Advice for Anyone Considering a Career in PR

Having a career in the public relations sector may sound and appear glamorous at times, but let me tell you, it is not for the faint of heart. A career in public relations means putting in a lot of long hard hours, sweat and tears. In order to make it in this industry, you have to be quick on your feet, have thick skin and possess a fierce amount of grit.

In the world of PR, you should expect nothing less than to work your butt off. You can kiss the “standard” 9-5 job goodbye in favor of long hours spent at the office followed by many late nights. For most people in the industry, being prepared to work at a “hair’s notice” is the name of the game. You are required to work in a fast-paced and ever-changing and often challenging environment while learning new things on the fly everyday. If you are willing to work long hours at a “hair’s notice,” sacrifice some of your Netflix and chill time and are okay with (sometimes) working extremely long hours to the point where you’ve had to sacrifice a little bit of your personal time then this might just be the career for you! If you’re willing to dive head first into a fast-paced, ever-changing work landscape, then PR could be your new career! Again, PR isn’t an easy career. However, if you’ve got a roll-up-your-sleeves can-do attitude then the number of opportunities in this field are limitless. “The sky's the limit” couldn’t be a more fitting adjective to describe a day in the life of a PR professional!

You may be asking yourself right now, what possible joy may I get out of a career in PR? Despite the grim picture I have just painted up above, there are some key moments that make this job worth the extremely long work weeks. One of those moments is the day when you see your client’s work being recognized and rewarded. Your client’s fifteen minutes of fame is what makes staying up until the wee hours of the morning, sleeping 3 hours a night, waking up early and running behind schedule all worth it in the end. It’s knowing that your countless hours of effort and dedication to your client’s brand is what got their name publicized. That feeling of recognition in knowing that you were the driving force behind making your client’s brand well-known and respected is what makes a career in PR worth it at the end of the day.