Public Relations Specialist Career

public-relations-specialistPublic relations specialists help companies and organizations maintain a positive image with their key audiences including the media, customers, partners and investors. If you become a public relations specialist, you might write news releases, coordinate interviews and meetings between executives and the media, create speeches or marketing materials, and plan events where your company can share information with important stakeholders.

As a public relations specialist, you might work in a particular area of an organization with targeted communications needs. For instance, if you worked in internal communications, you might be responsible for communications with employees about company policies, management direction, and training issues. If you work in public affairs, you might focus on communicating with government officials and politicians who control public policy that might affect your employer’s business.

Public Relations Specialist Career Snapshot

Public relations specialists can work in a variety of organizations including non-profit, health care, corporate or financial companies. They might also work for a public relations or marketing agency, which provides these services to its client companies. They usually work full-time, either in an office or at their client’s business. Some public relations specialists are self-employed.

Further details on a career as a public relations specialist are listed below (statistics from the May 2015 Bureau of Labor Statistics and Onet Online):

$56,770

is the average yearly salary for public relations specialists.

6%

increase in employment between 2014 and 2024.

92%

have a Bachelor’s degree while 8% have a Master’s degree.

Public Relations Specialist Education

Most public relations specialists earn a bachelor’s degree with few obtaining master’s degrees and professional training from associations and organizations later in their career.

Public Relations Specialist Job Duties

If you are a public relations specialist, you will need to write well and communicate clearly. You will also need to be organized and understand how people most effectively present and receive information. In some cases, public relations work can be stressful if your client or employer needs to address some negative situation like massive layoffs or an environmental accident. Public relations specialists need to understand how to manage the company’s long-term image in the wake of bad news.

Public Relations Specialist Salaries

If you select this field, you can expect to earn about $56,770 with entry-level jobs paying around $31,690 and those in the top tier earning around $110,080 per year (according to May 2015 BLS.gov statistics).

Public Relations Specialist Job Outlook

Employment for this career is projected to grow 6 percent between 2014 to 2024. Organizations will need to manage their reputations and communicate with their key audiences, especially when information travels online so quickly.

Public Relations Specialist Skills & Traits

Public Relations Specialist Skill Set:Required Abilities:Tools Used by Public Relations Specialists:Typical Work Activities:
• Active Listening
• Speaking
• Coordination
• Social Perceptiveness
• Time Management
• Oral Comprehension
• Oral Expression
• Speech Clarity
• Written Expression
• Speech Recognition
• Desktop/notebook computers
• Photocopiers
• Multi-line telephone systems
• Data base user interface and query software
• Graphics or photo imaging software
• Getting information
• Communicating with others
• Interacting with computers
• Creative thinking

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