To carry out the tasks of the public relations service effectively, it is necessary to distribute duties among the personnel of the department.
Much here depends on the needs of the organization, the individual abilities of employees.
Nowadays, the following personnel distribution practice has been established in the public relations department.
The standard nomenclature of posts in the department, and in the organization, are the following:
Senior executive – head of public relations department, director of PR;
Middle level – a manager (or senior manager) for PR, leaders of areas (research, creative, media relations, etc.);
The junior link is an assistant to a PR manager, specialists such as a sociologist, an analyst (sometimes within one person), a copywriter (text writer), a speechwriter (writes speeches and reports to management), a designer, an Internet specialist, etc.
Often, it is invited from the outside to a single project or group of projects.
Experienced PR managers advise that the expansion of the department be started gradually, with a combination of posts.
Thus, the media manager can simultaneously perform the duties of a journalist and a specialist in the creation and dissemination of operational information, monitoring, and other works on the Internet.
Marketing information can be ordered either from the relevant department of the organization or from third-party organizations.
Designer – hire for an hourly fee.
As experts advice, you can reduce the department to four people: the head of the department, the media relations manager, the individual projects manager (primarily engaged in organizational aspects of the work) and the secretary-clerk.
Even the most economical and prudent manager of a small company can afford to support such kind of staff.
In small organizations, the practice of a public relations manager in the singular is also common, with subordination directly to the manager.
In such cases, his work includes all the main areas of product promotion that the company management considers priorities.
Such a person can be entrusted with the development and maintenance of the entire complex of advertising and PR campaigns following the corporate policy of marketing communications: the development of concepts, the choice of means and advertising media, budgeting, media planning, the choice of contractors, the evaluation of efficiency … Depending on the specifics of the type of activity of the company and set priorities.
Therefore, in many trades and production companies, it is often in his immediate responsibilities to work with corporate media, promotion of the company’s website, development, and implementation of programs for interaction with target audiences.
The second option – the manager is only one of the employees of the unit, and then he is charged with a specific area of work.
If this is a media relations manager (also known as a press secretary), then such duties may include creating news stories, writing articles, press releases, interviews, maintaining a corporate website, etc.
Often there is still a situation where a public relations specialist can be loaded with meaningful work, and the organization will not get a result related to the activity in the sphere of public relations, and later will be disappointed in this direction.
In such cases, to formally build relationships with management, it is necessary to refer to the job description, which gives an idea of the content of the activities of a public relations specialist, depending on the status.
PR Director
- Together with senior management, develops public relations objectives and strategies for creating a favourable corporate image of the company.
- Forms the concept of activity in planning, developing, and implementing corporate policy.
- Develops methods and programs for implementing public relations.
- Tracks significant trends in information resources, investment policy
- Monitors the dissemination of internal and external information, improves, and oversees budget execution.
PR manager
- Participates, together with the top management of the company, in developing corporate tasks and bringing them to the notice of individuals both inside and outside the organization to create a favorable corporate image.
- Determines develops and implements a public relations strategy.
- Gives answers to requests for information that strengthen or support the company’s vision
- Participates in meetings on the approval of the budget for advertising campaigns.
Specialist
- Participates in the planning, preparation, and dissemination through mass media of mass and advertising information about the organization
- Prepares written messages, speeches and personal messages (on behalf of management at various levels)
- Develops the concept of the organization’s interaction with the media, authorities, local community groups
- Engaged in media planning, buys space and time for advertising.
The distribution of working time also depends on the status of the employee: a higher-ranking professional spends 50 per cent of his time on analysis and discussion, 40 on administration, and ten on technical issues.
A beginning specialist spends half of his time on technical issues; he spends about 10 per cent of his working time on discussion since his opinion is only heard for minor problems.
On the other hand, he has the opportunity to accumulate diverse professional experience, fulfilling assignments, or working in projects with more experienced specialists.
About 30% of the time is spent (after deciding questions of general policy and management) on communications with the media, about 25% on interactions with the internal and external public, about 30% on the preparation of special events and actions, about 10% on maintaining relations with powerful and influential people.
