The State of PR Jobs: Hiring and Salary Trends

People often misunderstand the public relations industry. They think that a public relations agency is responsible for buying advertisements, writing stories in magazines, or distributing samples at the mall. Instead, the role of a PR agency is to promote clients, maintain reputation, and create awareness in the market. They use paid, unpaid, and owned techniques to achieve their goals.

Sometimes, the duties of a marketing agency and PR agency might overlap because of similar goals. But, the functions of these jobs are poles apart. Companies collaborate with PR agencies to boost brand reputation, while marketing aims to increase sales.

What are PR Jobs?

The public relations officer focuses on building and improving the brand, organization, and company’s image through PR activities and planned publicity campaigns. PR activities help teams to promote positive messages about a brand or company. These activities include employee relations, research, and media relations.

Furthermore, publicity and counseling are also crucial parts of PR jobs. The agency uses advanced tools to promote its clients and grab clients’ attention. Here are some tasks that a PR agency performs to boost a client’s reputation:

• Creating strategies and plans
• Writing press releases and presentations
• Dealing with enquires
• Representing businesses at press conferences, interviews, and presentations
• Organizing promotional events such as visits, open days, and exhibitions
• Analyzing media coverage

PR firms in San Francisco perform other tasks as well. They write brochures for internal and external distribution, presentations, and reports. Also, they conduct market research to execute PR activities based on facts and figures.

 PR Jobs Hiring Trends

There is a wide array of changes in the public relations industry, especially because of the post-pandemic situation. Employees consider the work environment, job description, and organizational goals while choosing an agency. That’s why the major goal of an organization is to satisfy its employees and create an accelerated environment in the workplace. Many agencies are shifting from client-oriented goals to employee wellbeing, even before COVID-19. But, they noticed a boost in the execution process during a pandemic. Today, PR agencies are considering various new factors while hiring their team. Here are some hiring trends in PR jobs:

1.      Skill-Based Hiring

The advent of Artificial Intelligence in the recruitment process changed the way employers used to hire their PR teams. AI-hiring tools are reducing biased judgments, which were involved with manual recruitments. The advanced tools evaluate the job applications and shortlist the applicants based on their skills and abilities. As a result, employers can improve their recruitment process and hire accurate talent for open positions.

PR agencies are introducing skill-based hiring according to specific skill sets and competencies. They are prioritizing the ability of an employee to perform the tasks instead of credentials. They realize that hiring skill-based talents open new opportunities for the business.

2.      Power Skills

Power skills include digital and human skills and have a huge impact on the success of the business. These include less-defined skills such as:

• Strategic thinking
• Personal development
• Leadership
• Communication
• Listening ability
• Productivity

The job description of a PR officer includes a variety of tasks. They have to interact with clients, employees, and journalists. With power skills, they can improve their business reputation in the industry. Individuals with power skills bring innovative ideas, conduct clear communication, and create better relationships within the team. Furthermore, they can show remarkable results, build brand awareness, and improve their reputation through various channels.

3.      Employee Diversification

Today, PR agencies want diversification in their workplace to increase creativity. When employees from different cultures work together to achieve the same goal, they feel connected to work and comfortable. As a result, they can share their ideas and opinions without getting culturally insensitive. A PR team with a diverse environment helps employees as well as the agency as well. Agencies can avoid silly mistakes due to cultural differences and strengthen their workforce.

4.      Employee Well-being

PR agencies are considering employee well-being as a company’s asset and not a benefit. It is an opportunity for businesses to satisfy and motivate employees. Also, employee well-being helps them to improve the talent requisition process. By improving their internal environment and offering learning opportunities to employees, they can attract skillful PR officers.

Since the pandemic, PR agencies are expanding employees’ benefits to their families. Their benefits don’t limit to health benefits, but they educate employees to improve their work and life balance. PR agencies are providing educational resources to working parents. Employers are introducing policies to improve individual and family life experiences.

PR Jobs Salary Trends

Marketing, advertising, and public relations are among the top 6 industries with high salary trends. The industry is rapidly growing with increasing competition in the market. Businesses are looking for better strategists to improve their workflow. That’s why teams focus on skills instead of candidates’ credentials while recruiting. They want individuals who can understand changing customer sentiments and create effective strategies.

PR agencies don’t hesitate to offer a handsome salary to their employees. While recruiting they prioritize talent and skills. Therefore candidates are improving their skills and capabilities to open high-paid opportunities. Seniors in the media and entertainment sector get outstanding salary structures. Since they build digital strategies and oversee employees during the execution process, they have a difficult job. Also, the mid-level and junior PR teams have remarkable salaries and vary according to their skill sets. Here are some salary trends in the PR industry:

• PR Associate – $35k – $59k
• Account Executive PR – $36k – $63k
• PR Manager – $54k – $98k
• PR Coordinator – $29k – $53k
• Vice President PR – $105k – $168k
• PR Director – $48k – $115k

Conclusion

Since competition in the PR industry is drastically increasing, agencies are changing their recruitment process. They require a high-skilled workforce with power skills and capabilities. To attract talented employees they are creating a diversified workspace without cultural differences. Furthermore, they are offering a high pay scale to employees so they can focus on career development.