A Career in Public Relations

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers” (Boorstin). Every aspect of a career in public relations is exciting and self-rewarding. The hours, job description, and clients give public relations specialists an exciting and ever-changing career.

The history of the career field of public relations all started when Julius Caesar hired a team to persuade the citizens that he was doing a good job running the area. Caesar’s influence led to public relations in the Unite States beginning in the 1800’s. Newspapers ran friendly columns to reward advertisers with “free publicity.” Then, in the 20th century, the official job title of “public relations specialist” came into play. Those first public relations specialists were publicity agents and mostly former journalists (Mogel). Now, having a career in public relations most nearly means that a person has the job of creating publicity for a specific brand or person (Lila B. Stair).

Furthermore, a public relations career is much more closely grouped with media relations these days than journalism. In the book, Making it in Public Relations: An Insider’s Guide, it is said that Media relations is the most dominant function of public relations. Its basic role is the origination of press information and the handling of requests from the media about a specialist’s subjects and activities. After all, the main goal of specialists is to present a positive public image of their client to the public (Mogel). The possible types of clients and fields vary wildly from each other. Some specialists can work in public relations consulting firms and hold campaigns for many clients. Other specialists can work in the advertising departments of major brands and w...

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...s in public relations are always exciting and ever changing. The different aspects of the job, along with unconventional office hours and locations, make this profession one of the most desirable in the country.

Works Cited

Wetfeet. Public Relations. 2008. Wetfeet. 18 February 2011 .

"Public Relations Specialists." Ferguson. Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance. Vol. 5. New York City: Infobase Publishing, 2008.

Jones, Brenda. PR Specialist Allison Hall. 23 February 2011.

Lila B. Stair, Leslie Stair. Careers in Marketing. 3. Book. Prod. VGM Career Books. Chicago, 2001.

Mogel, Leonard. Making it in Public Relations: An Insider's Guide to Career Opprotunities. Web. Prod. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Mahwah, 2002.

Public Relations. 18 February 2011 .

Public Relations Specialists. 2011. 18 February 2011 .