The Art of Smarm: Public Relations, Yeah!

The field of Public Relations is one of confidence. A job in Public Relations would entail being the public face of an entity, which could be a nonprofit, an organization, or even the government. It is a very media-centric job that needs confident, communicative, outgoing people. You could help rebuild a politician’s career or launch a brand new company’s business endeavor. Public Relations has direct control of how the company or organization is presented to the rest of the world. Writing and language are central parts of the job because Public Relations specialists need to convince people, much like advertising.

Problem solving and interpersonal interaction are common on the day-to-day activities of a Public Relations specialist. Preparing press releases and contacting people in the media are also common. Expect to set up and lead meetings, press releases and other activities between your organization’s leadership or representatives and the public. Besides writing, specialists also have to make other presentations at meetings. A lot of public speaking is naturally involved and a specialist has to be comfortable saying what they write. Various goings-on of the organization might have to be reported to higher-ups and government associations. Any new projects the organization wanted to do would require miscellaneous proposals to investors, the government, chambers of commerce, neighborhood associations, what have you. Advantageous majors would be Public Relations, communications, journalism and advertising.


Employment opportunities for Public Relations specialists are projected to increase to be higher than the average for other occupations throughout the year 2016, but as it is a specific job that can be done by few people, it can be an extremely competitive field.
There are a few accreditation programs for Public Relations, but they are neither necessary nor standard. Many self-taught “street smart” people can excel in the field as it is mostly a game of persuasion and assurance. It is in the same vein as advertising. You need to convince people that what your client intends to do, or has already done is either 1. Going to be crucial for everyone’s wellbeing in the future and the kind of thing your children will gladly look back to you and say My dad helped this dream become a reality, or 2. Was an extremely regrettable single occurrence for which your client deeply regrets and wishes only to put behind, move forward and learn from, because Hey, everyone makes mistakes! Confidence is key. You need to be the kind of person that is trustworthy and dependable – people should gravitate towards you and want to be your friend. Being able to spin a negative into a positive is an invaluable resource in this field, and you can be sure to count on the fact that you will be one of the first ones called in the event of any number of disasters happening.

-Dave Randall