Are PR people worthless? How useful is the public relations industry?

I'd imagine PR people aren't worth much unless they're very good, i.e. know how to actually develop relationships with the press, think creatively, write well, etc. Spam press releases don't do jack in a big, media-saturated city.

who knows a lot about the PR industry? if i take a PR job out of college, is it difficult to "switch" to other industries in media, like publishing, for example? ive been offered a job and id like to take it but i dont want to necessarily be "stuck" in PR for the rest of my life--it seems to me that id be in contact with editors and producers and people in publishing, film, tv, radio, music, etc., all of which are fields that im interested in. will spending a year (or two) at a PR place limit my options (specifically w/r/t to media/entertainment industries) in the future?

am i also totally screwed given that i dont really have a career plan or a specific idea of what i want to do besides some vague interest in fields that i think i might be good at/interested in?

Sounds like you're in exactly the same position as most people your age. If you had a definite concrete plan in mind I'd recommend following it but as you don't, other than "I'd vaguely quite like to move into publishing or something at some point in the future" I'd say take the job.

Moving won't be that difficult a couple of years down the line, you'll probably make some decent contacts and will get a good feel for how things work on the other side of the fence. I can't really see it limiting your options, especially if you don't particularly mind moving for a paycut later.

BEVARE!

one of canada's most celebrated terrible directors did movie/fest PR for years before crossing over. seemed like if anything it really helped his career.

a job that allows you to make a ton of contacts isn't a bad thing.

people will wish you dead frequently, tho

If you're good at your PR job you can cross over into most media careers, esp. publishing editorial and the good marketing jobs. Just keep every phone number ever, don't be dismissive of people (you really never know).

PR is a very wierd industry. Not all PR work consists of trying to make scumbags look philanthropic or polluters look squeaky-clean, but a substantial portion of PR work is either morally repugnant or completely inane. If you get involved in it, try to stick to the inanitites and leave the morally repugnant jobs alone.

well, a lot of things are morally repugnant or completely inane.

I think he made it clear that it was arts/entertainment-based. If so, a good crossover to other parts of same industry is totally doable.

- How was your day, dear?

- Great! I invented a mascot for the chemical industry. The artist is working out the kinks, but the concept is a little butler with a beaker for a body.

- That's nice, hon.

- There was a lot of disagreement with how the gradations should be marked on the beaker - y'know, metric or USA?

- Metric?

- Yeah. They do some business in Europe, I think. Anyway, those memos were just flying around the office and people were getting pretty hot about it, but I stepped in and suggested it just have the little horizontal lines, but it should be turned slightly so you can't read how they're labeled. It took a while. I really had to sweat it out and they all came around in the end.

- You're so smart, dear.

- I just hope the Boss noticed.

thanks for the advice guys. the firm id be working for is like 80% arts/entertainment--my first job would actually involve a retirement home company (:-/) but after that id be moving elsewhere, probably music or publishing

im also considering going to grad school sometime in the next 3 or so years so this may be a moot point anyway

End your days at beautiful Golden Manors Retirement Pavillion, where rats aren't such a big problem anymore!

hilarious!!!!!!

Straight Simpsons ripoff, y'know. Love it or hate it.

i know people who do music/arts p.r. because they actually really like music and arts. i'm sure they do a lot of scut work for people and events they're not really interested in, and of course everything they write has to be SUPER ENTHUSIASTIC, but they also get to do stuff they enjoy. as a reporter i've always appreciated a good p.r. person -- someone who can put you in touch with who you need to get in touch with, get you information or cds or whatever.

if the job pays well and isn't some weird fly-by-night company and does in fact have a few well-connected people in it, hell, one decent person in it, then take the job! everyone/every company needs PR/coms/writing/media people at some point - the skills are highly transferable. believe me when i say that most people are really bad at PR and most people really can't write in an 'argument/logic'/marketing style. your skills are and will be valued, somewhere. but you may also be surrounded by douches, but that is often the case no matter where you may be.

there's some grand statistic floating around about how most people change careers (not just jobs, careers) an average of at least 4 times in a lifetime. it might be 6. i don't know. if i were being my PR self i would a) look that up, and b) make you buy it. but eff that. in the end i look at PR as communications, which is not nec a more gentle thing but maybe at least a more uh, diplomatic thing.

also, PR is kind of super lols if you have the right attitude
and remember, it's just a job really

PR seems pretty transferable, at least if you're on the creation end; writing, making connections, placements, all that shit. PR jobs always seemed more abundant among the NYC media/writing careers (journalism, copywriting, etc).

