Well, a miracle has occurred. I finally secured an interview through a business associate of Mr. Cookie’s. It’s with a PR firm, and I don’t know a whole heck of a lot about PR. (I worked in executive assistance/office management for about 15 years and went back to school – I just graduated with my BA in English and do a lot of creative writing).
I have checked out their website and realize that I need the “PR Firms for Dummies” definition because I’m a bit overwhelmed. Can anyone give me a basic run-down of what average PR firms actually do? (I’m aware of well-known instances of a celebrity/political figure hiring them to do damage control, but I doubt the majority are that extreme).
I’m not interviewing for a specific position - they are expanding and told my husband’s colleague that they’d try to find a place for me if there’s a good fit. Since it’s a career change, I’m open to anything, as long as there would be growth potential.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, I thought you meant Puerto Rican…
nevermind.
First of all, best of luck!
PR firms have different specialties, but mostly they try to create “buzz.”
When the Kunilou kids were young (and Mrs. Kunilou, as well) they kept trying to figure out what exactly I did for a living. Finally I came up with the explanation “I try to get people to talk about things.”
PR firms come up with promotions, sell reporters on ideas for stories, put clients in the middle of big events, write speeches/brochures/web sites.
People who work at PR firms do a lot of writing, spend a lot of time on the phone, and spend a little time actually coming up with ideas and trying to sell them to clients.
Most PR is for products – anything from detergent to movies to celebrities. Sometimes it’s for issues and sometimes it’s to reverse a negative perception (damage control.)
PR is a perfect field for Type A personalities who can hit deadlines, like working through details for a big payoff, who thrive on being able to pull an all-nighter revising plans when things don’t work out, and who consider “No” to be the first step in negotiations. It requires a lot of administrative support for workflows, status reports and paying attention to literally hundreds of details that can make or break a project.
The money is pretty good, and for someone who’s really good, the money can be very good. However, a lot of people burn out and the average job length is something like 22 months.
I hope this helps.