More than half of the time allotted for issues of the budget policy of the PR department is spent on reporting.
As can be seen, the range of duties of a public relations specialist is quite broad and varied.
To select an employee who meets the requirements of the profession, a professional public relations specialist profile has been developed.
Professigramma is a document containing the necessary professional requirements, which should be focused on the development of a person’s professional qualities in the process of mastering a profession or filling a position.
The professiograma reflects the professional requirements formulated based on the analysis of the professional activities of the most successful specialists.
As a rule, a professiograma contains a) employee’s model (professional, business, personal qualities); b) job model (functions, duties, tasks, responsibilities, etc.).
The qualities that are necessary for a public relations specialist can be divided into three areas: 1) communicative; 2) emotional and volitional; 3) cognitive.
We turn to the consideration of the qualities that make up these areas.
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Communicative sphere
This area is the main because the PR specialist always has to establish and maintain contacts with various people, and this skill is key to his professional activities.
A fundamental basis for the development of this sphere is such a person’s quality as the need for communication with other people, the initial desire to be included in interpersonal communication, orientation towards joint activities, the need for emotional relationships with people.
The next outstanding quality is the ability for empathy — this ability of a person to sympathy and compassion for other people, to understanding their states.
Understanding contributes to the balance of interpersonal relationships. It also includes the ability to listen to another person, the ability to perceive the other’s point of view.
The most important quality related to speech communication is mastering public speaking to influence the audience effectively.
The second level of communication, which must also be taken into account by a specialist in the field of public relations, is non-verbal communication.
Remember that information in the process of communication is transmitted by words only by 7%, by the character of sound and intonation – by 38% and the remaining 55% of information is transmitted by non-verbal means – gestures, facial expressions, and appearance.
It is also necessary to note such qualities as optimism, sense of humor and personal charm – that is, the ability to attract people, to direct and hold the attention of others, and because of this to conquer success.
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Emotional and volitional qualities
This group includes such qualities as self-control, self-government – the ability to control one’s feelings, behavior in the current situation, emotional balance – the necessary control over one’s emotions.
Social activity – a manifestation of interest in the world around us – is the ability to act assertively, energetically in solving practical problems, the ability to bring things to an end.
For this, you need to have the ability to work, the ability to work a lot and productively.
The activity of a public relations specialist is to establish contacts and negotiate with people and organizations continually, so he must be confident in himself and his capabilities.
To do this, he should have adequate, but not high self-esteem; it can also interfere with the establishment of contacts.
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Learning, cognitive sphere
This area includes such qualities as common sense, a lively, flexible mind, the ability to deal with several problems at the same time, attention to detail, initiative – a unique creative manifestation of activity, the nomination of ideas and suggestions, creativity – the ability to solve original problems.
Each new situation implies a new and only innovative solution applicable to it.
Therefore, work in the field of public relations is an opportunity to demonstrate your abilities fully and realize your creative potential.
Thus, summing up, we can say that today a right specialist in public relations requires such qualities and skills as communication, organizational skills, and the ability to take responsibility, to make decisions quickly, the knowledge to empathy, flexibility and at the same time hardness, the ability to find compromises, charisma, and charm.
A public relations specialist must be an all-around person and have in-depth and comprehensive knowledge in such areas as politics, history, sociology, psychology, literature, and economics, speak foreign languages and have a right writing style.
Also, since PR specialists, owning various psychological techniques and technologies have the opportunity to influence people’s emotions, control the human mind, and shape public opinion, such specialists must have honesty and ethics.
An important role is played by good taste and culture.
Finally, specialists in the field of PR need the ability to work in a team understand the mindset of other people to be sensitive and tolerant, to be as open and honest as possible, it is crucial to acquire the skills to participate in the discussion, to learn to speak in essence.
And, of course, as in any field of activity, a PR specialist needs real work experience for the development of all necessary qualities and skills.
Job descriptions and professiograms are documents that work efficiently at the first, formal, stage in the recruitment process for the public relations department.
This universal tool will help substantiate the requirements for the applicant, as well as identify the place of each employee in a department or organization.
If you’re looking for a job as a Public Relations Officer, you can find a job with Jobsora.
