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Careers for Public Relations Part Two
Hope everyone was able to get all the classes they needed for next semester and did well on their midterms. Sorry for not having an update last week, but my midterm schedule was hectic. Today I have three more possible career paths you can look into when applying for internships or jobs after graduation.
Public Relations Agency
Many times people will use their degree to work for a public relations agency. Your main job working at an agency is simple—making people look good. Clients range from all different types of organizations from the entertainment industry all the way to non-profit organizations. The key tool to utilize in this type of career path is to network. Like my previous post stated, networking is the best tool to communicate with others when you need something. It also is a key communication skill. Press releases, community relations, and event planning all fall under this category of work. Working in a PR agency is NOT a 9 to 5 job. You are constantly running around assisting other clients and trying to help out your PR agency gain a positive reputation. It is probably one of the most difficult fields of public relations, but if you can successfully make a mark in a PR firm, many doors will open for you in the public relations industry.
Freelancing
Freelancing is entrepreneurship—starting your own public relations firm. Most of the tasks are similar to what you would do working in a public relations agency. The only difference is you are your own boss. You are the one choosing the clients and you are the one choosing how to promote your clients. This probably seems ideal to most people, but working for yourself is not as fun as it sounds. If something goes wrong, the blame falls solely on yourself. Also, this is still not a 9 to 5 job, especially when you first begin freelancing. It takes a lot of practice and patience to create a successful freelance firm and most people do not start off here right after graduation.
Public Relations for a Company
Most large corporations and businesses have a specific department dedicated to public relations. This job includes everything you could imagine when promoting a positive, branded message and image of a company. As part of a company’s public relations team, you will be dealing with press releases, press conferences, crisis management, event planning, and in some cases marketing. This is a great first job out of college to learn everything there is to know about public relations and finding out which specific areas you want to focus on as public relations practitioner.
There are so many opportunities with a degree in public relations, whether it be your major or minor. The key to unlocking these opportunities comes from gaining experiences from interning. I will go more into depth about internships in my next post. Good luck on any late midterms you might have!
—Phyllis