Take the job. You can always change jobs with a good employment record. The first few jobs out of school are basically meant to indicate that you can learn to do a job. (There are exceptions to this, of course, but you understand what I mean)

And PR can be TOTALLY fun. More fun that re-hasing for the 7 billionth time the facts of a legal malpractice case where the attorney flubbed the statute of limitations on a sexual harassment/ wrongful termination claim. Meh.

I'd take the job too. Unless there's a high-degree of specialized knowledge required to a do job very few careers are closed off so I wouldn't sweat becoming unemployable outside this one industry. Actually, one of the things I've really liked about working in PR is that you get exposed to bunch of different types of companies and develop contacts at them - it's def. not unheard of people in the firm I work at to move to positions in a client's organizations.

From my limited experience most entry-level jobs whether in publishing, PR, advertising or film are pretty similar. My first job was working in risk mgmt at a large FI and my current job has absolutely nothing to do w/banking but the underlying skills I developed at my first job have certainly helped me at my current one. Plus just getting familiar w/like PowerPoint and performance appraisals and stuff is worthwhile.

go for it bro

I say it w/gusto only cause I know I would and we're in relatively similar positions w/relatively similar goals. I'm looking really hard for this kind of job right now!

hey max fuk u dont sell out you square

^ me @ 19

then i got bills

max make sure you can post to ILX for AT LEAST half your workday before taking any job

duh, i put that shit on my resume dood

"ridonkulous .gif posting skills"

"ability to articulate and sustain zings in a team environment"

finding a lib. arts related job after college suxxx, unless you went to one o thems fancy boy schools. well, did tou/uhhh??HUH?

i'm not gonnna give you the satisfaction

Fuck that. I post more now that I have a regular desk-type job again.

i went to a fancy boy school, in fact, it was fancy boy u, home of the nationally-ranked fancy boys

A college boy, eh?

Hey BLAM, you're a government attorney, right? How's that racket?'

Hey BLAM, you're a government attorney, right? How's that racket?

Hell, nah. Plaintiff's side small biz litigation. Always arguing, all the time. Some days ROCK. Some fucking suck.

in my experience the crossover from PR to journalism is far less common than the other way around.

but i say go for it max, sounds like a good opportunity and at yr age you won't get locked into it forever.

argh I meant the opposite -- more people cross from PR to journalism than from the j to PR. one of the NYTimes critics used to be a music publicist in the 70s but that's the only prominent example I know of.

sometimes i feel like im writing the the back of a porn dvd

"fresh young talent"

"hot young redhead"

"tight unit"

hahahah

"gay porno"

god i hated being a copywriter

is it sick that i really enjoy writing press releases?

I'm glad you asked me that question, tehresa.

When I consider that each year the public relations industry generates (some bogus number of) billions of dollars for the US economy, and that American consumers are the best educated, best-served consumers on the face of the earth at any time in the history of the world, then I would certainly join you in feeling enormous pride and enjoyment in the fact that I, as a PR flack, was contributing my mite to the productivity of the greatest nation ever to exist.

Thank you and may God bless you.

I will be writing an angry release about Foxy Brown tomorrow. Carpe Deum!

a friend of mine has recommended i go for a PR job but ive never been that fond of PR, this isnt the type of industry im that passionate about (finance) and the prospect of out of hours socialising which apparently is very necessary doesnt fill me with much joy either. is it possible to do pr while hating all these aspects of it? the motivation for me to get a regular income right now IS pretty high so i might be able to suck it up.

Thought self-loathing was a required skill tbh

is it possible to do pr while hating all these aspects of it?

I would guess not, but then again I'm about as far from the required personality type as you can get. You know, the Salesman, always glad handing everyone.

