Work Life

In many industries the skills in demand revolve around science and technology. It’s not too different in PR and communications, where digital and analytical knowledge is sought. Yet writing, seemingly an old-school skill, continues to play a major role in PR, combined with strategy and the above-mentioned digital, an informal survey of communicators and academics shows.

Effective and efficient networking presents a paradox that evokes the core skills of communications: how do you present yourself in a manner that’s quick, authentic, and accurately conveys everything about you without coming off as pure elevator pitch or spiel?

Renewed economic growth, a strong job market and the evolving nature of work are transforming the face of the labor market. We asked 14 PR leaders to tell us how their brands and agencies recruit and retain the best talent.

PR News’ just-released 2018 Graduate Education Guide for Communicators looks at the career benefits of pursuing a master’s degree in communications and how it can be a differentiator in the talent marketplace.

With July 4 upon us it means summer vacation season also has arrived. The question, though, is whether or not communicators, who are responsible for safeguarding the reputation of brands, can ever truly be off the clock. We look at surveys about vacations and being able to log out from your PR job. Another topic surveyed is attitudes on branded content.

In a perfect world, your summer vacation would begin the moment you set your inbox’s “out of office” message and leave your desk. As most professional communicators know, though, PR is far from a perfect world. Crises materialize that require your advice or input, while requests come down from the C-suite that you would be wise to address in a time-sensitive fashion.

if you’re applying for a PR job and get called in to meet face-to-face with potential employers, it’s to your benefit to assume that you’re up against a lot of stiff competition. Armed with that assumption, you can take simple steps that are guaranteed to make you stand out from the crowd.

We asked PRSA chief Anthony D’Angelo to provide his vision about what PR should be doing to boost its image as an ethical profession. This column is his response.

A career in PR can be many things. Usually one thing it is not is the glamorous, party-hopping profession portrayed in movies, television and novels. Sometimes PR pros are asked to represent brands whose positions on social and political issues they abhor. In other cases they’re asked to lie to protect the brand they represent. Veteran PR pro Arthur Solomon offers three questions aspiring PR pros should ponder before making their career choice.

As we enter the final days of the final week of 2017—a time when you or everyone around you is on vacation—this is the perfect time to adopt some processes so you can hit the ground running next week. And so here are 9 tips that will help you attack 2018 with renewed vigor. The best part is that they take very little time and the payoff can be large in terms of productivity and networking. In short, they’re a way to identify what you can prune so that you’ll have more time for issues that matter.