What is it that I'm doing?
My friends, and admittedly parents, keep asking me what PR really is and what my job as an Assistant Account Executive will really mean?
I would not say I’m totally clueless about either questions but it is a bit tricky. Some basic stats suggest that PR is a top three graduate profession, about 35.000 people in the UK currently work in the sector and that generally more women work in PR although they are less seen in management positions (which is all about to change) and according to IPA it is a young industry with just about half of the employees being under thirty.
When I first realised I wanted to work in PR I was both excited and a bit apprehensive, both really for the same reason- the competition. There is a certain attraction about wanting something that some many other people think they are equally entitled to, or even better at. Certainly, at no other place than at assessment centres you meet people who are intelligent, on the ball and stimulating to talk to… much like yourself.
I was endlessly browsing the internet and googling “PR”, different definitions, graduate schemes, agencies and what not, trying to find out what it was all really about.
I found that essentially the characteristics needed where being able to multitask, have the gift of speech, being able to write and have great social skills. PR is in some ways like a Christmas present - you expect it to be something it’s not half the time. When I did my first work experience I was so excited to even be able to say “oh I work in PR” and then after just a few days saw its non-glamorous dark side. This was fine though and what made me go on, because I still loved all the hard work that came into it. Which is probably the trick.
Going back to answering everyone’s question, “what is PR”, being the third side of the advertising and marketing triangle, it’s basically about supervising brands reputations and generating money, something most companies have much picked up on during the last decade as the PR and marketing budgets have steadily increased.
PR is what smoothes over a disaster and what stresses success, affluence and change through influencing behaviour and opinions.
Now, what will I be doing? Lucky as I am to be starting work at the UK’s largest independent PR agency, what I do know is that I will be doing about a month at each practice they have, notably Bioscience, Corporate, Digital, Financial, Healthcare, JCPR (consumer), Public Affairs, StrategyOne (corporate target market research) and Technology. The benefit of this is to gain skills, ideas, methods and be influenced by the people you work with and of course develop your own edge. Additionally, you achieve a total understanding of what the agency is all about and where you ultimately want to end up.
At the end of the day, with just about everything else in life it is up to your own ambition and will to progress.
PR seems to be a fluff job because of its exterior. But scratch the surface and what you will find is clear and simple, hard work and people who are extremely goal oriented for themselves and for their clients. I hope to be one of them very soon.