ALT-1 Career Opportunities in Public Relations
For most public or private institutions, having good public relations (PR) is essential to maintain and promote its reputation and image. In the market driven economy, having better public relations would help organizations as well as individuals to maintain the competitive edge in addition to having influential marketing strategies and advertising campaigns. In fact, public relations is considered a sub-domain of marketing and advertising while the specialists who take on the challenge of delivering public relations goals for an organization or for an individual, are called public relations specialists.
-Job profile of apublic relationsspecialists / officer
Public relations specialists should advice the higher-level management with regard to organizational strategies that should be adapted when building better relationships with its clients and the public as a whole. At the same time, PR specialists should also advise the management with regard to building relationships with the relevant governmental organizations and other institutions.
In order to make these recommendations and to carry out the same, PR specialists need to study and understand the attitudes and the opinions of various publics or markets. They should have a keen eye towards grabbing the free opportunities available to gain media exposure in order to produce and disseminate news worthy publicity through radio, television or print media.
In addition, PR specialists should also have the skill to understand the concerns of the consumers, employees, and various other groups. At the same time, in order to act efficiently, PR specialists should keep close contact with consumers, employees, public rights groups, media and with journalists. Through these links, the PR specialist can communicate with the said groups and the public as a whole when disseminating the organizational policies, activities as well as accomplishments.
They also undertaken writing press reports, presentations for the top-level management as well as represent the organization in events of public interest. In addition, they may also contribute towards writing proposals for projects as well as in preparing annual reports as these are some of the tools used to communicate with the different groups related to organizational functioning and sustainment.
Qualificationnecessary to enter the field of PR
Although there are no standard entry criteria to the field of public relations, a major in a relevant field and working experience at least as an intern in public relations should increase the chances of securing a better job than a non-qualified applicant would gain. The right candidate should have good communications skills and the ability to handle the preferred language both in the written and spoken form. The ability to communicate with the top-level management both confidently and clearly are also necessary for most recognized firms. At the same time, having an accreditation from professional public relations associations would also help in securing a higher salary and a better remuneration than those who are not having such accreditations.
Potentialsalary and the growth forecast
The industry of public relations is expected to grow by around 24% until 2014 although the influx of applicants would make it difficult to find entry-level job placements without some added qualifications. In 2004, the annual salary of a PR specialist was around US $49,000 while it ranges from $35,000 to even $150,000 as the person gain experience and other qualifications.
