How Do You Best Prepare For A Career In PR?

Thinking about pursuing a career in public relations? Here are some things you can be doing right now (at little or no cost) that will serve you well no matter if you are just starting out or if you have some experience under your belt.

1. Be a good storyteller
The heart of public relations is persuasion –changing someone’s perception of an person, place or thing. And the best way to do this? Tell a compelling story. Think about the 5 elements of persuasion:

• • • Source – the person (or organization) sending the message is key to how credible the message is.
    • Message – What you say and how you say it are critical to getting people to buy in.
    • Medium – It is important to use the best channels to get your message in front of your target audience
    • Public – “Know Your Audience” is a mantra that cannot be stressed enough. Do your homework to make sure that your message is getting in front of the right people.
    • Effect – How do you measure your success? Remember that there is a bottom line that your clients/customers or your place of work needs to meet. Did you craft a good story that compelled individuals to take an action?

2. Be a good communicator
Communication – whether verbal or written – is a skill that benefits from continuous improvement. A good PR professional understands that the art of relationship building is a key element to success in the field. You need to develop relationships with clients/customers, vendors, the media, and other professionals to help get your story out. What can you do to hone your skills?

• • • Read, read and read some more – Reading can help you strengthen your writing skills and help you to keep abreast of current trends. Be curious – ask “Why?” Read trade journals, blogs, newspapers, magazines, news sites – anything you can. You will begin to notice which publications cover different types of subject matter and who the journalists are that are writing about those topics. Congratulations – you are beginning to understand media relations!
    • Grab opportunities to hone your public speaking skills. Take a public speaking course or two. There are community groups such as Toastmasters that offer low-cost options to help you overcome your shyness and learn techniques for becoming an effective verbal communicator (and listener). Watch videos of effective public speakers and take notes. Learning how to be a great storyteller takes time and lots of practice.
    • Do not overlook the importance of developing a strong foundation of customer service skills. Learn techniques for working with difficult people – you will have to deal with difficult customers, co-workers or other people at some point in your career. Take a psychology course or read what you can about psychology, sociology and human behavior to find out why people behave the way they do; the information will be very helpful when you are crafting your message to persuade them to take an action.

3. Be a good learner

Internships are a wonderful way to gain experience, learn about the different types of public relations jobs, and learn new skills such as working on a team with others and how to meet deadlines. Be a sponge and use the internship opportunity to learn as much as you can. Ask questions and be willing and open to trying new things. Take initiative – it is one of several critical employment skills that will serve you well no matter where you work.

Networking can help you find internship opportunities, and give you a start on developing your own personal, professional network. Research different PR firms, organizations and companies that do PR outreach activities as to what their focus and specialties are. Use your fact-finding skills to determine to whom you can reach out to inquire about doing an internship. And don’t be afraid to do more than one internship, either.

Social media can be a useful tool, but be careful to curate your personal social media profiles to present yourself in a professional manner. Many employers do a social media search on candidates for interviews and jobs; you do not want to have to do “crisis PR” on yourself during an interview for an internship! Clean up your online presence before you start looking for an internship or job.

If you do well in an internship you better your chances of getting hired. At the very least it will provide you with valuable experience that you can use to land a job. Make the commitment to becoming a lifelong learner – it will pay off in the long run!