Life before PR
By Tara Williams, Head of HR
Like many industries, in PR we’re encountering a few challenges when it comes to finding skilled candidates. To be blunt, there are too many jobs and not enough candidates to fill them. Which is why we’re taking a more rounded approach to recruitment, including attending job fairs at nearby universities – to help stimulate interest in the discipline of PR & marketing early on.
While developing a deck that really sells PR (and of course us as an employer!) I found myself using a lot of industry terminology (jargon 😊) and realised university students won’t know what it means and will likely be put off by it.
Which got me thinking about the things I didn’t know before joining a PR agency… like what PR professionals actually did (I’m a hardcore human resources specialist), what lead generation was or what influencer relations entailed.
Expecting that this was the experience of many of my colleagues, I asked them the question and this was what they said…
Before working in PR, I didn’t know what…
“A press release was!” Bekki Bushnell, Head of Business Development and Associate Director
“Circling back meant. Or edge computing.” Emily Fishburn, Senior Account Manager
“News hijacking! It was a term that baffled me for a while especially when it’s called different things such as fast action or fast response comment.” Angelo Suanno, JAE
“PR!!” Ellie Nash, Senior Digital Account Executive
“Before working in PR, I had no idea just how much technology went in to making my favourite TV programme appear on my screen – in my mind, it was just kind of there, and I had never given the actual logistics any thought!” Amber Chawner, Account Manager
“Interoperability.” Leo Nash, AE
“I had no idea what an influencer was, or how broad the term could actually be.” Sophie Sadler, Senior Account Director
“The channel!” Suzanne Griffiths, MD
“An ebook.” Laura Bundy, JAE
“IoT, DDoS, SOC, MDR, XDR…” Annabelle Tooby, AE
While some of these terms are specific to the industries our clients work in, it does highlight that truly modern PR encapsulates a lot more than just traditional media relations. And offers a world of opportunities to those ready to take the leap.
While I’ll stick to my strengths in HR, I love the fact that a career path in PR can be so varied – something I’ve seen first hand and one of the first things I mention to candidates just starting their careers.
Want to find out more about PR? Take a look at what we do as a B2B Tech PR Agency
