Also according to PRSA and BLS, the required qualifications are not set in stone, are not standard by any means, but the person intending a career in PR can make him- or herself best suited and most marketable by getting a bachelor’s or post-secondary degree and combining that with some tried and true, hands-on experience.  This combination, whether the future PR specialist goes into the public sector or works in government relations, whether he/she engages in counseling or research, or whether he/she goes into the community, into media, or into finance…will be a lucrative and satisfying one!

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Filed under: Business • career • public relations

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