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Topic: PR Job entry
| Author | Message |
| Newser50 | Posted – 2/28/2008 2:22:39 PM | show profile | email poster Advice: I have lots of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, as well as a network news associate producer for a high-profile show. Am currently unemployed and would like to swing over to PR. How can I get hired, given I have zero PR experience. Seems like everyone wants me to have prior PR exp. Anyone have a job? Am willing to do whatever I can to learn the biz while on the job. Thanks. |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 2/28/2008 3:42:38 PM | show profile You probably need to get some experience to be taken seriously. Probably the best way without doing an internship is to volunteer for local nonprofits; they are often hungry for help, and it would give you a lot of great portfolio pieces. |
| Cyrus | Posted – 2/28/2008 5:46:39 PM | show profile Don't know who you're targeting in your search, but go for smaller agencies. They're much more flexible in terms of the experience formula they expect you to have. Most of the big agencies have very specific formulas that a lot of people would have a hard time fitting into. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| reelchick | Posted – 2/29/2008 5:33:14 PM | show profile | email poster GOOD ADVICE i'm also looking into moving to PR from Journalism (book/mag publishing). what would be the most lateral position to take from say an Editorial Assistant at a magazine to PR?? i've looked into transferable skills but there are many kinds of positions and i'd like to know what's the best fit in terms of entry level lateral moves. |
| reelchick | Posted – 2/29/2008 5:34:51 PM | show profile | email poster GOOD ADVICE i'm also looking into moving to PR from Journalism (book/mag publishing). what would be the most lateral position to take from say an Editorial Assistant at a magazine to PR?? i've looked into transferable skills but there are many kinds of positions and i'd like to know what's the best fit in terms of entry level lateral moves. |
| porkchopsandapplesauce | Posted – 3/2/2008 8:30:19 AM | show profile | email poster ADVICE: from journalism to PR 1) make sure you want to make the move, because if you do, you can NEVER go back to serious journalism. Editors don't consider anyone working in the PR industry "pure journalists" no matter what your writing experience before, during or after your PR gig(s) 2) that said, many PR companies (esp. corporate and financial PR firms) like to hire former journalists b/c they KNOW you can write and that is extrememly important in PR. 3) if you are serious abt finding a PR gig, when pitching yourself to PR jobs, talk about your expeirence as a journalist and how you therefore know what journalists are looking for, how to reach other journalists, how to come up with angles, hooks, etc. 4) don't just look to PR b/c it seems, easy or glamorous or....fill in the blank. It's hard thankless work and people hate flacks even more than hacks. Be serious abt wanting to go into PR before jumping into it! Good luck! |
| Cyrus | Posted – 3/2/2008 2:21:54 PM | show profile The most typical entry-level PR position is an account coordinator. They're basically the administrative support person on an account team and those teams usually have an acct exectutive, account supervisor and a VP. At very small agencies, some of these "rungs" on the ladder won't exist, so their lowest might be an AE. Also, at small agencies, there are often not account teams because the account sizes are smaller. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| onthespot-media | Posted – 4/4/2008 9:58:46 PM | show profile Based on your statement, I?m sure you possess excellent writing skills and you have great media contacts. Could you turn a dull release into a cutting-edge, compelling story? With your background, I would go after a job in media relations, but be creative on your approach and go after agencies with strong ties in your area of expertise. Find out how much publicity they?ve gotten for their clients lately and explain how you can help to leverage their client?s profile, during the interview. Definitely, you could be a valuable asset for an agency or corporation seeking to increase awareness of their brand in the media? You can serve as a media liaison; you can work in the editorial services department and even help with media training, which is always needed and could be very expensive. Check out the following link; it explains what to look when hiring a media relations pro? Good luck with your search! http://www.prsa.org:80/supportfiles/news/viewNews.cfm?pNewsID=842347251 |
