What is the career outlook for public relations specialist?

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Have you thought about getting into public relations as a career path? What does a public relations specialist do? Simply put, a public relations specialist is responsible for creating positive publicity for their client. There are many venues, which can be used to enhance a client’s image and reputation. The key is to have the right tools and know how to use them. It is a communications-based career and being able to market effectively is critical for reaching the right audiences and goals.

Positivity is Your Job

Using tools to create all positive information about a company and its image can be tricky. It will take outstanding communication skills and being able to market better than a used car salesperson. Your job is to create and maintain relationships with those that influence the public. You must have productive relationship with journalists, leaders, bloggers and social media audiences. You will act as a liaison for communication material, press releases, marketing material, speeches, story pitches, and help with interviews, presentations as well as conferences.

Part of the Public Relations Representative is also to deflect any negativity. Many things can create negative publicity and kill a company’s image. There is an art to being able to problem solve and resolve a negative image. Changing the public mind on “image” is not always an easy thing to do. Much of the public does not believe anything they cannot see for themselves. Your job is to give them an image to cling to and believe.

The Career Outlook

According to U.S. News, it is stated that the demand for PR Specialist will grow 12% between 2012 and 2022 with a growth of 27,000 jobs. The median salary is projected to be at $54,000 with the bottom 10% being around $30,000 and the top 10% being over $100,000.

To attend college to get a public relations degree, you will want to make sure you cover communications. When you are dealing with the public as a relations specialist, many companies will want you to have prior experience. An internship will help you along to enhance your experience.

Public relations also include skills such as administrative and computer skills. Since you will be dealing with the press and social media, you may have to create presentations and press releases as well as design communication and marketing materials to hand to the public and for downloads on the internet. People like to be informed and want to be able to research the information you are giving them, not just take your word for it.

There will be interviews and you will also work closely with clients to come up with plans and strategies to deliver to the public to create and maintain those productive relationships. A company who has a reputation and image that is positive is the kind of company people want to do business with. It helps make the company become sustainable, creating a solid foundation for growth.