“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers” (Boorstin). Every aspect of a career in public relations is exciting and self-rewarding. The hours, job description, and clients give public relations specialists an exciting and ever-changing career. The history of the career field of public relations all started when Julius Caesar hired a team to persuade the citizens that he was doing a good job running the area. Caesar’s influence led to public relations in the Unite States beginning in the 1800’s. Newspapers ran friendly columns to reward advertisers with “free publicity.” Then, in the 20th century, the official job title of “public relations specialist” came into play. Those first public …show more content…
The jobs that are in large firms or agencies are far more challenging for specialists because they have to be able to present ideas to a wide variety of clients and consumers, rather than one specific target audience. These jobs in public relations can be very untraditional depending on the working environment. The hours typically consist of 35-40 hours per week, supplemented by occasional evenings and weekends. Those evening and weekend hours are usually spent at special events and parties that must be covered (Ferguson). Another majority of the workday is spent entertaining business associates and current or potential clients in dinner and lunch meetings. These components of the workday make the career interesting. Depending on your boss and clients, the location of where you spend those odd hours can differ majorly. As mentioned above, there is a chance of working in an agency with many clients, in a large companies communications department, or in independent public relations agencies. If you work in an ad agency or a communications department of a company, you will most likely have a spacious office or workspace that is shared with many other specialists. Working in an independent agency would be very different. Depending on the success of the agency, there is a possibility of working in a spacious office or a cramped upstairs attic with very little company (Jones). The work done in those offices also varies. The most
So as stated earlier, both public relations and journalism requires extensive writing skills as well as being able to interview subjects and intake large amounts of information they do differ. Although there are many positive sides to public relations, there are also some downsides to it. The profession of journalism has been affected by the growth in public relations, and sometime soon people will notice the negative affects when the news being reported isn't as good as it once
Ever since Bernany’s work, public relations have continued to become a vital part to businesses success, as the field continues to grow. While this progression has occurred, different public relations functions also have developed. Specifically,
I do not know much about public relations (PR), but if I can attempt to put it in a single definition it would be the communication or process in connecting to the mass media. The mass media is any consumer, voter or supporter of that particular company or person. When I envision what a person might do in a career in public relations I immediately think of Olivia Pope from ABC’s popular show Scandal. Public relations is involved with creating press releases, curating charities and essentially anything that will helps improve that business’ brand or that party’s’ image significantly. Unlike a management position, public relations comes in and consults during a crisis or scandal that affects the public and leaves when the situation is resolved.
2. Advocacy: Since a public relations professional works as an advocate for the public, it is important to provide the public with pertinent information so that people can make informed decisions. For instance, when presenting information to the public, it's important to provide views from different sides and/or people, as well as all of the relevant facts.
Although I do not have specific experience as a public relations practitioner, my credibility comes from PR courses and extensive amounts of research into the position. Because of this, I have created a list of potential responsibilities that a PR practitioner will have if they were to be employed at J. Gregory Salon. This list comes from a survey conducted in 2010 by the Institute for Public Relations in predicting what the top duties for PR managers in 2015 would be. (Watson & Sreedharan. 2010)
When the term public relations are heard, there is not an immediate understanding of the career, let alone its writings. The lines of the responsibilities of a public relations professional are often blurred and confused. However, the Public Relations Society of America composed a specific definition to help with the confusion: “public relations are a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics” (“About Public Relations”). Breaking down the definition a bit shows exactly what public relations is about – “mutually beneficial relationships” (“About Public Relations”). Professionals work to create and maintain various relationships, whether it be with journalists or clients, that will yield positive results for all parties involved. In an interview, Vallerie, who works in public relations, revealed she interacts “with upwards of 20 different people” daily (Mackillop). Publics are generally thought of as the general public population; this is true to an extent for public relations. A public is “anyone who ever has or ever will form an opinion about the client” (Roost). This means that it is possible to have more than one public that a professional is dealing with for their work.
The most recent definition of public relations, according to the Public Relations Society of America (2012), states that “Public Relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” Through the rapid advancement of modern media and technology, there have never been more outlets and opportunities available for accomplishing the goals of public relations. Believing the development of social media has not created serious changes in the way public relations practitioners go about their duties would be foolish and a fast track to falling behind in this rapid world of communication. The main goals of public relations are “to
Over the past two and a half weeks as a class we have been assigned to talk to a variety of different public relations departments in companies of our interest. Through the struggles of being hung up on immediately or put on hold for 20 plus minutes, this assignment not only allowed me to learn how the PR field works via telephone and email, but what type of field would I be interested in working for. Through all the ups and downs, I have found three businesses that have interested me and would possibly interest me in the future.
Many people view the role of a public relations professional within an organization as one that involves “making the company look good” among other image enhancing functions. Whether they are called PR professionals, PR people, media relations folks, they are the ones typically called on to inform the public of updates or improvements, they are called to help change the perception of the public, help with rebranding efforts and in the event of negative press or other crises, public relations professionals are often called on to “fix things,” to wield that magic wand of words and press releases to make the bad stuff all go away in an effort to preserve or salvage a positive identity. Many would be surprised to learn that the role of a
o Public relations is the practice of managing the spread of information between an organisation (eg a company) and the public. For example; print, online and reputation management campaigns.
Having worked in retail for nearly three years has contributed to the development of many transferable skills that would assist me in becoming a communications and public relations practitioner. As a sales representative of the multi-national clothing retailer, Justice, it is my responsibility to not only drive sales, but to ensure the customers return. An organization’s success is dependent on the public’s perception of their product, employees, and values as a whole. I contribute to the company’s positive image by providing a safe, engaging, and friendly atmosphere for both children and parents. Overall, my background in customer service and communications has encouraged me to pursue a career in the realm of public relations. I am majoring
The purpose of this interview is to see first hand how different people view public relations. Participants were chosen based on their major in order to avoid having only PR majors answering the questions. These interviews were conducted one-on-one in order to avoid biasing the participants’ opinions and views.
The success of a company depends on relationships with the public such as consumers, suppliers, investors, employees, government and media. Since public relation practitioners are the once who do the actual communication between their organization and its public it is obvious that public relation is a management function.
The use of corporate communication to describe the Public Relations practitioner has recently gained an acceptance among scholars and practitioners (Groenewald, 1998:58). Moreover, the term could be used interchangeably to showcase that the function of Public Relation or corporate communication involves both internal and external communications of an organisation (Steyn, 1999). Cornelissen (2011) observed that corporate communication apart from coordinating all the interactions that goes on both within and outside the organisation, it also involve establishing and maintaining constructive reputations with stakeholder groups upon which the organisation is
Only recently being recognized as a discipline in itself, modern day professional public relations practices can trace its roots to the early 1900s where the first public relations firm, the Publicity Bureau, was founded in Boston. In 1923, Austrian-American public relations pioneer, Edward Bernays, identified three fundamental concepts of public relations. In 1984, American theorists, Grunig and Hunt, conceptualized the now-famous four models of public relations and the excellence theory that were generally adopted by public relation agencies across the globe. With so many significant milestones and theories of public relations established in the United States, it stands to reason that public relation practices would naturally adopt a western perspective.