It does seem to me, though, that the top seller, or the top schmoozer, in any company is always a bitter, misanthropic, genuinely mean-spirited person once you get to know them, so it's possible that hate is what makes you GOOD at such a job.

xpost!

hey max fuk u dont sell out you square

― gr8080, Saturday, April 26, 2008 4:57 AM (9 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this has me in actual lols

other criteria includes being able to handle your drink as well as 'being lovely'. the schmoozing with finance types when my knowlege of finance isnt exactly on a robert peston level makes me a bit hesitant. maybe i just need to up the blagging. or channel my self hatred.

i dunno, someone whos been doing this longer than i have can probably comment better than i can, but if youre not good at socializing or selling things you better be a really good writer and a really creative thinker cause otherwise im not really sure what you bring to the table

btw dont go into pr

PR is the ultimate Type A personality work. Approach accordingly.

i did this personality test -
http://stress.about.com/lr/personality_tests/340468/2/

You appear to have many Type A personality traits, and could probably greatly benefit from the resources below. By working to eliminate some of the stress in your life and challenging some of your habitual patterns of thought and reaction to stress (see the resources below), you can really improve your overall stress level and may be able to significantly soften your Type A tendencies.

good PR ppl are godsends, the ones that can get stuff done

you dont really NEED to be a type a personality to be a good publicist. you dont really even need to be good at socializing, as long as you can meet some base line of acceptability w/r/t human interaction. you do need some combination of salesmanship/creativity/writing or speaking ability, though.

but there are all kinds of PR. boutique entertainment firms have diff't needs than in-house corporate depts have diff't needs than political operatives. i will say this--unless ur a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mindset, repping for shit you dislike or arent interested in can be a real drag and bum you out a lot.

Parasitic relative of Paul Reiser's pregnant rat poorly rambling in a parabolic route.

PR GUY

is it possible to do pr while hating all these aspects of it?

yes but youll probably suck at it. there are a lot of pr jobs that dont require any gladhanding but it sounds like the specific job your up for does??? if your working for an agency just ask to be the person that updates the director's twitter that seems like a pretty sweet gig

repping for shit you dislike or arent interested in can be a real drag and bum you out a lot.

it depends on how u look at it tho my old agency had some clients in industries i never would have thought interesting but working on their accounts was fun on a like "how it's made" level. i can see how it would drag if your a publicist or doing day-to-day flackwork tho

As far as I can tell financial PR is 50% fobbing off journalists and 50% fielding enquiries from irate investors. It's paid well though.

it depends on how u look at it tho my old agency had some clients in industries i never would have thought interesting but working on their accounts was fun on a like "how it's made" level. i can see how it would drag if your a publicist or doing day-to-day flackwork tho

― Lamp, Monday, February 9, 2009 7:04 AM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah i believe this but my job--and id guess titchyschneiders--is the in-the-trenches campaign push bullshit which is deadly 4 ur soul if u dont have a certain kind of personality

also working in PR youve got a good shot at meeting attractive women that arent still in high school so theres that

"that arent still in high school"

maybe its not for me after all.

Lol, a+

Haha

1. Attend annual PRSA convention
2. Hook up with hot PRSSA students who are 18+
3. Profit!!

2.5 have to talk to hot PRSSA students who are 18+

that could swing it into debit territory frankly

2.6 Just keep drinking, smiling and not listening

http://www.stevemadisoninterviews.com/pointcounterpoint/Plogo.jpg

i wish this kind of PR world still existed:

http://www.moviezeal.com/wp-content/uploads/sweetsmell1.jpg

dude on the left is a scanner

i wish this kind of PR world still existed

wonder what hood their sommeliers live in??

Ironically in those days they probably lived in a nice townhouse in Queens, cause Manhattan was too scummy

that pr world does still exist, in fact thats a picture of me and my mentor

http://gawker.com/pr-firm-explains-the-best-way-to-get-publicity-from-a-c-1620738052/+hamilton_nolan

i think this one sorts itself non

PR people are useless imho you better save some money and take it directly to the ATL media. Your artist needs to be at least halfway decent tho at least decent enough for the audience of your choosing. Some genres are pickier than others.