Example Career: Public Relations Managers

Career Description

Plan, direct or coordinate activities designed to create or maintain a favorable public image or raise issue awareness for their organization or client.

What Job Titles Public Relations Managers Might Have

• Account Executive
• Account Supervisor
• Public Relations Director
• Public Relations Manager (PR Manager)

What Public Relations Managers Do

• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with clients, government officials, and media representatives and use these relationships to develop new business opportunities.
• Write interesting and effective press releases, prepare information for media kits, and develop and maintain company internet or intranet web pages.
• Identify main client groups and audiences, determine the best way to communicate publicity information to them, and develop and implement a communication plan.
• Assign, supervise, and review the activities of public relations staff.
• Develop and maintain the company's corporate image and identity, which includes the use of logos and signage.
• Respond to requests for information about employers' activities or status.
• Manage communications budgets.
• Direct activities of external agencies, establishments, and departments that develop and implement communication strategies and information programs.
• Draft speeches for company executives and arrange interviews and other forms of contact for them.
• Evaluate advertising and promotion programs for compatibility with public relations efforts.
• Manage special events, such as sponsorship of races, parties introducing new products, or other activities the firm supports, to gain public attention through the media without advertising directly.
• Facilitate consumer relations or the relationship between parts of the company, such as the managers and employees, or different branch offices.
• Formulate policies and procedures related to public information programs, working with public relations executives.
• Establish goals for soliciting funds, develop policies for collection and safeguarding of contributions, and coordinate disbursement of funds.
• Confer with labor relations managers to develop internal communications that keep employees informed of company activities.
• Produce films and other video products, regulate their distribution, and operate film library.
• Observe and report on social, economic, and political trends that might affect employers.
• Maintain company archives.

What Public Relations Managers Should Be Good At

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

What Public Relations Managers Need to Learn

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.