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Public Relations Officer

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Are you good at turning a crisis into a conversation? Are you confident and resilient? If you have excellent communication skills, a career as a public relations officer could be for you.

Are you interested in starting a career as a public relations officer? Explore the current opportunities in marketing and PR available to you right now.

Types of public relations officers

Working in public relations has many facets. The type of role you go into can be specialised based on your interests and previous experience. Here are the types of public relations jobs that you could get:

Media relations

Working in media relations means acting as the organisation’s spokesperson for the press. Your work could be writing press releases for the media and conducting or organising interviews with the press. 

Community relations

In community relations, you’re working to bring the organisation’s brand to communities, whether this is local or online. This could be through organising events or projects giving back to the community.

Corporate and social responsibility 

When you work in this area of public relations, you’re responsible for how the organisation is perceived based on any ethical or charitable endeavours. You might be making recommendations for how the organisation can improve how it interacts with the public through its social welfare projects.

Public affairs

Working in public affairs means dealing with government policy. You liaise with politicians and discuss policy changes that will benefit the organisation you work for.

Crisis management

Crisis management deals with any big, immediate issues that an organisation faces. This could be recalling products, mitigating negative actions that an employee has made or generally sorting out any public issue that might negatively impact the way the public views the organisation.

Employee relations

When working in employee relations, you’re making sure employees of an organisation have an overall positive view of the organisation so they’re satisfied at work and feel proud to work for the organisation.

If you want to find out more about public relations roles, read this guide to the different types of PR.

What does a public relations officer do?

There are many responsibilities that you have as a public relations officer despite the type of work you’re doing in the sector.

  • Plan strategies for future work that the public will see
  • Collaborate with the marketing team to work out the direction of the company’s outputs. This could include overseeing social media posts and advertising campaigns
  • Write and edit press releases
  • Talk to stakeholders and representatives of other companies at events
  • Conduct press interviews and answer questions on behalf of the company
  • Organise and oversee events
  • Help colleagues or clients speak to the press and deal with questions

Public relations officer career path

Whilst your career in public relations begins at an entry level, you have many possibilities for where your working life could go. You may decide that you prefer the advertising and social media aspect of public relations and transition into marketing. Similarly, you may like the writing side more so move to a copywriting or journalism role. Equally, you may decide that public relations is the ideal career for you. Here are the typical steps in public relations jobs that you could take:

Entry-level

The typical starting level job in public relations is junior public relations officer. In this entry-level position, you work with your team to make presentations, write reports and answer questions that the press or public has. This job teaches you how to work well as a public relations officer and gives you the skills you need to succeed without the responsibility associated with more senior positions.

Once you have demonstrated your skills and learned the basics, you move to a mid-level public relations officer. This promotion gives you more scope for speaking to the press, dealing with bigger problems that arise and attending conferences and events on behalf of the client.

Career progression

Senior public relations officers take a longer-term view and come up with strategies for the client’s future. Your job includes writing and recording press releases, speaking to the press for the client and writing published articles about the client.

It is the public relations manager’s job to maintain a positive image of the client in the press. You come up with methods of increasing press awareness of the client and highlighting the positive work that they do. You organise and attend press events to demonstrate the fantastic work of your client.

Future career

Senior account executives are responsible for organising and maintaining the clients for a public relations firm. This means overseeing the work that your teams are doing and making sure it remains up to a good standard. You liaise with potential clients, discussing the work you can do for them and why they should sign up with you. You also speak to unhappy clients and persuade them to stay with the company.

If you have enough experience and a great track record, you can become a freelance public relations officer or manager. This means having your own company where you look after your list of clients. If you’re successful, you could employ people to work with you and establish yourself well in the public relations market.

Public relations officer salaries

There are many opportunities and roles for public relations officers available to you. Here are the salaries that you could get at different stages of public relations work:

  • Entry-level jobs like junior public relations officers earn around £25,000 to £28,000 per year.
  • Mid-level public relations officers earn between £25,000 and £30,000 per year.
  • Senior public relations officers earn between £33,000 and £45,000 per year.
  • Public relations managers earn an average of £42,000 per year.
  • More senior roles like the head of communications earn an average of £66,000 per year.

Qualifications and training 

Beginning your work in public relations means having the right qualifications. Here are the steps you should take to get to a public relations role:

Education

You can start your career with an undergraduate degree in English, journalism, marketing or another similar subject. There don’t tend to be undergraduate degrees specifically in public relations. However, there are master’s degrees in public relations. Whilst you don’t need a master’s degree for the career path, having one could help you develop the right skills for the job and have a better overview of the career.

Work experience 

Having relevant work experience can position you well to getting a job in public relations. You could shadow someone who works in public relations for a week as work experience. Alternatively, you could do an internship with a public relations firm or in a public relations department of a company. 

If you’re interested in internships, explore the Marketing & PR internships available to you right now.

Professional qualifications

There are many professional qualifications available to public relations officers. These are typically intended for people working in public relations already who want to improve their skills and demonstrate their worth. Having a degree, apprenticeship or work experience in public relations is more relevant to your current level of experience.

If you’re interested in a professional qualification, consider the public relations qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations or the PR Academy.

Public relations officer skills

To be a successful public relations officer, you need a number of transferable skills that will help you do your job well. Here are some soft skills ideal for public relations officers:

  • Verbal communication. At all levels of public relations careers, you use your excellent communication skills on a daily basis. This can be discussing a strategy with the client, talking about future press releases with colleagues from your team and other departments and talking to the press about the client’s work. Communicating well in a calm and concise but authoritative way significantly improves your work in public relations.
  • Written communication. Like verbal communication, you need great written communication skills to work in public relations. You write reports for future strategies and how effective the work you’re doing is. You also write articles for publications. Being able to write in a professional but creative way may increase your client’s chance of having exposure in future articles.
  • Work well under pressure. A client may make a wrong move which causes a media or public backlash. Being able to deal with issues like this in a calm and rational manner despite the stressful situation is a major benefit for public relations work.

Pros and cons of being a public relations officer

Before committing to a career as a public relations officer, consider these pros and cons to see if it’s the right job for you:

Pros

  • There are lots of jobs available
  • You get to meet and talk to many people during the working day 
  • With enough experience, you can become self-employed and choose the clients that you want to work for 
  • You can influence how the public perceives your client

Cons

  • You may have unpredictable working hours which could make maintaining a good work-life balance difficult
  • You may experience criticism and negativity through social media
  • Your public relations campaigns might not always be successful which discourages clients from working with you
  • Whilst you can influence how the public views your client, you can’t control it so there might be some negative media reports which you can’t prevent

Public relations officer work-life balance

Whilst some public relations officer jobs may advertise a 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday working life, the reality is often different. Depending on the industry you work in, you may receive messages outside of working hours that you need to deal with like suggesting sources for a news story or dealing with a problem that has arisen. If the client you’re representing has some kind of crisis, it’s your job to deal with it and make sure your client comes out looking as good as they can. This may mean long and unpredictable working hours.

Public relations officer employers

Since many companies, organisations and individuals want a larger public and media awareness of their brand, there is a high requirement for public relations officers. Many top companies offer opportunities for graduates in public relations. Here are the top companies that you could work for:

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More information

If you’re interested in a career in public relations, explore the public relations officer jobs that you could apply for right now.

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