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Public Relations Careers | 5 Roles of the PR Professional
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Public relations is an ever growing and changing field. Professionals hoping to work in the industry need to be versatile, ready and willing to adapt, and able to keep up with the fast-paced environment PR jobs offer. Public relations is an industry that can only grow as more and more companies realize the importance of integrating PR with other business departments. Moreover, PR is being tied to and connected with better customer and media relations through things like social media, making the PR professional and more desired, in demand team member.

Aside from having the needed skills and education (which most hiring firms or companies are looking for), the hard part is knowing where to look for a job that you can apply for. Also difficult is knowing what positions you want to apply for. There are a few different positions in the PR industry and knowing what responsibilities and roles are attributed to each is an important thing to consider. Because many positions will overlap and responsibilities may only be delegated to a particular person because the manager thought it was a good fit, every professional will need to prepare themselves to wear many hats. Here are just a few roles that a PR professional may play:

1. Liaison. As a PR professional, a large part of your responsibilities lie in being the go-to, in-between person. Whether that be between the company and the media or company executives to the company employees, you need to be well informed, honest, and aware of both sides' needs.
   
   
2. Supervisor/Director. This doesn't necessarily mean the supervising of others but more that a PR professional will need to supervise, direct, and assist in the preparation of media materials, press kits, multimedia, and other presentation materials. Delegating responsibilities may very well be a part of this role, however, but this is more aimed at the supervision of activities such as editing, writing, and distributing things like white papers, press releases, case studies, speeches, etc.
   
   Furthermore, the PR professional will need to be the supervisor of the brand/company image online and offline. This means measuring ROI, which can be done through monitoring WOM and using web analytics. For more on why this sort of supervision/monitoring is important, check out PR Tactics | Monitor What's Being Said About Your Company Online.
   
   
3. Media relations manager. In addition to being a liaison for the media, the PR pro also needs to create and maintain relations with the media. Media relations involves the communicating with, pitching to, and understanding of media professionals. They have needs and goals to meet as a part of their media role, but that doesn't automatically mean that they want to hear what you have to say, or that what you have to share will be relevant to them. For more on media relations, check out What Are Media Relations, and Why Are They Important? or Media Relations | 4 Reasons to Build Media Relationships.
   
   
4. Customer relations manager. Crisis management is becoming more and more the role of the PR team, and much of this can stem from every day customer relations management. Supervising WOM and online brand presence, the PR pro can see where customers are unhappy and where the company can respond. The key here is to respond, as that is the basis for successful customer relations. Use this opportunity to not only help in the diffusing of a potential crisis but to also provide more value for your customers. Public relations is really about both customer and media relations, so this role should definitely be included in the various ones a PR professional will play.
   
   
5. Advisor. As the PR professional, you will often be assisting in the preparation of company executives for events, speeches, interviews, etc. Your job there is to ensure they know what to say, when to say it, and how to carry themselves. You will need to advise them on how to answer questions and how to interact with the media. This is a crucial part that the PR team plays.
   

To prepare for these responsibilities, keep yourself up-to-date with changing trends by reading, participating online for your own personal brand, and taking on internships. Internships taken in college can be very beneficial for a career as it can assist in the opening of doors; it can also help students to better relate the curriculum with the real-life experience you can get. More importantly, an internship is a "safe" place where you can ask questions and make mistakes.

What other roles do you see in PR? Do these line up with your experience or expectations?