Land a Top Paying Job in Public Relations - Great Career With Great Prospects and Great Challenges
Do not ever say in your applications or at interview that you want to be in public relations because you can communicate and you like people. Those are shallow, jokey qualities that might win the response that you should consider being an undertaker.
And never admit to being shy. No one buys that. I told all my graduate trainees and applicants (100 and over 2000 respectively at the last count) that they could be shy only if they practised that at home on a Sunday. I never wanted to see timidity at work.
If you do manage to get onto the shortlist for an unadvertised job or apply for one that is advertised, then you will need killer instincts, but combined with Oscar-standard personal skills to beat the massive and impressive competition.
Winners will not be the best candidates but those least likely to fail
So minimise the risk. Go to the interview with a stunning work folio. Show the interviewer that you understand the demands, know the organisation, its environment, ambitions, strengths and weaknesses and you have exactly the right experience to prove you can handle this impossible position.
Real work will count for a lot. Remember to make the interview interesting and lively for the interviewer. He or she may be exhausted by the job or irritated by previous applicantsfrazzled. Some may resent you if they have no degree and has less experience of human relations at 40 than you had at 14.
The time to start planning for your job search is the day you start your degree course - or even earlier. Network and add to your contacts database constantly. Email these folk, send them ideas, ask them questions, quote them in your student work and send them copies. Networking works; I have introduced young would-be public relations professionals to top practitioners in some of the largest companies in the world.
If you are still at university, consider looking for a holiday job with a public relations firm. The work helps you demonstrate your skills and personality far more than a job interview can. Be willing to muck in, but don't let yourself be exploited. Making the coffee is fine, but only if you're given opportunities to use your skills as well.
You may have to approach public relations companies many times before you get anywhere. Regularly log on to public relations websites to get a sense of the issues. Set up a Google alert for public relations. Join your appropriate trade and professional bodies, even at student level. Go to the meetings. Offer to help, particularly as a press officer or similar. Keep examples of everything for your job folio.
Note that the best jobs, almost all those worth getting, may never be advertised and those that are may already have their short list prepared before the ad appears and, even if they haven't, you will face hundreds of other candidates likely to be better qualified, better prepared, better equipped and better than you. So if you are not sure you can make it, do yourself a great favour and save the heartache and give up now.
But if you are truly determined, you will get in, you will rise and enjoy a rewarding and fascinating career. I have... and I am a long way from finished yet!
For more advice, visit http://www.getstartedinpr.co.uk and check the world's best public relations career inside-track ebook, researched and written by Roger Haywood. Also see his blog on http://www.issuesmanagers.com
Roger Haywood is the best selling public relations author. He is chief executive of leading strategic consultancy Issues Managers and the only person to have chaired both the Chartered Institute of Public relations and the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He formed and chaired the world's largest partnership of business communications consultancies.
