Ten Tips for Prospective PR Professionals

• PR is principally a journalistic endeavor. Successful professionals possess superb reporting and research, writing and editing, and production skills. To be successful today, you must keep apprised of the latest happenings in the world, and in the field in which you work by becoming an consumer of news.

• PR is hard work. While the job appears glamorous, the visceral excitement can fade. You should be in PR because you like the work -- and like to work.

• PR always involves some type of client relationship. You might find yourself in an agency with outside, paying clients. Or, you might report to someone within your organization. Recognize that clients are people; their understanding, interest and appreciation for public relations can vary greatly.

• PR results must be measured, whether in qualitative and quantitative terms. Spell out your objectives -- and obtain agreement in advance with clients about how your efforts are to be evaluated. While exposure is the goal of many programs, there are instances where limited or no communication might be the best course of action. Don't confuse publicity with effective PR.

• PR people don't have a corner on wisdom, and don't have all the answers. Managers look to PR professionals for guidance in their area of expertise -- communications, public and community opinion, and media relations. Your key responsibility is to know and to articulate affirmatively and persuasively the PR risks and opportunities to the client. However, sometimes other organizational imperatives must take precedence. Ultimately, however, it is the client who must decide!

• PR practitioners must be great taskmasters of time. PR is a labor-intensive activity when compared to advertising, which is capital-intensive. For most organizations, the primary PR expenditures are for the labor hours that go into a project. While your talent is what you have to offer, talent is often measured in terms of time.

  PR people must be organized. Successful PR professionals have honed their organizational skills--especially in setting priorities, planning, managing time, budgeting, and controlling torrents of paper and telephone calls. Prudent business practice requires obtaining written approvals on materials, and maintaining orderly records of authorizations, expenditures and accomplishments.

• Public relations involves creative problem-solving, a skill that is honed and not inherited. Many creative solutions are variations on themes or techniques that have been used before. Thus, it's valuable to study a wide range of PR programs conducted by others. Tap peers to gain insights about their experiences, to sound out your ideas, to develop cooperative programs, to obtain referrals, or simply to marshal morale support. Join at least one professional organization; subscribe to at least one professional publication.

• As a first-time PR job seeker, your top concern should be finding a mentor--a first supervisor who will support your continuing education. You will learn more in the first six months on the job than you did in college; that's why graduation is called "commencement." A first boss can be critical to your success by serving as a role model, and by providing the opportunities, challenges and other support you need to develop professionally. Initial salary concerns should be secondary in choosing between employers. Instead, focus on the opportunities for advancement and your earnings potential four to six year after employment.

• Finally, remember that your professional reputation can precede you. Always act accordingly, and burn no bridges behind you. Former employees, clients, peers and media contacts can--and will-- turn up in unexpected ways in the future.

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  July 1996.